Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i Classic Rock

Ed Mann January 14, 1954 – June 1, 2024 The drummer and percussionist who played with Frank Zappa for more than a decade, appearing on more than 30 of his albums from 1977 to 1988, has passed away aged 70. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Ed Mann was also a bandleader and composer. Until mid-2014 Mann played with the Band From Utopia, featuring numerous Zappa alumni. At press time no cause of death had been released. James Chance April 20, 1953 – June 18, 2024 James Chance (born James Siegfried) was a singer, saxophonist, bandleader and composer who emerged from New York’s ‘no wave’ scene during the late 70s. His music blended punk-rock aggression with funk and free jazz expression. He was 71 years old at the time of his…

“We’ve got the big guitar solos, some of the Ozzy stuff, Guns N’ Roses, the really heavy grunge stuff. ” Black Smoke Trigger might come from a tiny town in New Zealand, Napier, but their outlook is vast. Everything about them screams ‘ambition’. They work with A-listers. They trained for cold exposure and breath-holding, freediver-style, for the their 2020 breakout video Caught In The Undertow. And their music is refreshingly fearless, marrying muscular hard rock with rich, grungy grit on soaring debut album Horizons. “The idea with this band is to push it as far as we possibly can,” says guitarist Charlie Wallace, having just wrapped up a UK support tour with Bruce Dickinson. “We are all extremely passionate about music, we want to play as many shows as we…

When 40-year-old Ronnie James Dio stormed out of Black Sabbath in 1982, finally defeated by the rampant drug abuse of guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler, the world’s greatest heavy metal singer had an ace up his billowing wizard’s sleeve. Ronnie had recently begun working on a new song, originally with Sabbath in mind, but by the time he finished it he wasn’t in Sabbath any more. Instead he recorded it with his new band – defiantly named Dio. Using his own name was a statement of personal and professional intent. Ronnie had co-created Rainbow with Ritchie Blackmore but remained essentially an employee in the band, as underlined when Blackmore fired him. He’d single-handedly resurrected Sabbath, gifting them the monumental Heaven And Hell album, but again came last in…

Tyler Bryant (guitar, vocals) Truly Handmade Volume 1 by Guy Clark (LP) “This is compiled and produced by Rodney Crowell, one of my favourite songwriters. That tells me that there’s some stuff on here that I need to take in. I know a lot of these songs – L.A. Freeway, Old Time Feeling – but there are some I don’t know. So I’m getting the best of both worlds.” He also bought Iron & Wine’s Our Endless Numbered Days, as a gift for his wife. Graham Whitford (guitar) Lost And Found by Humble Pie (LP) “When I go in a record store, I’m usually trying to find something I’ve never seen or don’t have, like this. I already know I love Humble Pie so I’m pretty sure this album’s going…

Science, Not Fiction PEACEVILLE London metal stalwarts return to show us all how it’s meant to be done. Not that you’d expect these notoriously good eggs to harbour the merest hint of bitterness or avarice, but Orange Goblin have always deserved a bigger platform, wider renown and heaps more love than they’ve been afforded in their almost two decades of existence. Their delicious brand of stoner rock is just like mama used to make – well, Ozzy and Tony, anyway – sledgehammer heavy, as sludgy as going for a dip at a British seaside resort (but a billion times more pleasant and less likely to put you in hospital), with a groove that burrows under your skin and never leaves. On Science, Not Fiction they’ve gone in on some weighty…

Bywater Call Shepherd BCR With the band having rocked the boat on Joe Bonamassa’s blooze cruise last summer, Shepherd, Bywater Call’s third album since 2017, should by rights be the one to break this Canadian seven-piece. The obvious selling point is Meghan Parnell, a real town crier of a frontwoman, who taps the joy or licks the wound at the heart of each song. But the keyword here is chemistry, and the sprawling line-up crackles around her, driving a set of infectious tracks that don’t require repeat listens to feel in your bones. Roughed-up soul belters like Everybody Knows, Sweet Maria and As If are the record’s standouts, each one grabbing you by the collar before the musicians throw it all at the wall in a rave-up outro. Holler shows another…

Ten FRONTIERS Their swan song? Maybe. Maybe not. Mr. Big aren’t quite done yet. As they take a last trip around the world on a tour dubbed The BIG Finish, singer Eric Martin has clarified the band’s position very simply: “No more Mr. Big, touring-wise.” But he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the band playing live again in some limited capacity. And having talked about the good vibes during the making of this new album, he remains optimistic that they could do more. As he said of a recent band meeting: “Everybody was saying: ‘Hey, we could still continue to make records.’ I’m like: ‘Yeah, that would be fun.’” If the energy in this album is anything to go by, there’s still plenty of gas left in the tank.…

“It’s been too long. Our true fans are in the UK, and when we looked into things it was time to bring the lads back.” Considered to be a true kingpin of 1970s American hard rock, Journey need no introduction. Don’t Stop Believin’ might be more than four decades old now, but the song has brought the San Franciscan band a whole new level of fame in recent times. Keyboard player Jonathan Cain, who co-wrote it with guitarist Neal Schon and former singer Steve Perry, previews an 11-date arena tour of the UK and Ireland. Official verification is still required, but Forbes magazine recently claimed that Don’t Stop Believin’ is the most popular song of all time, so congratulations for that. There are many, many, many great songs in our…

‘The Offspring can still deliver a highlight performance.’ Donington Park, Leicestershire The mud (but of course), the rad and the Patton-tly weird of Download 2024. The festivals, they are a-changin’. Download Festival has in recent years shuffled away from its Monsters Of Rock roots to embrace more youthful markets, and the 2024 headliners are reflective of this trend, with all three rising to power in the 21st century. But some things never change. Downpours turn the Donington site into a swamp as punters file in on Friday. But nothing can dampen the spirits of The Struts, and frontman Luke Spiller is on a full charm-offensive that soon has the crowd cheering and singing. The sight of a man in a muddy oversized banana costume is indicative of the triumphant spirit…

Adam Lewis Died June 5, 2024 A founding member and the bassist with Houston-based pop-punks Fenix*TX has died following his “valiant battle with pancreatic cancer”. The 45-year-old was diagnosed with the disease in 2021. Doug Dagger October 17, 1967 – May 30, 2024 Doug Dagger (aka Douglas Scott Kane), the former frontman with US punks The Generators and several other related bands, including Schleprock, has lost a battle with cancer. He was 56 years old. Buzz Cason November 27, 1939 – June 16, 2024 Sometimes referred to as ‘the Father Of Nashville Rock’, Buzz Cason (pictured) was a singer, songwriter and record producer whose biggest hit was the often-covered Everlasting Love, notably delivering a UK No.1 for Love Affair in 1968. Cason was 84 years old. Tommy Viator Died May…

At the age of 66, Derek William Dick is still the same questioning, creative, bold-as-brass force of nature that he was at 22, when he moved from Edinburgh to Aylesbury and joined Marillion, and changed his name to Fish. He picked up the nickname as a teen because of his habit of spending hours in the bath, smoking cigarettes and singing along to his favourite rock music, which back then veered between Genesis and Pink Floyd. Before Fish joined, Marillion were a mainly instrumental group whose love of complicated progressive rock was as yet unmatched by their ability to play their instruments. However, a 1980 demo did contain musical templates for Forgotten Sons, Garden Party and parts of The Web, as they became once Fish had written some lyrics and…

Simon McBride doesn’t usually get nervous before shows, but right now he’s having a mini-meltdown. It’s May 22, 2022, and he’s due to walk out on stage at Tel Aviv’s Menora Mivtachim Arena in less than 15 minutes. He’s played hundreds of gigs before, some of them in venues as big as this, but this is different: it’s his first show as guitarist with Deep Purple. And he’s bricking it. “Basically the shit hit the fan,” he says now. “I was, like: ‘Oh crap, I’m going on stage to play to fifteen thousand people with Deep Purple. How am I going to do this? Aaagh!’” Back in Tel Aviv, his new bandmates are unaware of what’s going through his mind as they troop out onto the stage and fire up…

There’s a certain kind of drummer personality type that you find in a lot of classic rock bands. Think Charlie Watts, Ringo Starr, John Densmore. The steady, even-keeled time keeper. The quiet, sensible one, observing the wild excess and eccentricity of his bandmates from a vantage point at the back of the stage. “Maybe it’s the aerobic exercise that makes us a little more stable,” Fito de la Parra says with a laugh. Fito, 77, is the original drummer - and only surviving member - of veteran blues-rock group Canned Heat. “Of all the instruments, drums is the most physically demanding. You can play another instrument and be totally relaxed. But with drums you’re putting your whole body into play - arms, legs, back, feet. And you’re using your brain…

Struck Down STONY PLAIN Fifteenth studio album by the other little ol’ band from Texas. In the mid-70s, having named his band after Ford’s legendary T-Bird sports car, singer Kim Wilson added the epithet ‘Fabulous’ and they set about winning hearts and minds around their adopted home of Austin, Texas. Playing a good-time cocktail of early rock’n’roll and R&B, the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ reputation spread out of state as they came to define Texas roadhouse blues, thanks largely to the combination of Wilson’s rasping harmonica and hotshot Jimmie Vaughan’s guitar playing. Taken under the wing of Clifford Antone, who would also nurture the likes of Jimmie’s kid brother Stevie Ray and Gary Clark Jr., the four-piece became the house band at the famous Antone’s venue and released their self-titled debut album…

Dir: Michael Lindsay-Hogg DISNEY + Digitally polished fly-on-the-wall Beatles film now streaming on Disney+ While director Michael Lindsay-Hogg likes to see his film Let It Be as the father of Peter Jackson’s extensive three-episode, eighthour, Stockholm Syndrome-tastic Get Back, in present circumstances it’s probably more accurately described as an implausibly lengthy (80-minute) teaser trailer for Get Back. Which, it has to be noted, manages to sell its unexpurgated whole surprisingly short. Capturing the early-’69 Beatles desperately trying to conjure up an entire album’s worth of material to be debuted on a live show/TV special just three weeks later, the fundamentally half-cocked project only seems to fly by the seat of its pants. Metamorphising as it went from live document of triumphal show with a smattering of behind-the-scenes insights to what…

“I always enjoy Bloodstock. In my mind it’s one of those cosy festivals that seems to have a genuine interest in metal.” Longest-serving Opeth member Mikael Åkerfeldt joined the band in 1990. Over the decades the guitarist/vocalist’s vision shaped the Swedish band’s sound, slowly but steadily integrating progressive rock elements into a death-metal blueprint. Previewing their appearance at the Bloodstock Festival in Derbyshire, Åkerfeldt talks about festivals, ‘Åkerfest’, and things he can’t talk about. Opeth have appeared at Bloodstock several times. Where does it rank in the global pantheon of open-air live events? I always enjoy Bloodstock. It’s not as huge as, say, Hellfest or Wacken, but in my mind it’s one of those cosy festivals that seems to have a genuine interest in metal. You once joked – or…

Wembley OVO Arena Two bands of different vintage still know how to hit the sweet spot. As Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt – who appears not to have aged a day since his 90s pomp – peals into Van Halen’s Eruption, you suddenly remember why the hype built quickly around the Boston band and their debut in the late 80s. Admittedly the world wouldn’t quite see it the same way until album two and the lilting More Than Words bought the band houses. Tonight they flit between the sublime and the ridiculous (playing) with ease. Lighting up Wembley with that multimillion-selling ballad and blowing the roof off with songs like the early gem It (‘s A Monster) and the latter-day RISE. They are stupidly good. The Scorpions have always been with…

Aerosmith are set to return to the road in September, as their Peace Out Farewell Tour resumes almost exactly a year after being abandoned. The original dates were announced in May 2023, but the tour was halted after just three shows when singer Steven Tyler sustained damage to his vocal cords. At first a further six concerts were cancelled, then a fortnight later the Boston-based group’s entire tour was pulled when it was revealed that Tyler’s damaged larynx would require a significant period of rest and recuperation. Now, speaking exclusively to Classic Rock, guitarist Joe Perry has opened up for the first time about “the trauma” of nearly losing Tyler, after he “broke his voice”. Perry refers specifically to the night that the singer’s problems became evident, on stage last…

“We’re singing about anger, frustration, humour. Those emotions are universal.” Things the West Midlands has given the world: Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, Steel Pulse and The Specials, Duran Duran, Napalm Death… And let’s not forget the Industrial Revolution. But does the place get the respect it deserves? “No way,” says Big Special frontman Joe Hicklin. “It’s the most important industrial powerhouse in the country, if not the world, but creatively and culturally we’re downtrodden. We’re taught to be ashamed of our accent and where we’re from. We’re not the north, we’re not the south, we’re the forgotten middle.” Hicklin and drummer Callum Moloney (Birmingham-born but based in Bristol for the last 10 years) are waging a two-man war on that perception. The duo’s electrifying debut album, Postindustrial Hometown Blues,…

Almost as soon as Born In The U.S.A. was released, people began telling different stories about what was going on with the album’s cover. Call it one sure sign of success. In somewhat the same way that Abbey Road generated interpretations, theories and myths regarding the artwork, so too did Born In The U.S.A: he’s pissing on the flag; he’s been lifting weights and wants us to see his ass; he’s a good American boy, paying tribute to his country, ball cap in his back pocket. However ungrounded these readings, there they were. Then-US president Ronald Reagan, not one for spending great amounts of time analysing album covers or rock lyrics, preferred the last of them, and publicly voiced his kinship with the artist. Springsteen, not surprisingly, wasn’t inclined to…

Mike Grimes likes to know what his customers are listening to. When you walk into Grimey’s record store and he’s there, you might find yourself getting engaged in a conversation about your favourite music of the moment. That personal touch, shared by co-owner Doyle Davis, along with a friendly, knowledgeable staff, is one of the reasons Grimey’s remains Nashville’s most popular record shop. Opened in 2004, it outgrew two smaller locations before moving to its current home in the former Point Of Mercy Church. Under a distinctive blue butterfly roof, with 4,000 square feet spread over two floors, Grimey’s stocks some 15,000 new and pre-loved vinyl LPs, plus 45s, CDs, turntables, posters, T-shirts, books and magazines (including Classic Rock). There’s also a stage in the back, where they’ve hosted in-store…

Birthday CRASH Multi-national retro rockers explore their demons on fourth studio album. For fans of rootsy, psychedelic rock, Blues Pills have long been a fascinating proposition, their self-titled 2014 debut setting out their stall as holders of the patchouli-scented cosmic rock flame – with powerhouse vocalist Elin Larsson an amalgam of singers from Janis Joplin and Maggie Bell to Shocking Blue’s Mariska Veres. However, despite a promising follow-up in 2016’s Lady In Gold, they’ve since seemed to lose the laser focus, and the departure of guitarist Dorian Sorriaux in 2018 was the precursor to 2020’s disappointing Holy Moly!. Recorded in a few weeks in Varberg, deep in the Swedish countryside, and produced by Grammy-nominated Freddy Alexander, their fourth studio album finds them recapturing at least some of that earlier purpose.…

Passenger Princess The PP EP SELF-RELEASED First of all, according to the Urban Dictionary, a passenger princess is “a girl who doesn’t know how to drive, so her friends drive her around and she just sits in the passenger seat while taking care of the music.” Which is fine if she knows what’s up. Ottawa’s own Passenger Princess definitely know what’s up. A thrumming, throbbing barrage of garage punk with punchy hooks and biting lyrics, The PP EP is the band’s audacious, fuzz-filled debut, and it’s a total jammer. Imagine the group of bratty teens you walk across the street to avoid show up on your lawn at 2am and start blasting away with fast ‘n’ furious punk anthems. That’s what this is like. It’s playful and energetic, but there’s also…

“We could be looking at some sort of latter-day second coming.” London The Roundhouse The band’s original line-up picks up from when the wheels fell off back in 1991. It’s difficult to imagine a more ideal setting for tonight’s shindig. An iconic and storied venue, the Roundhouse has seen quite the parade of rock legends grace its stage over the decades. So the fact that the original line-up of Jane’s Addiction, back together after 14 years, are officially kicking off a UK and European tour here seems kind of appropriate. Prodigal founding bass player Eric Avery returned to the fold in 2022, only for guitarist Dave Navarro to be waylaid by covid until recently. We say ‘officially’ kicking off the tour because the band have already managed a quick ‘secret’…

London Kentish Town Forum A sublime solo show from Maiden’s mouthpiece. Kiwi foursome Black Smoke Trigger (debut album Horizons imminent) young and snake-hipped, their livewire sound slightly grungy. Given that The Way Down, Phantom Pain and Proof Of Life are all unheard by most inside the Forum, the reception they get is surprisingly generous. For Bruce Dickinson, stepping away from Iron Maiden (again) has been a long time coming. “I’ve got twenty years of not playing this shit in front of people,” he says, grinning, introducing Many Doors To Hell, one of four songs from his critically lauded solo newie The Mandrake Project. This is a rare opportunity for the buccaneering singer to remind us of what he is capable of without the benefit of Spitfire or flamethrower props, multiple…