Next Year’s Stars

Posted: 19th December 2011 in Blog
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It’s usual, at the fag-end of a year, to cast a retrospective glance over the preceding months’ musical offerings and compile those ubiquitous lists; top ten best gigs, top ten best albums etc.

This year, though, I fancy a change so instead here, in alphabetical order, are my top ten British breakthrough bands for 2012. Bands, mainly unsigned who, thanks to a combination of musical excellence and commercial nous, I feel are well placed to either ink that all-important deal or, in the cases of those already signed, make that leap to the big time.

As is usual with such subjective exercises, part of the fun for the writer is lapping up the outraged howls of the partisan and offended. Those types affronted and appalled you’ve excluded their favoured combo. To those, I’d say just this: firstly, my chief criteria are musical proficiency but also, crucially, commercial accessibility. Your turbo-charged, city-levelling, nuclear-blast, death-metal carnage might well be the greatest musical offering since JSB’s forty eight preludes and fugues but it’s unlikely to breakthrough to the mainstream any time soon, now is it?

Secondly, I simply may not have heard your band’s material or seen them live. A colossal amount of music crosses my desk all year but not all of it, OK? And while I might well be aware of your act, I’m not nailing my colours to their mast without the benefit of actually having heard/seen them strut their stuff.

And thirdly, it’s my bloody list so I’ll include and exclude who the hell I feel like! :-D

I’ll cheerfully admit most of the acts here are personal faves. The sort of bands for whom, were I not a music journo and privileged to get their stuff for free, I’d happily shell out my hard-earned for the pleasure of hearing.

Finally, don’t let any of the above stop you venting your spleen and treating me to a delicious rant. The comments box is there for your use and so, without further preamble, let the hate begin…

A Thousand Enemies

There were many who thought Isolysis would be signed before 2011 was out. The outrageous but charismatic singer and the talented but studied guitarist were a personal and musical yin and yang that resulted in song-writing magic. Frustratingly, just starting to realise their impressive potential before the band split, it was not to be and Bane and Beardsley went their separate ways.

Bane took Isolysis drummer, Dave ‘Rickstein’ Wright, with him and, with the addition of former Two Minutes Hate alumni, Harwood and Andy ‘Snakes’ Goulter, formed A Thousand Enemies. The magic ingredient was added when unknown guitarist, Phil Wilbraham, completed the line-up.

The combination of Wilbraham’s classic rock-style melodicism and the heavier more modern-sounding attack of Harwood provided the perfect foil for Bane to create his best work yet.

Introductory single, And Nothing Remains, gave notice that here was a new band with something really special to offer but it’ll be tracks like Let Me In which will demonstrate that Isolysis was merely the apprenticeship.

Expect A Thousand Enemies to blow up your video in 2012. You’re gonna love this mob.

Awake By Design

These fellas specialise in rich, sumptuous textures, melody and atmospheric musical conjurations. There’s a very Gothic feel to some of the material. Ethereal, elegiac and drenched with pathos none of that gets in the way of the rock, however, and singer and keys man, Powell, deploys his musical forces with the knack of a born star. In the middle register, he even sounds eerily like Geoff Tate and that cannot be a bad thing.

I’ll come clean and admit I’ve not seen these chaps live but I’m assured by those who have that they’re something special. In any event, their album stands on its own two feet.

Grandiose, epic metal infused with passion and drama, Awake By Design deserve signing if anyone does.

Captain Horizon

Now then; the list’s joker in the pack. Eccentric, quintessentially English, prog-infused meanderings meet the slamming rhythmic vibes of Rage Against The Machine and end in something quite unlike anything you’ve ever heard before.

Fronted by the sand-paper-and-whisky-voiced Steve ‘Whitty’ Wittington, the Horizoneers are hard at work on their début album and as those of us privileged to have sat in on some of the recording sessions will tell you, this is an act absolutely born for stadiums.

Guitarist Watson’s Edge-like subtlety and restraint provides wide-open spaces for melodies to swoop, soar and fly and as a live act they are beyond criticism.

Unique, distinctive and utterly apart from the herd, if these lads aren’t signed by this time next year then proof will have been provided that the Great Architect has permanently left the building. Either that or he’s a West Life fan…

Daylight Robbery

Proof-positive that when it comes to music, there is nothing coming out of the USA that we can’t do at least as well. Yes indeed.

For those enamoured of the melodic pomp of House of Lords or the infectious tunefulness of Journey, Daylight Robbery are the discovery of the year.

Great songs, a great singer, a tighter-than-a-duck’s-arse rhythm section and guitarists with feel as well as technique, these guys will remind you of the days when Bon Jovi were a great band, when Autograph were turning up the radio and when the 80s seemed like one decade-long summer holiday. All the core ingredients are brought bang-up-to-date with added Brit grit, real flare and a seriously generous quantity of hard rock.

If this were 1987 they’d already be as big as Def Leppard. As it isn’t, they aren’t but don’t let that stop you getting behind another superb, home-grown act with the goods to go all the way.

Evil Scarecrow

Already extant for nearly a decade, it’s something of a travesty the Scarecrows aren’t already signed or at the very least regulars at Wacken.

While the school-boy smut of Steel Panther, mystifyingly, wows millions it defies reason Evil Scarecrow aren’t similarly revered.

Last year’s triumphant slot at Bloodstock ought, surely, see the loveable panto metalers finally getting the break they so richly merit and if there’s another band that so expertly blends all the things that make extreme metal so appealing with such inspired comedic genius, well, they’ve yet to be invented.

Parody is an art and the quintet paints their comedy soundscapes with the deftness of old masters. Apart from all that, with a gap in the market so big it’s a veritable Nietzschean abyss, there’s an army of A&R suits missing a huge trick. For feck’s sake wake up and smell the money, you idiots!

JD & The FDCs

For exuberant, feel-good tunes expertly fashioned in modern garb, look no further than Jamie Delerict and his cohorts. Some call it punk, some pop, some might even think it’s metal. It matters not.

Aided by no less a personage than the great Dazmondo, one of the most authentically rock ‘n roll guitarists you’ll ever hear, JD and his FDCs craft radio-friendly nuggets of pure rock ‘n’ roll brilliance all infused with a sly pop sensibility.

If the likes of Green Day and Blink 182 can score number one singles, it aint hard to imagine Mr Delerict sticking his hand up the skirt of the top twenty to cop a cheeky feel. And while we all know mainstream radio stations consist of stupid music played by idiots, it should be illegal for any station anywhere not to have Burn This City Down on its playlist.

Saint Jude

High Voltage appearances, Chris Kimsey producing your debut album and a press cuttings file approaching the size of the Doomsday Book, Saint Jude are surely set for stratospheric heights in 2012.

Groove-laden, old-style rock ‘n’ soul is their stock in trade and it’s all effortlessly delivered by, arguably, the best female rock singer currently working anywhere in the UK today.

Lynne Jackaman brings a Joplin-esque earthiness to the band’s Black-Crowes-meets-the-Faces-style workouts and the results are nothing less than delicious.

If you haven’t yet heard Diary Of A Soul Fiend then do so now. Let’s face it, you’ll need to know the words when you flock to the stadiums Saint Jude will be playing soon, as you desperately bullshit you were there at the beginning and always knew they’d be famous.

Toxic Federation

Like Isolysis, many predicted the Feddies would be signed by Xmas. Well, thanks to their former front man, Mitch Emms, timing his departure for the eve of their third album’s release, after painstaking negotiations had secured a prestigious distribution deal, closely followed by guitarist, George Coleman, throwing in his towel, it looked like the wheels were off the Federation Express.

However, having been invited to a rehearsal of the new, heavier, down-tuned, single-guitar line-up, fronted by a new singer, yet to be officially announced, take it from me that 2012 will see Toxic Federation back bigger and even better than ever.

The new vocalist is a find and a half and while he doesn’t have his predecessor’s range, his predecessor doesn’t have the new man’s innate masculine timbre and much more disciplined diction.

Reborn, refreshed and re-energised, this is the best Tox Fed line-up yet and if the live shows can replicate the fire and energy of the studio sessions, then their future is golden.

Voodoo Johnson

A nine-out-of-ten review for Midlands Rocks when their latest E.P. crossed my desk, the months since have only confirmed that assessment. What a bloody great band Voodoo Johnson are.

With new singer, Taylor-Stoakes, and lead six-string slinger, Carl Gethin, lifting their mates to even greater levels of expression, the smart money must be on VJ inking their monikers on a major contract before 2013.

Bluesy, soulful, gritty and grinding, in their hands the great sounds of seventies classic rock are reimagined with style and vision and presented with the impact of a rocket entering hyper space.

Fecking marvellous.

Voodoo Six

A lot of the above applies to this gang, too, but with a very different sound Voodoo Six are no one’s men but their own.

Latest E.P., Falling Knives, is nothing less than a revelation and you are strongly advised to become acquainted forthwith.

Luke Purdie’s distinctive voice gives the band a sound uniquely theirs and their take on classic rock is a white-knuckle ride through some of their grooviest riffs committed to disc.

It’d be a very stupid man betting against Voodoo Six leaping to the next level in 2012.

Daylight Robbery : Cross Your Heart

Posted: 18th December 2011 in Albums
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First published by Midlands Rocks, www.themr.co.uk November 2011

The significance of Birmingham, and its environs, in the development of heavy metal is, of course, both well known and longstanding.  Metal Gods, Rob Halford and Tony Iommi, have often spoken of the region’s grim satanic mills, foundries and factories and the role they played in the birth of the music we love.

However, whatever merits the city has, the good-time vibe, sunshine and bodies beautiful of the American West Coast that is more usually associated with AOR, are not among their number. And yet, bizarrely, the region has spawned a disproportionate amount of classy and successful AOR acts and bands from the lighter end of the musical spectrum. Magnum and Shy are obvious examples but even the effete art-school musings of new romantic dandies, Duran Duran, owe a debt to ‘brum’ as the birthplace of their career.

All of which leads neatly to another group of Black Country minstrels, Daylight Robbery, and their debut platter, Cross Your Heart…And Hope To Die. Ten nuggets of stylishly executed AOR hewn from the cradle of metal.

Vocalist, Tony Nicholl, will be no stranger to many and with an already chequered and notable career behind him is a dude that has paid more than his fair share of dues. Joined by Mark Carleton (guitars), Col Murdoch (bass), Ben Dixon (drums) and Duncan Cook (keyboards), Daylight Robbery stamp their boots all over the same length of street as magnificent monsters of pomp, House of Lords. The highly impressive Nicholl even has a touch of the great James Christian about his pipes.

These guys are their own men, though, and for all the disc’s polished US aspirations, there’s an appealingly honest grit and an unmistakeably British vibe to their material. It’s an irresistible combination, frankly, and makes for satisfying listening.

For soaring gang-choruses see ‘While You Were Sleeping’. For the sort of radio-friendly romp that’d make ’84 era-Bon Jovi spit feathers, see ‘Reunite’ and if a more proletarian attack is your thing, check out ‘1000 Points of Light’, a power metal-tinged fusillade of riffola that comes on like Aldo Nova  covering Motorhead.

‘Real Love Is The Answer’ is a danceable slice of groove-rock that bounces in on the sort of mid-tempo bass shuffle last seen propelling Autograph’s, ‘Turn Up The Radio’ to the top of charts everywhere, while its chorus evokes Tobruk’s ‘Love Is In Motion’ and will see hip-swivelling rock chicks heading for dance-floors everywhere.

If Daylight Robbery can stay together and put out another couple of albums that build on the quality displayed here, who knows how high they could fly? Certainly, they’ve got the chops and the songs to go all the way.

Voodoo Johnson : Black Powder Mother Loader

Posted: 18th December 2011 in Albums
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First published by Midlands Rocks, www.themr.co.uk October 2011

Folk hanging around on the off-chance of Voodoo Johnson releasing a naff record are advised as follows: pull up a chair, bring some sandwiches and get yourself something to read. You’re in for a looooong wait...

The contributory elements that make them everyone’s Next Big Thing coalesce on Black Powder Mother Loader to superb effect and satisfaction is not so much guaranteed as arriving complete with a life-time warranty.

The slow-burn grind of ‘Swear It To The Sun’ shows the dark mojo, with which Voodoo Johnson are possessed, working it’s old black magic with no signs of abatement. In fact, there’s even a noticeable and exponential improvement in both the band’s song-writing and delivery. Maybe it’s vox man, Taylor-Stoakes, really finding his groove or lead plank-spanker, Gethin, who is absolutely on fire here, being touched by the hand of Satan. Who knows? It just works. Does it ever.

Let’s talk about Taylor-Stoakes for a mo. He might have the sort of name you’d expect to see inscribed on the brass name-plate of a stockbroker’s office-door but he sings like a dude who spent too many hours hanging around the crossroads at midnight. A very credible contender for the best male rock vocalist anywhere on these shores, his menacing blues roar on ‘Dogs of War’, for example, is breathtaking.

Comprising five tracks, the others being, ‘United Divided’ ‘Black Skies Mist’ and ‘The Garden’, this isn’t so much an E.P. as half an album and quality is branded right through to the bones of every song.

There will be those who don’t like Black Powder Mother Loader, of course. Mainly dead people and the hopelessly stupid. Anyone else, though, not loving this disc deserves to be spat upon in the streets and then stoned to death. Buy this muthafucker now. No dissent permitted.

9/10

Black Veil Brides : Part 3

Posted: 18th December 2011 in Interviews & Features
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Part 3 of 3. Interview with Jake and CC of Black Veil Brides. First published by Midlands Rocks, www.themr.co.uk October 2011

So here I am once more. And here you are too. And, of course, here as well are our mascara-smeared dynamic-duo, Jake and CC.

And they aren’t finished yet. No, these guys have plenty left to say. So; are you seated comfortably? Good. Let’s get our third and final instalment under way, then…

“I was looking at a map the other day”, says Jake reflectively, “and I’m like, ok, we live here but we’re over here now, on the other side of the world, playing a show to kids who don’t even speak our language, or us theirs, and they’re singing the lyrics to all of our songs. Man, it’s awesome”

CC cuts in, “I tell ya, dude, we died somewhere along the way. All of us died and we went to heaven ‘cause this shit is just too good to be true. It’s unreal!”

“Yeah, they’re something else”, continues Jake. “I think of the times we’d get home from the day job and we’d be up ‘til three in the morning, writing the songs, the lyrics, working on the arrangements and now the fans are so dedicated, so supportive. That’s why we try and make as much time for them as we can. We meet them, you know, we sign their stuff and we try and give back as much as we can because, I tell ya again, man, it’s all down to them. They’re the best fans on the planet and they made us so it’s all about them, it aint about us”

So far, so good but what about the music? The next album? The writing? How does all that come together? Enquiring minds need to know, guys.

“I think the next album’s gonna be a little different”, advises Jake. “The first two were almost pre-written in the sense we just had to work up and smooth out all the stuff we’d done on demos and so we already had the material when it was time for the album, you know? We didn’t need to do a lot of writing in the studio. The structures, arrangements, thing like that, were pretty much in the form you hear them now on the albums.

This time, though, because we’ve touring constantly, there’s not a lot of down time. So, you know, you’re sitting on the bus, you get an idea and you record it on your iphone real quick, or there’s a riff and you just hum it out and save it and work it out later but this album I think will be more kinda in the studio and doing it. I’ve got a bunch of riffs and I know Jinks has a whole stack of ideas and even CC has some cool riffs”

Oh? A drummer who plays guitar as well, eh?

CC squirms a little self-consciously, “well just a little bit, really, just enough to kinda [hums along] and we can work things out from there. We’ve got a lot of ideas but as we’re touring internationally, constantly, and we’re booked solid until we get back in the studio, we can’t carry a whole pro-tools rig with us”

“Right”, agrees Jake, “I mean I’ve got my laptop but, really, we’re kinda just stockpiling ideas and scratching things down here and there and we’ll work ‘em out later when we hit the studio”

In terms of heroes, influences and the people to whom the dynamic duo aspired when they were dreaming those rock ‘n’ roll dreams in teenage bedrooms; they had this to say…

“My favourite guitar player is Paul Gilbert,” states Jake firmly while CC adds, “In terms of drummers, I listen to  everything from 1920s jazz drummers right the way through to the most modern, full-on metal dudes, so I’m all across the board. I listen to dubstep and crazy electronic shit so I’m all over the place. As a band, collectively, obviously there’s KISS, Alice Cooper and Motley Crue but as individuals, we’ve all got our own, very specific, influences and they’re incredibly varied”

Jake continues, “I think one of the cool things is lately we’ve become friends with Adam D from Killswitch Engage, he’s supercool, and he worked on the Times of Grace Record and All That Remains, everyone in that band, they’re supercool. I know Adam D produced and engineered the new Unearth record and I’ve been listening to that a lot. It’s a really cool record. There’s tons of shredding and just really cool music so, yeah; really been listening a lot to that.

But Paul Gilbert, man, he’s just amazing. I like the weird stuff he does; it’s different from anybody else, just off the wall. I like Buckethead as well. He’s another amazing player and he studied with Paul Gilbert for a year and you can hear the influence.

Gilbert’s incredible. He’s so complete. The string skipping, what he does with arpeggios and tapping licks, he’s just phenomenal. I think he was voted, like, the fourth greatest shredder ever, in Guitar World or something like that. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to play as fast and as accurately as he does but he’s definitely my biggest guitar influence.

And my Mom is a huge influence, just musically, in general. She plays piano, she’s an incredible musician. She knows all the theory and stuff like that and she really helped me a lot when I was starting and trying to understand everything.

I spoke to her just before we flew out and she’s like, ‘oh the new record is great. You’ve really mastered the guitar’ and I’m like, ‘Why thank you, Mom, but I dunno if I’ve mastered anything yet!’ But it’s great to know our parents are proud and we owe them so much, so that’s all cool”

CC, perhaps predictably, given his sheer energy and penchant for skipping fron one subject to another with machine-gun rapidity and limitless enthusiasm, doesn’t have a single, defining influence.

“I don’t have like just one dude; there are so many different ones that mattered to me. I kinda tick boxes and take little bits from each of ‘em and incorporate that into my playing. I take aspects, you know?

As far as early jazz guys, well, definitely Buddy rich and Gene Krupa, I saw Louie Bellson when I was twelve, all the way up to the dude with Dave Mathews. That guy’s sick, man. It’s the sickest groove ever that he’s got going on and metal dudes like Joey Jordison.

If I could take something from each of them, it’d be they syncopation of jazz ,the groove of maybe R&B and the dude from Dave Mathews’ band and like the technicality of metal. I try to incorporate all of those things and sometimes I think I do a decent job but other times I have to just kinda lay it back a little.

With this record, though, it’s all been about the songs. We’d be writing something and I’d think, ‘I could do something really cool and super-crazy here’ but instead I’ll lay it back on the groove a little so the song can breathe, you know?”

Jake chips in, “One song I think you can really tell you’re doing something different in a really cool way is ‘Saviour’. It’s not a lot but it’s subtle and it fits. I mean I’ve played with a million drummers but you’ve got it all. Great feel”

CC, shrugs bashfully, “Well, yeah, you know, that’s really all I do, man. Just try and think of the song, put that first and play something that complements that. It aint me, it’s all about the song”

And that, dear readers, is that. That’s your lot. At least for now. You’ll probably know by now that Black Veil Brides are heading back to our shores next spring and who knows? Maybe we’ll get the opportunity to bring you some more dispatches from their frontline.

In the meantime, thanks to CC and Jake for being so generous with their time and for speaking frankly and openly. Thanks to you guys, as well, dear readers, for sending our traffic through the roof.

Until next time, then…

Black Veil Brides : Part 2

Posted: 18th December 2011 in Interviews & Features
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Part 2 of 3. Interview with Jake and CC of Black Veil Brides. First published by Midlands Rocks, www.themr.co.uk October 2011

Hate. Now there’s a heavy trip and one with which the Brides are intimately acquainted. It seems there are only two ways to go where this band is concerned: love ‘em or hate ‘em. The ultimate Marmite metal act. A cross to bear, maybe, you’d think. These young gentlemen, however, are made of sterner stuff.

Jake looks me straight in the eye as he says, defiantly, “Those bands I mentioned? The ones  that hate on us?  And we got plenty of those, and call us gay or fags or whatever ‘cause we wear make-up? Well, that’s cool, man ‘cause we got a sold-out show in Nottingham tonight and what do we do? We sell out every night”

“We’re offering something a lot of people are looking for” he continues, “Something that no one else is doing, right now, something a little different. It’s about bringing back being a rock star, bringing back the fun that used to go with that and our fans know that, our success is a true testament to them. They made us, man. This is all them”

There’s no smugness, just a resolute pride that, whatever their detractors might say, they have their core constituency and, as we’ve seen, a fanatically loyal one.

Jake and CC, both, seem to take as fanatical view of their fans as the fans do of them and there is no denying the mutual love affair between the two camps is a key factor in the band’s rise. The outsider status, too, shared by both the band and its admirers, goes a considerable way to fostering a remarkable esprit de corps. The BVB Army against the world and they’re more than happy with that.

CC earnestly explained, “You go see certain bands play and you’re like ‘yeah, whatever’, but you go and see us play and everyone comes as their favourite character, or with their own take on it, and that’s what it’s like with this band. You know, we go out on tour with bands that have normal fans and they’re used to playing to those crowds but our fans really get into it with all the make-up and stuff and they look like us! It’s awesome!”

On a roll now, the excitable drummer continues, “I mean, look at those guys in those whiney bands, they all look the same in their boring check shirts or whatever and they have their boring fans, fuck those guys, man, hating on us! Our fans are awesome!”

It’s not just the make-up, though. It’s the unashamed homage to their heroes that mystifyingly seems to incense people. KISS, sure, Alice Copper, too, and certainly Motley Crue who, in their day, were hated with equal ferocity and faced the same charges as those levelled against Black Veil Brides today.

“Yeah, we did a photo shoot with Nikki Sixx”, smiles Jake, “and then we did Sixx AM Radio and one of the things he said, when we did that interview, was that back in the day everybody hated Motley Crue as well and now everybody’s telling him Motley Crue are their favourite band”

CC exclaims gleefully, “and then he said, ‘I fucking love seeing people hate you guys’. And that’s how he got into us. People were telling him, ‘you’re absolutely gonna fucking hate these guys’ and he was like ‘well if everybody hates ‘em, I’m probably gonna love ‘em!  I gotta go check these guys out’. I mean, to have an icon like Nikki Sixx in your corner, man, and Motley fucking Crue, it doesn’t get any more rock star than that, dude. And that spirit, you know? That’s in the life-style we live. We wanna have a little fun, we don’t wanna take life too seriously, you know? Enjoy the band, write some good songs, have a cool show and have a good time”

What’s not to like?

And we’ve still got a ways to go so if you liked this, you’ll like the next and final instalment. So, grab that whiskey bottle, muthafucker, and top me up. All this story-telling makes a man dry.

See you next week. Don’t be late.

Black Veil Brides : Part 1

Posted: 11th December 2011 in Interviews & Features
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Part 1 of 3. Interview with Jake and CC of Black Veil Brides. First published by Midlands Rocks, www.themr.co.uk October 2011

As late afternoon drifts into early evening, there’s a comforting hush blanketing the empty Black Cherry Lounge.

Footsteps, though, echo, as the absence of partying crowds amplify the slightest sound. And if you listen closely, there’s a low, but continual, rumble. Somewhere just on the horizon of consciousness.

A moment later, the penny drops. Up above, on the streets outside, like rolling thunder, the excited buzz of hundreds of chattering kids can be heard, even down here.

Moments earlier, Black Veil Brides, in all their made-up glory, bedecked in their on-stage finery, swept past the hordes of euphoric fans, in the most incongruous of vehicles; a D & G taxi. The new generation’s rock royalty, with a bored Indian driver at the wheel, with roll-up secured jauntily behind his ear, have arrived.

A youthful, but harassed, Chris Smyth of La Digit PR also arrives. Taut, wired and on it. “Harry, OK, look; CC and Jake will be through in a minute. Twenty minutes enough for you?”

I figure it will be. After all, what am I gonna hear? The usual bullshit, right? Bored, complacent rock stars, programmed to dutifully trot out the management line; Album rocks, man! Tour’s great, man! Everything’s great! Man. At forty four, I’m old enough to be the father of the Brides and in this business you get older quicker. Bullshit does that. Wearily hopping aboard the PR merry-go-round for another blast of déjà vu dizziness, another ticket to ride the yeah-yeah-whatever carousel. But, like the optimist taking delivery of a trailer full of horse-shit for his birthday, who breaks out the shovel and starts digging, looking for the horse, I always think this time, maybe, it’ll be different…

Jake, fifty per cent of BVB’s six-string artillery and CC, the band’s tub-thumper, arrive in a flurry of Max Factor, ten-to-the-dozen wise-cracks and face-splitting grins. The usual intros, the obligatory photo shoot with the standard rock star-issue bottle of Jack the lad and we’re ready to roll.

“The UK’s great” offers Jake, “All the shows have been sold out and we’re just having a blast, playing the new songs and having a great time”

CC cuts in, “The UK’s awesome, man! The scenes outside are crazy and it’s been great to see so many familiar faces, people who came out to see us last time”

“This city, in particular, seems to be really good for us” says Jake, thoughtfully. “Last time when we were here, with the Murder Dolls, in February, it was sold out and to get this kinda welcome is great. Feels good. Real good”

“Sure, sure” agrees CC. “Last time, this city was my favourite gig of the whole tour and it seems each time we come back to a place, the shows are a little bigger and then a little bit bigger still, and it keeps on growing and, man, it’s just so great!”

Both musicians are genuinely stunned to learn the queue for the gig started at 10.00am and, at the time of our talking, stretched nearly half a mile back up the street and out of town.

“Holy shit” whispers a visibly shaken Jake as the hugely excitable CC exclaims, “Oh, man, we just got back from a signing and there were kids chasing the van and when we pulled in here, we were like, ‘they’re here for us?’ “

Right now, at this stage in their life and career, these two kids are genuinely thrilled to be where they are. Hugely likeable, genuine and humbled and as far from complacent as one could imagine, they feel privileged to have achieved this much.

“We were shooting a video before we started the tour” explains CC “and my buddy called my cell and I’m like, ‘hey man, can’t talk right now I’m at work’ and then I realised, hey, this is my work! This is my job, man! Hell, I’d pay them to let me do this shit. It’s just the greatest feeling in the world!”

They make an interesting contrast. Jake, slightly more reflective and considered, CC the archetypal drummer; all hyper energy and restless body language.

Jake, though, while no less thrilled with the band’s success reasonably considers it just reward for slog and hard graft. “I know the bands that hate on us, and we got a lot of them, think all this just happened but, man, we’ve worked hard to get where we are. I’d do the day job, get home and for six hours straight, I’d sit in my room just practicing. Over and over. Every day. We’ve paid our dues. We all have. We all had the shitty day-jobs and we worked for this”

Jake has plenty to say about the support of his mother and family, his musical heroes and where he sees the Brides going next. CC expounds on his and the band’s influences and suddenly it dawns on me; this is the one that’s different. Finally I’m off the bullshit express. These kids are actually for real. Christ, who knew? No flannel, just straight-up, full-on love of rock ‘n’ roll.

Maybe somewhere down the path that the Great Architect has marked out for Black Veil Brides, rehab, fall-out, crash-and-burn excess and the traditional rock ‘n’ roll demise awaits but, for now, they’re living the dream and grateful for every thrill-filled second.

There’s more to come, too. A lot more. Come back next time and if you put a little whiskey in my jar, I’ll tell you all about it…

Machine Head : Unto The Locust

Posted: 26th November 2011 in Albums
Tags: Machine Head, , , Unto The Locust
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First published by Soundsphere Magazine, November 2011 http://www.spheremag.co.uk/reviews/54-cd/2838-machine-head-unto-the-locust

It’s a rare band that sticks to its guns while, simultaneously, bringing something new to the party (and if you like your metaphors mixed, how’s that for an opening line?). The Oakland steel string quartet is such a band.

Yeah, there is here much that is standard for Machine Head but rather than record ‘The Blackening 2′, Flynn and co have pushed new boundaries of complexity and depth. And if, like Black Country Communion’s ‘BCC2′, some of the accessibility and immediate appeal of its predecessor is missing, there is ample compensation to be had from the new discoveries thrown up by repeated plays and a growing familiarity.

‘Unto The Locust’ is technical ecstasy of a very sophisticated and satisfying nature and the near nine-minute, three-part journey that is, ‘I Am Hell’, opens the album in as uncompromising a manner as one could imagine. Doom-meets-thrash, with Flynn darkly intoning his opening lines in Latin, makes for a refreshingly different Machine Head.

Nice, too, to see an entirely undiminished sense of irony at work on the excellently-titled, ‘Pearls Before Swine’. Appropriately, the album’s most oddly-constructed song, it nevertheless has an odd appeal that its rank outsider status does little to spoil. Akin to reporting that cars have four wheels, It’s somewhat redundant to observe that ‘Unto The Locust’ is crushingly heavy. However, for those seeking reassurance that 2007′s ‘The Blackening’ hasn’t been followed by a complete Opeth-style prog-out, consider yourselves duly reassured.

If you must make comparisons, there’s a credible argument to be made for this being Machine Head’s ‘And Justice For All’, albeit with vastly superior production. Like that genre-defining release from 1988, this, too, takes full advantage of its songs’ lengthy running times to explore myriad changes in pace, mood, key and time signatures to ensure boredom is simply not an option.

Comprising just seven songs, only one of which clocks in at under six minutes, one finds that highlights and favourite moments are not so much specific songs themselves, as sections and segments of songs. This is not a criticism, you understand, merely an observation and one, quite possibly, likely to change as awareness via continued exposure increases.

A fine release indeed skillfully blending thrash, post-thrash and a more expansive musical expressionism, ‘Unto The Locust’ can safely be said to be as much a career-highlight as ‘Burn My Eyes’ or ‘The Blackening’. It isn’t always the easiest listen, particularly on a first play, but your patience, open mindedness and willingness to embrace something a little different will be amply repaid.

A winner and no mistake, this is excellent stuff to be sure.

Megadeth : THIRT3EN

Posted: 26th November 2011 in Albums
Tags: Dave Mustaine, Megadeth, , , THIRT3EN,
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First published by Soundsphere Magazine, November 2011 http://www.spheremag.co.uk/reviews/54-cd/2835-cd-review-megadeth-th1rt3en-the-heaven-version

It can’t be easy being Dave “mouth” Mustaine. The sort of dude who, seemingly, delights in making life as hard as possible for himself, the number of corners into which he’s ostensibly painted himself, over the years, would make weaker men cry. Apart from anything else, the sheer volume of people the man has pissed off over the course of a particularly chequered career, means any Megadeth release will have the sharks salivating. Critics sharpen knives and peers line-up to put the boot into what they hope, this time, please, finally, will be the occasion the wheels come spectacularly off the ‘deth express.

It’s a situation in which Mustaine thrives. Say what you like, the Megadeth main-man has balls of a size that could be viewed on Google Earth. So here we are again, thirteen albums into a career that many proclaimed over before it even started. Certainly, the sort of resurrection that bought global acclaim and success after the Metallica firing, near-terminal heroin abuse and Christ knows what else must surely have had Jesus ‘phoning for tips. You can’t keep a good man down, it seems. Or, more likely, and despite his born-again Christianity, the Devil looks after his own…

Anyhoo; ‘THIRT3EN’ Any good? Well let’s say that while it aint no ‘Lulu’, ‘Lulu’ certainly aint no ‘THIRT3EN’, either. And while some will welcome his former band mates’ brave experimental musings, we can safely say many more will welcome a Megadeth release that sees them near the top of their game doing what they do best.

In many ways, this is Megadeth’s ‘Back To The Future’. Their legacy is celebrated in appropriate style with returning bass man, Ellefson, kicking off the album with a typically ominous riff which ushers in the Grammy-nominated, ‘Sudden Death’.

The glance backwards continues with ‘New World Order’ and ‘Black Swan’, previously encountered in demo form on ‘Youthanasia’ and the ‘United Abominations’ sessions respectively. Reupholstered and revamped, they fit snugly among the contemporary tracks and do a neat job of linking Megadeth then with Megadeth now.

The future, though, is met head-on with ‘Deadly Nightshade’ and ‘Public Enemy No.1′ and the band sound fresh, revitalised and, if not as heavy as on ‘Endgame’, nevertheless as thrillingly intense as ever.

Ultimately, a successful work that showcases Megadeth’s classic trademark thrash while the commitment of the musicians and a snappy, crystal-clear production ensures this is no mere retread. ‘THIRT3EN’ might be unlucky for some but, in typically perverse fashion, Mustaine has made it a magic number. Those brandishing the hammers and coffin nails hang are best advised to hang on a while longer. Megadeth is a long, long way from over.

Rush : Time Machine. Live In Cleveland

Posted: 26th November 2011 in Albums
Tags: , , Rush, , Time Machine
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First published by Soundsphere Magazine, November 2011 http://www.spheremag.co.uk/reviews/54-cd/2854-cd-review-rush-time-machine-2011-live-in-cleveland

So, another day with a ‘Y’ in it and another live Rush album. In other news, the sun rose in the east today. Yeah, a bit snidey, maybe. Reasonable though, surely, given the plethora of live Rush product currently available, to shrug and succumb to an entirely understandable feeling of weariness?

Of course a career that spans four decades, over thirty official album and DVD releases and featuring a comparable number of stylistic shifts, means there’s always room for a new spin. The spin, in this instance, being the inclusion of ‘Moving Pictures’ in its entirety. Long regarded, rightfully, as one of their very best albums, its significance is considerable, straddling, as it does, the space between the old, guitar-oriented proggy Rush and the modern, streamlined, synth-based band of ‘Signals’ and the then aptly-titled, ‘Grace Under Pressure’. Its inclusion as the album’s centerpiece, in its correct running order, is something of a masterstroke and who wouldn’t want to hear again, ‘Tom Sawyer’, ‘Limelight’ and the magical ‘Red Barchetta’ in the white-hot heat of live performance?

The set-list is the main attraction including, as it does, songs from every single era of the trio’s career. So ‘Working Man’ and ‘Subdivisions’ are both here. The effervescent ‘The Spirit of Radio’ precedes ‘Time Stands Still’ and their three greatest instrumentals, ‘YYZ’, ‘La Villa Strangiato’ and ‘Leave That Thing Alone’, are unleashed in all their stunning virtuosic glory. On paper, then, mouth-watering and a must-have chunk of product, right? Well, not quite. Sad to say ‘Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland’ is marred by the weakest vocals this fine act has ever committed to disc. The normally octave-leaping, gravity-defying, helium-voiced Geddy Lee is tired, breathless and all too often wincingly out of key. The contrast between the sub-par singing and the instrumentally flawless playing couldn’t be more marked and that’s a crying shame, frankly.

Of course, the last half a dozen studio albums have signalled a move in his tessitura from the stratospheric yodelling of yore to a more conventional mid-range tenor and that’s both entirely acceptable and, given advancing years, equally understandable. Maybe even inevitable. Unsurprisingly, then, it’s the older tracks, from the band’s 70s golden period, where failings are most apparent.

This is Rush, though, and there is simply too much quality, both within the songs and in their live deliveries, to mean this is a terrible album. Fanatics and casual listeners alike will find ample reason for the band’s deserved status as the biggest and best cult band on the planet. Indispensible it isn’t, though, and who’d have thought that could ever be said of a live Rush album?

N30 : Support The Strike

Posted: 23rd November 2011 in Blog
Tags: Bankers, Greed, Pensions, Public Sector, Scargill, Strike,
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We could be here ‘til next century, discussing the legacy of Thatcher, such is the landscape-altering impact of that vile woman’s contribution to British politics. So we won’t bother, then.

Instead, let’s take a look at one of the more insidious, but no less damaging, phenomena for which she can be rightly blamed. Namely, this mean-spirited, resentful and uncharitable world-view shared by so many. This is best illustrated by a conversation I heard on a radio ‘phone-in, the other day, discussing public sector pensions.

The outraged caller railed furiously against trade Union bosses’ plans for industrial action in defence of public sector pensions (they’re always ‘bosses’, aren’t they? Mob bosses, Mafioso chiefs and crime lords, being the comparison we’re supposed to make).

Why should public sector workers have gold-plated pensions? She demanded, angrily. Where do they get off having such a sense of automatic entitlement? Her pension, from the private sector, was nonexistent so she certainly wasn’t supporting any such action, she’ll have you know!

Depressingly, it’s this sort of attitude that’s largely responsible for getting us into this mess in the first place. Older readers will recall the huge industrial battles and bitterly charged disputes that defined the 80s. Wapping, GCHQ Cheltenham and, of course, the miners’ strike.

Then, as now, the same surly and jealous attitude pervaded. We’re all suffering, we’re all making cut-backs so why should Scargill’s greedy, commie miners be exempt? This also had the knock-on but devastating effect of alibiing  the craven, spineless capitulation and outright treachery of Neil Kinnock, Norman Willis et al, as the miners were left isolated, unsupported and abandoned by the Labour party and TUC bureaucracy.

We all know the result. The miners  lost and the trade union movement as any kind of vehicle for progressive social change was shattered for generations. Over the following decades, wages plummeted, protection from unscrupulous employers all but vanished and job security and a living wage dropped to a low not seen since before the war.

We’ll join those particular dots shortly, but for now let’s look at some of the most common objections to the strikes on November 30th. This one, from a friend of mine, is typical “…I’ve had pay-cuts in my job in the private sector and simply cannot afford to keep subsidising over-generous public sector pensions”

There are a lot of obvious responses to this; firstly, well why didn’t you join a union and/or fight against the slashing of your terms and conditions? Why resent another group of workers who have the balls to defend their pay and conditions when you didn’t?

Of course, his objections, and those of many others, basically fall into the category of ‘well I’ve been punched in the face, mugged and then shit upon and I didn’t do a thing about it so you should just lie back and take it too’ Not very noble that, is it? Not particularly logical as any kind of argument against, either.

Put more simply, though, look at it this way: you go for an interview, discuss the role, pay and conditions and maybe do a bit of haggling, maybe not, and then you and your employer sign a supposedly legally binding contract which lays out the obligations and benefits for both sides.

Imagine, then, a year or two into the job, you turn around, one day, and say to your boss, “Hey, you know that bit of my job we agreed on? Signed a contract to say I’d do it? Well, not really feeling that anymore so I aint doing it” Can you imagine the response? Yeah, your ass would be sacked PDQ.

So, with that in mind, why is it ok for the government to now turn around and tell their workforce that a significant part of their pay and conditions, a part significant enough to have been the deciding factor in millions of workers taking the job in the first place, is scrapped?

Striking, as a last resort, to resist this seems to me not only perfectly reasonable but clear-cut and morally, legally and logically unassailable. Apparently not, though…

Because as well as the the jealous, the resentful, the cowardly and the terminally stupid, there are also those who trot out Cameron’s hypocritical mantra that we’re all in it together. We simply can’t afford for teachers, nurses, firemen, dinner ladies etc to have “over generous” pensions subsidised by the tax payers. We all need to make sacrifices in UK PLC’s hour of need.

I see. Like Vodafone did when they got off scot-free with £8 BILLION POUNDS of dodged tax owed to the exchequer? You’d think, given the current climate, us tax payers could’ve done with that cash in the public coffers. What with us all being in it together and that.

Or how about the chiefs of effectively nationalised banks continuing to rake in multi-million pound bonuses for being crap at their jobs? Yeah, be nice to see those boys taking one for Team Britannia. You know, what with us all being in it together and that…

This, of course, exposes another lie they’d love you to swallow. You see, we’re not all in this together as patriotic Brits, doing our bit and making sacrifices. Bollocks to that! After all, what sacrifice are the bankers making? What cuts are we seeing among those made fabulously rich by stealing, ripping-off and driving the economy into the ground?  No, the working class are in this together; employed, unemployed, public sector, private sector, young, old, working, retired and all scraping by on a pittance in comparison, while the super rich and their mates in government want those at the bottom to pay for the greed of those at the top.

So, as Arthur tried to point out during the miners’ strike, this is not just about one group of workers defending their interests. It’s about all of us because if the coalition gets away with stealing the pensions from their own workforce, you can bet your bottom dollar they’ll be coming for the rest of us next. Count on it.

Find your back-bone, find your integrity and take a stand. Join the strike. If you’re not in the public sector, support the strikers and their actions. Make your support known. And if you can’t do that then at least allow cold, hard, self-interest to motivate you because remember; today it’s the public sector, tomorrow it’ll be you. Don’t say you weren’t warned…

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