Monday 30th April
Much of my Sunday was spent glued to the computer,
persistent rain pitter-pattering against the windows of
my office. When it left off awhile I seized the opportunity
to take a lengthy walk/run with Bob The Dog. It’s
amazing to think that I had lived here in Catford for
almost a decade without paying a visit to the local landmark
of One Tree Hill, among the highest points in South London,
formerly a picnic spot for Elizabeth I in 1602 and, allegedly,
a vantage point from where Dick Turpin would pick out
his victims before swooping down upon them. After checking
out its leafy view, which extends across the city to the
Alexandra Palace, Bob and I did five circuits of Peckham
Rye Common… never let it be said that I do not live
the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle to the max (ahem!).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 29th April
Crystal Palace’s 2012/’13 season
petered out yesterday with an uninspiring 2-1 home defeat
by promotion-chasing Cardiff – all the more frustrating
as Wilfried Zaha had deservedly given the Eagles a lead
during the first half. Worse still, I was forced to partake
of the game in a semi-sober state thanks to its ridiculously
early kick-off time of 12.30. How’s a man supposed
to achieve oblivion with the pubs and clubs closed…?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 28th April
My reasons for last night’s visit to London’s
West End were twofold; first and foremost to chink a glass
or seven in the Crobar as my friend Steve Hammonds joined
the Half A Century Club. Steve and I worked together on
a fanzine called White Lightning way back in the early
1980s and perhaps unsurprisingly have very similar tastes
in music. After a spell with Universal Records he now
has his fingers in a number of different pies. It’s
good to see him happy ‘n’ healthy, even if
his support of a certain alleged ‘football team’
from the South Coast casts an ugly, unforgivable blight
upon his character.
During the evening I also nipped next door to the Borderline
for a terrific gig from Martin Turner’s Wishbone
Ash. Unlike his rival Andy Powell’s version of Ash,
MTWA do not purport to push forward the group's sound,
indeed when I asked him recently about the possibility
of recording new songs, the bassist replied: “That’s
tricky. I’ve got material, but my gut instinct is
that people prefer to hear stuff we did in the 70s.”
Neither are they entirely serious. We know this because
they insert two lines from Monty Python’s ‘The
Lumberjack Song’ into ‘Warrior’, also
prefacing the immaculate ‘Phoenix’ with a
piss-take snippet of ‘The Birdie Song’. There
was a mischievous glint in Turner’s eye as he plugged
his forthcoming autobiography No Easy Road with the words:
“It's full of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’
roll – it might be good to order a copy before Mr
Powell’s lawyers get hold of it!” And how
about this for a top quality set-list: ‘The King
Will Come’, ‘Front Page News’, ‘The
Pilgrim’, ‘Warrior’, ‘Throw Down
The Sword’, ‘No Easy Road’, ‘Sometime
World’, ‘Lady Jay’, ‘Rock ‘N’
Roll Widow’, ‘F.U.B.B.’, ‘Lifeline’,
‘Ballad Of The Beacon’, ‘Phoenix’
and ‘Blowin’ Free’, topped off by ‘Living
Proof’ and ‘Jailbait’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 27th April
A flood of emails and Facebook postings began to arrive
just as I was preparing to leave for last night’s
gig by Stackridge. The breaking news of the sudden closure
of the UK office of Roadrunner Records astounded me so
much that I almost had to remove my glasses, rub my eyes
and re-read what was before me. Roadrunner have the best
artist roster, the most efficient promo staff and a reputation
and kudos that is second to none. This excellent story
at the Metal
Hammer website does a fine job of summing up the consternation
and sadness caused by the label’s ludicrous decision.
If you ask me the façade represents yet another
landmark in the systematic dismantling of the record industry
as we know it. Sad days indeed…
So thank God for Stackridge, who put on an excellent show
at the Beaverwood Club in Chislehurst. Five years had
elapsed since my last sighting of the West Country eccentrics,
which took place at the 100 Club. On that night their
show came across as a bit of a lunatic-charged circus.
Trimmed to a five-piece this time around, due “practicality
and economic viability”, James Warren and Andrew
Cresswell-Davis are all that remains of the original line-up.
I missed the mysterious presence of the disturbing ‘Crun’
Walters but Claire Linley’s violin-playing was exquisite,
serving to fuse a smorgasbord of psychedelic, pop and
prog sounds. The band are often hailed as “the missing
jewel in the crown of British pop music”, largely
due to the fact that George Martin produced their third
album, 1974’s ‘The Man In The Bowler’
– a cult classic record that Marillion’s Steve
Hogarth still cites among his all-time favourites. For
all of Stackridge’s typical olde English whimsy,
‘Something About The Beatles’ and ‘Everybody’s
Gotta Learn Some Time’ – the latter a Top
Five hit for Warren and Cresswell-Davis with The Korgis
during the group’s 1980s hiatus – seal the
pair’s credentials as ‘serious’ songwriters.
All those lucky enough to have seen this fabulous gig
will surely have hailed Stackridge among this isle’s
foremost hidden treasures.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 26th April
Okay it felt a little bit dirty to support the Germans,
but how good was it to see the world’s most egotistical
player, the insufferably vile Cr***iano Ro***do, miss
that penalty as his team Real Madrid crashed out of some
irrelevant competition called the Champions League. No,
I hadn’t heard of it either… The sight of
José Mourinho on his knees on the touchline, as
prayer turned to despair, was equally side-splitting.
For the third consecutive year I’m honoured to have
been asked to work on the official programme of the Download
Festival. Saxon’s Biff Byford and Brent Smith of
Shinedown were the latest participants to agree to phone
interviews about their big day, whilst Ozzy Osbourne,
Joey Tempest of Europe, Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman
Corey Taylor, Edguy’s Tobias Sammet, Gun’s
Dante Gizzi and Halestorm’s Lzzy hale have all answered
my questions by email. I’m looking forward to editing
down their comments over the next week or two.
Thanks to Mr Postie for a double anthology, ‘The
Essential Blue Öyster Cult’. I wouldn't care
if I never heard ‘(Don't Fear) The Reaper’
again during my time on this Earth, but a few of its more
obscure selections (step forward ‘Flaming Telepaths’,
‘The Marshall Plan’ and ‘In Thee’)
will deffo be going onto the iPod.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 25th April
Given that Curved Air reunited some four years
ago, also their appearance at last year’s High Voltage
Festival, it’s perhaps pretty surprising that I’ve
only seen them onstage once (opening for Argent at the
Forum in December 2010). Last night the Borderline’s
miniscule stage struggled to accommodate six large personalities,
but it was the perfect venue in which to have seen the
band taking another step back up the ladder. Their current
line-up features just two original members: Florian Pilkington-Miksa
on drums and frontwoman Sonja Kristina. The latter, now
known as Sonja Kristina Linwood, doesn’t look 63
years old and certainly doesn’t sing like a pensioner.
The evening’s 105-minute set was culled entirely
from the group’s first four albums, ‘Airconditioning’
and ‘Air Cut’ (released between 1970 and 1973),
Paul Sax acquitting himself well whilst recreating the
violin parts of Darryl Way who exited the band in ’09.
Sax linked up well with guitarist Kit Morgan and keysman
Robert Norton. The blond-haired, bare-chested Morgan riffed
it up a storm during ‘Marie Antoinette’ but
for the most part the music was considerably more laid
back: charmingly, eloquent and irresistible. Here’s
the set-list: ‘Overture’/ ‘Armin’,
‘It Happened Today’, ‘Screw’,
‘Hide And Seek’, ‘Young Mother’,
‘Melinda (More Or Less)’, ‘Propositions’,
‘Easy’, ‘Purple Speed Queen’,
‘Marie Antoinette’, ‘Back Street Luv’,
‘Everdance’, Metamorphosis’ and ‘Vivaldi’,
with an encore of ‘Stretch’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 24th April
Hahaha, yesterday’s interview with Jimmy Barnes
was great… spelled G-R-E-A-T! Among the many things
we discussed was a report of Cold Chisel being booed offstage
whilst supporting Ted Nugent during a 1981 tour of America.
Take it from me; somewhere The Loudman’s ears must
have been burning!!!
I’m enjoying Rush’s newly uploaded track,
‘Headlong Flight’, the first single from the
long-awaited ‘Clockwork Angels’. It’s
great to hear the Canadians playing like a kick-ass power-trio
once again. Check it out here.
Sadly, I’m less enthused about Soundgarden’s
newie, ‘Live To Rise’. To these ears it sounds
a little too much like a Chris Cornell solo tune.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 23rd April
The Underworld was packed for last night’s gig
by Axel Rudi Pell and Mad Max. Every German in London
was there. Seriously, anybody with the foresight to have
opened a sauerkraut and wienerschnitzel stall would have
cleaned up. Though I own a few records by ex-Steeler guitarist
Pell the presence of Mad Max was what tempted me across
London on a rainy Sunday evening. Fronted by Michael Voss
of Michael Schenker fame, the Münster-based quartet
are currently promoting ‘Another Night Of Passion’,
a sprightly, melodic and deeply appealing sequel to 1987’s
cult classic ‘Night Of Passion’. Voss has
a terrific voice and is no slouch on the guitar, leading
his band-mates through an annoyingly truncated set (they
were due to have played for 50 mins but ended 10 mins
early) that comprised: ‘Burning The Stage’,
‘Welcome To Rock Bottom’, ‘Metal Edge’,
‘Wait For The Night’, Guitar Solo, ‘Fallen
From Grace’, ‘Love Loaded’ and…
hell yeah… ‘Night Of Passion’. Judging
by the reaction, I daresay we’ll see them again
before too long.
Given the capital’s dodgy weekend transport links,
having decided to watch Axel Rudi Pell for 15 or 20 mins
and make an early exit, I retreated to the back of the
hall. Big mistake. With Hardline’s immaculate Johnny
Gioelli on vocals, the headliner went down a storm on
songs like ‘Strong As A Rock’ and ‘Before
I Die’, the latter from the new album ‘Circle
Of The Oath’. However, the place was so full that
it was impossible to see or, more importantly, hear the
performance to anything like the standards that I demand.
So with a heavy heart I stuck to Plan A and opted to beat
a premature retreat. With Classic Rock is on production
deadline this week, it seemed the sensible option.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 22nd April
Having resisted the lure of Crystal Palace’s
game at the Madejski Stadium, I spent Record Store Day
spinning me some wax! Started off with Killing Joke’s
‘MMXII’, a double-gatefold on crimson red
vinyl, before remembering that the Mötley Crüe
catalogue stood in the corner of the office, on 180-gram
vinyl, still shrink-wrapped. It certainly killed some
time till the radio commentary began!
Given that the Royals had already sealed promotion back
to the Premier League, it was pretty astonishing that
Freedman’s men delayed the home side’s championship
party till later that same evening when Middlesboro beat
Southampton. Although Reading played much of the game
with ten men, reports suggest that my beloved Eagles deserved
their point from a 2-2 draw.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 21st April
Not that I’m complaining, I must be in the running
for the Guinness Book Of World Records’ title for
the most phone interviews during a single week. Yesterday
I brushed aside my post-Chantel hangover for an early
morning link-up with Phil Small and Don Walker of Cold
Chisel, whose new album ‘No Plans’ has been
rattling the walls for the past few days here at Ling
Towers (encounters with Jimmy Barnes and Ian Moss take
place on Monday). 1979’s ‘Breakfast At Sweethearts’
and the following year’s ‘East’ are
long-established turntable favourites, so I cannot wait
for my first live experience of the Chisel at this summer’s
Hard Rock Calling. ‘No Plans’ is the Aussie
band’s first new record in 13 years… by heck
it’s good! Among the plethora of other phoners was
a chat with the lovely Charlotte Wessels of Dutch symphonic
metalheads Delain, who came up with one of the greatest
‘let’s take a rain-check’ excuses I’ve
ever heard. I was all ready to go at 3pm when Roadrunner
Records emailed to request a later slot as Charlotte had
been “delayed at the hairdresser”!!! Hahaha…
now that doesn’t happen with Kerry King, does it?
During the evening I knocked back a few drinks during
a first glance at Night
By Night, a bunch of young UK-based rockers who were
playing at a sold-out Borderline. They’d been recommended
to me by Paul Anthony of Planet Radio… the estimable
Mr Anthony did not lie; the quintet looked good, sounded
better (especially the multi-part backing harmonies) and
went down a storm. At times they reminded me a little
of early Def Leppard, especially some of the dual-guitar
phrasing and the voice of Daniel Rossall. One to watch,
deffo.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 20th April
Although south London was splattered in almost monsoon-like
conditions I made it to Chantel McGregor’s show
at the Beaverwood Club in Chislehurst to grab a few words
from her for Classic Rock. For those that are unaware,
last year McGregor self-released an extremely impressive
debut album entitled ‘Like No Other’. She
has been lumped in with the UK’s new blues-rock
explosion, but as proposed by ‘Fabulous’ a
defiantly Lady Gaga-esque track that kicks off her record,
a certain “spangly factor” (her own term)
separates Chantel from the likes of Virgil & The Accelerators,
Joanne Shaw Taylor, Oli Brown and the rest. During our
dressing room chat, I asked which act McGregor would most
like to support… sure enough, “Probably somebody
like Lady Gaga, She’s a brilliant business model,”
responded Chantel. “Seriously, I do like her music
though I could never wear a meat dress… I’d
probably end up eating it!”
Following a tip-off from Simon Eldridge, the fellow CPFC
and blues-rock disciple responsible for pointing me in
the direction of Chantel, Virgil and many others, I caught
the opening act. I was glad that I did so. Hailing from
Norfolk, Ron Sayer Jr lays down an agreeable bluesy hard
rock sound, sometimes smooth others very funky. His set
peaked with a tribute to Etta James that featured guest
female singer Charlotte Joyce (I think it was called ‘All
My Loving Gone’). I would deffo go and see Sayer
and his group again. Check him out here.
Chantel McGregor’s headline spot was marvellous.
Backed mostly by a bassist and drummer she also took centre
stage unaccompanied, delivering the swampy blues of ‘I’m
No Good For You’ (which I had no idea was inspired
by the TV vampire show True Blood!), Fleetwood Mac’s
‘Rhiannon’, songs by Metallica and Bob Dylan/Jimi
Hendrix (which her Yorkshire accent served to re-title
as ‘Now’t Else Matters’ and ‘All
Along T’Watchtower’!) and even a surprisingly
enjoyable rendition of Gaga’s own ‘Edge Of
Glory’. Another of the best moments arrived when
McGregor decided to perform ‘Sloe Gin’, a
Joe Bonamassa-popularised number that her drummer had
never heard, let alone played. Somehow he was nursed though
it with comedic results, though these moments of hilarity
should not be allowed to undermine the show’s excellence
on a musical level. Pick up a copy of ‘Like No Other’
here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 19th April
Yesterday’s workload included two rather good
phone interviews; Russell Mael of Sparks and Saga’s
Michael Sadler. After informing him that I’ve been
going to see his band since they opened for Styx at Hammersmith
way back in 1980, I struck up a very good rapport with
Sadler. Late on, the singer, who recently returned to
the Canadian group, began ruminating upon the temptation
of allowing commercial sensibilities to override artistic
integrity. He laughed loudly, sighed deeply, then cackled
again with amusement as I asked: “Hand on heart,
tell the truth… have there been occasions when Saga
crossed that line?” “Saving the best questions
till last, eh?” he responded before another long
and distinctly nervous-sounding pause. “Yeah,”
I replied, “it’s typical trait of English
music journalists.” Kudos to Sadler, who answered
the question with what felt like complete honesty, though
I’m not gonna ruin things by revealing details of
it here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 18th April
Crystal Palace’s run of woeful form continues.
Though hardly unpredictable, the home side having to claim
all three points to maintain their narrow hope of survival
in the division, last night’s 2-1 defeat to Pompey
was the club’s seventh without a win. It’s
all getting rather tiresome.
Speaking of which, it’s a drizzly, depressing day
here in south London. The arrival of Rock Candy Records’
new Max Webster re-masters (the Canuck group’s first
three albums… complete with lengthy Suterian sleeve
essays) should drive away those pesky rainclouds.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 17th April
I’m still wading through the new issue
of Prog magazine, which besides the tale of my recent
trip to Hawkwind HQ features
an excellent At Home-style cover feature by Dom Lawson
on Mikael Åkerfeldt and Steven Wilson’s Storm
Corrosion project and a truly hilarious account of the
night in 1974 that Keith Emerson outdid his ELP band-mates
by playing a flying, rotating grand piano for 250,000
fans at the California Jam (“I’m sure roadies
are still laughing their arses off about it in bars all
over the world!”). Terrific stuff.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 16th April
I was only going to stay for an hour or two at yesterday’s
video shoot for ‘Nothing To Lose But Our Minds’
by The Treatment, but ended up being filmed standing next
to the recording console used by the Beatles at Abbey
Road, surrounded by sexy nurses and necking Jägermeister
from the bottle. I think there was some more disco dancing
involved, too. Regrettable scenes and no mistake. No wonder
I don’t recall too much of the journey home. The
nurses were extremely useful when I fell down the stairs
whilst attempting to leave. It was not very dignified,
I’m afraid...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 15th April
Despite going for a nice curry afterwards with my
friends Kev Denman and Mark Kentfield (chicken phal, mushroom
pilau… mmmmmm!), yesterday’s 1-1 draw between
Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town was a bit of a yawn. Having
begun the season so strongly, even flirting with promotion
for a few weeks, the wheels have well and truly come off,
and its conclusion simply cannot come quickly enough for
me. It’s a sorry situation, as form quite often
continues into a successive campaign. I would hate for
the Eagles to go into 2012/’13 looking as abject
and unimaginative as they do right now.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 14th April
Well, it was a fairly typical Friday the 13th. During
the evening I headed to the Hob in Forest Hill, just a
brisk walk away from Ling Towers, for a gig by the up
‘n’ coming UK rockers Four Wheel Drive. As
I chatted with the guys for a short while before they
played they told me of receiving electric shocks during
the soundcheck. Worse still, the power supply packed in
during their very first song – hardly an ideal way
to begin a gig! Luckily they have a creditable repertoire
of tunes – imagine a Southern Rawk version of AC/DC,
with some Aerosmith-flavoured riffs thrown in for good
measure – and given the quality of newly penned
material a really strong second album is in the pipeline.
Following a week of working on my accounts, the band provided
a good soundtrack for the blowing off of some steam. If
you’ve not yet checked out 4WD then take a lookee
at the video
for ‘High Roller’
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 13th April
Classic Rock’s Editor In Chief, Scott Rowley,
has a lot to answer for. A few weeks ago he demanded in
friendly but firm tones that I get to grips with iTunes,
as from now on (for the purposes of the magazine’s
iPad edition) audio content must accompany all future
stories. Well, it’s certainly turned out a bit of
an iOpener! After submitting ten essential Uriah Heep
songs from the David Byron era I felt compelled to add
some material from the ‘Head First’ and Abominog’
to my menu. From there, I bunged on a few of my favourites
by Sweet (**a few**??… try 48!!!), then some tracks
from Paul Stanley’s first solo record, some classic
It Bites, some Steely Dan, UFO, Roadmaster, Rush, Quo,
Van Halen, Supertramp, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Starz and
Strangeways’ entire ‘Native Sons’ album,
plus ‘Love Bomb Baby’ by Tigertailz. Yeah,
it’s all gotten a bit out of hand. There are now
453 tunes on my playlist, and that’s **before**
I get around to adding any FM, Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Deep
Purple or Mötorhead. Though I’m sure that Steven
Wilson will never talk to me again I’m considering
the purchase of an iPod to take with me when I go out
running. So, yeah… I’m now on Facebook and
getting to grips with downloading music… whatever
next? Should I ever feel the inclination to start Tweeting,
you have my full permission to shoot me.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 12th April
Last night was spent at the Dorchester
Hotel on Park Lane, of all places, where a playback of
a new Metallica-related docu-film took place. Mission
To Lars tells the unusual yet heart-warming tale of Tom
Spicer, a 40-year-old affected by Fragile X syndrome.
Although he lives in a care home in Exmouth, for half
of his life metal-mad Spicer has wanted to meet Lars Ulrich.
However, there are problems… besides his condition
(an extreme form of autism), Tom is terrified of volume
and large crowds. Nevertheless, his sister Kate and brother
William (the latter of whom just happens to be a filmmaker)
set out on a seemingly hopeless quest to make their sibling’s
dream come true, flying to the States, hiring a camper
van and following the group around, all the while attempting
to overcome Tom’s psychoses. When the drummer finally
enters a backstage room, greets Spicer warmly (and without
a whiff of patronisation), and encourages him to play
his warm-up kit, the look of profound joy on Tom’s
face is just wonderful. Speaking as somebody with autism
issues in his family, I was extremely moved by the film
(as, apparently was Lemmy Kilmister, who attended a previous
preview). With proceeds going to MENCAP, the Spicers could
have an unlikely hit on their hands when Mission To Lars
debuts in UK cinemas in June.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 11th April
Hurrah, the new website for Prog
Magazine has finally gone live. Crammed with news,
features and celeb blogs, it’s a must-visit for
fans of the genre.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 10th April
Oh dear… A depressing result from
Selhurst: Crystal Palace 0, Southampton 2… dammit!
However, during the first half I thought that the Eagles
more than held their own and spent quite a while in the
ascendancy. Losing a goal in the 39th minute was a bad
time to concede (especially as it was set up by ex-SE25
hero Danny Butterfield), but after the break the visitors
showed the gulf in class – certainly inside the
penalty area. Nevertheless, Norwich loanee Martin really
should have pulled a goal back and thanks to one of the
worst refereeing displays in recent memory - Gary Sutton
of Lincolnshire, you’d better not venture to Catford
anytime soon! – CPFC were also denied a spot-kick
right at the death. However, with six home-grown players
featured in the squad, including a first League start
for 17-year-old Kyle da Silva, there were plenty of positives
to take away.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 9th April
In a while I shall be off to the real
Home Of Football (Selhurst Park) after a few Tesco wine
pouches to numb the pain. My beloved Eagles have shipped
10 goals in their last four games. Facing promotion-chasing
Southampton, and with just a solitary win in eight matches
I’m fearful of a bit of a whupping. At least we
are mathematically free of relegation... anyway, let Operation
Obliteration commence! Hic!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 8th April
To the chav lowlife that tried to snatch
my BlackBerry yesterday on the way to Laurie Mansworth’s
50th birthday party... FOAD, you utter wank-stain! Otherwise
(apart from Palace conceding three more goals, this time
away to Birmingham City), I had a truly great night. Take
it from me, LM is a beast... vodka jellos at 8.15pm, followed
by shots of Jägermeister, then some incendiary, cinnamon-flavoured
red gunge, followed by disco dancing (!) till 4am... Oh
dear... I hope and pray that there are no photographs
of this alleged jitterbug action.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 7th April
Ahead of an upcoming phone interview I have just been
listening to Saga’s new album, ‘20/20’,
which is due in July. As implied by the title it’s
the Canadian group’s 20th release, marking the return
of lead singer Michael Sadler. To these ears it’s
a vast improvement upon 2009’s ‘The Human
Condition’, which featured Rob Moratti (Final Frontier)
on vocals. I’m particularly taken with the song
‘Anywhere You Wanna Go’… one of Saga’s
finest!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 6th April
Carl Dixon just added me to his Facebook
page. Whilst lurking there I was thrilled to see the following
post: “Basking in the afterglow of three days of
Coney Hatch recording for new album! I like ‘Bounce
Back’ for a title, but that’s just me.”
Personally, I prefer ‘Bouncebackability’ (©
Iain Dowie), but what the heck – I’d love
to hear a new Coney Hatch record. It’s been way
too long since ‘Friction’ way back in 1985,
and the Canadians ruled supreme at last year’s Firefest.
The postman just delivered a finished copy of ‘Essential
Terrorvision’, a rather good two-disc anthology
of the Bradford terrors, for which I wrote the sleeve
notes. It looks really good.
P.S. This month’s Playlist
and YouTube amendments are up.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 5th April
It’s mid-afternoon and I’m still recovering
from a night of no sleep following UFO’s gig at
the Forum in London (don’t ask!). Although it was
the birthday of my friend Paul Newcomb I managed to extricate
myself from the pub in time for the Heavy Metal Kids’
support slot. With two just bands on the bill instead
of three as per the previous night, the Kids had time
for some extra tunes. “Excellent news”, I
thought: “Maybe they’ll balance things out
with a couple of oldies.” Blow me down, instead
we got two more from ‘Hit The Right Button (namely
‘Message’ and ‘Whiskey’). Eh??!!
Having stood in front of Vinnie Moore the night before,
I obtained a slightly different perspective by watching
UFO from Paul Raymond’s side of the stage. The sound
was fantastic, my sole annoyance a female with a voice
like a foghorn who kept bellowing out at ear-splitting
volume for ‘Love To Love’. Once they’d
played the song concerned everybody assumed it would stop,
but instead she began screeching her adulation of Phil
Mogg. “We love you Phiiiiiiilllll”…
followed by: “You look awful but we looooooove you.”
When I turned around the voice was coming from the wheelchair
section, and it belonged to somebody who definitely shouldn’t
be throwing stones in any greenhouses. Most odd…
Anyway, the band played the same set (see yesterday’s
entry for details), with Mogg appearing marginally more
sober than in Br***ton. At times the singer seemed in
fine spirits – “Gatorade have changed the
colour of their liquid; it now appears to look like beer!”,
he announced before a sprightly ‘Let It Roll’
– though as the show progressed he was increasingly
distracted by a couple of guys heckling him. By ‘Doctor
Doctor’ Mogg told them: “If you say that one
more time I’m likely to get off this stage and deal
with you – give you a good clock,” and for
a while it seemed like he would do so but thankfully the
moment passed.
At the after-show party I had a frank exchange of views
with Cosmo and Justin from the HMK, who asked me what
I thought of the gig. I gave them the politically correct
answer (my friends Harj Kallah and Andy Beare hadn’t
seen them before and really enjoyed them, which I proposed
could only be a good sign), and they replied: “Okay,
now tell us what you **really** thought… you can
be as brutal as you like”. And I did so. In fairness,
they seemed to take it pretty well.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 4th April
Okay, here’s a bit of a quiz. The
lead singer of which band last night admitted the following
during a gig in Br***on: “I’ve got that Michael
Flatley feeling, you know… where your feet move
in a different direction to your body? The bar’s
over here, but your body’s going over there…”
Clue: It's the same fella that a few numbers earlier had
gazed down at the stage and pretended to read a pre-prepared
note, before announcing: “Talk to the audience casually.
Make out you haven’t had a drink”.
Yes, UFO played the Gay Capital Of The World and Sir Philip
Of Mogg was ‘as the newt’. It made for great
entertainment, though the bit where he asked us: “Did
anyone come here to see Boys 2 Men...?” was a bit
surreal. I also loved it when, during the new album’s
‘Wonderland’, somebody at the side of the
stage appeared in a gorilla suit to enhance its lyric
about monkeys. Mogg merely shrugged: “Wow, I didn’t
see that coming!”
The show was kicked off by the new-look Heavy Metal Kids,
with former Down ‘N’ Outz bassist Ronnie Garrity
having succeeded Ronnie Thomas before the tour due to
“personal reasons”, and guitarist Justin McConville
on vocals. They left me somewhat perplexed. With 40 minutes
to fill the Kids played two covers – The Angels’
‘Marseille’ and a thumping ‘Rock Candy’
by Montrose – plus a glut of material from the era
in which Danny Peyronel fronted the band. Great songs
undoubtedly, but Peyronel is no longer in the band and
neither guitarist Cosmo nor McConville appeared on the
album concerned, ‘Hit The Right Button’. In
terms of the classics all the audience got was ‘Chelsea
Kids’ and ‘She’s No Angel’ (featuring
a ‘guest appearance’ from Ronnie Thomas),
leaving ‘The Cops Are Coming’, ‘Squalliday
Inn’ and ‘Delirious’ out in the cold…
I didn’t get it.
Amazingly, Mogg held things together just fine. I was
a little disappointed that UFO didn’t include ‘Angel
Station’ from the new album ‘Seven Deadly’,
but the four songs they **did** choose were excellent,
especially ‘Burn Your House Down’. It was
good to hear ‘Venus’ from ‘Walk On Water’
again, though the unadventurous nature of their set-lists
really is becoming an issue (certainly for yours truly).
A jam-packed Concorde 2 whooped and hollered as UFO played
‘Mother Mary’, ‘Fight Night’,
‘Wonderland’, ‘I’m A Loser’,
‘Let It Roll’, ‘Mojo Town’, ‘Burn
Your House Down’, ‘Only You Can Rock Me’,
‘Love To Love’, ‘Hell Driver’,
‘Venus’, ‘Too Hot To Handle’,
‘Lights Out’ and ‘Rock Bottom’,
followed by ‘Doctor Doctor’ and ‘Shoot
Shoot’, but to these ears the show cries out for
a tune like ‘Cherry’, ‘Alpha Centauri’/‘Lettin’
Go’, ‘Chains Chains’, ‘We Belong
To The Night’, ‘Blinded By A Lie’, ‘When
It’s Time To Rock’… the list really
is endless. The band say the audience doesn’t go
as apeshit for these tunes as the ‘SITN’ material
though I bet they would if they stuck to their guns.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 3rd April
Am off to Br***ton later this afternoon
for the first of two UFO gigs a 24-hour timeframe. This
audio
interview with drummer Andy Parker has certainly whetted
my appetite. Mr Parkaaaaah certainly pulls no punches
in his update on the current status of Pete Way. I think
the term ‘unflinchingly honest’ applies here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 2nd April
Besides writing some DVD and album reviews –
I am really liking the forthcoming CDs from Trixter and
Tyketto (titled ‘New Audio Machine’ and ‘Dig
In Deep’, respectively) – much of my Sunday
was spent prepping for and conducting a phone interview
with Stuart Nicholson, the frontman of the veteran Dorset-based
neo-proggers Galahad. A video preview of their album ‘Battle
Scars’ can be seen here.
Nicholson had some rather good stories; we both giggled
as he recounted the time that Galahad performed a gig
in the unlikely location of a Southampton car showroom
(!).
Later in the evening I also managed to complete LZ-’75,
a paperback account of Led Zeppelin’s 1975 tour
of the USA written by Stephen Davis. Compiled from a previously
lost set of notebooks by the Hammer Of The Gods author,
who travelled on the Starship with the band, it’s
a good, undemanding page-turner (or should that be Page-turner)
of a book… well worth the modest £3 that I
paid for it at my favourite music vendor, Fopp Records.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 1st April
How embarrassing… Crystal Palace
0 Nottingham Florist 3 was the result from yesterday’s
clash at Selhurst Park. Scrapping for their lives at the
foot of the table (a place the Eagles are relieved to
be away from this season), Florist simply wanted the points
that much more and thanks to a well taken hat trick from
Radoslaw Majewski plucked them with the simplest of ease
from the home side’s back pocket.
Still seething over manager Dougie Freedman’s negative
tactics – playing 4-5-1 at home???!!! – and
the manner of his side’s capitulation, I bought
two litres of gut-rot cider and headed over to Brixton
Academy where The Treatment, fresh from being confirmed
as the opening act for a Stateside tour with Kiss and
Mötley Crüe this summer, were closing out a
run of dates with Steel Panther. Accompanied by chicks
waving Union Jack flags, the lads from Cambridge took
to the stage to the sound of ‘Land Of Hope And Glory’
and proceeded to whip the crowd into a frenzy. Tunes from
the ‘This Might Hurt’ album sounded great,
and they’re really growing into a set-closing rendition
of Slade’s ‘Get Down And Get With It’.
For The Treatment the future is looking extremely bright.
By the time Steel Panther began with ‘Supersonic
Sex Machine’, my cider haze was taking hold. Truth
told, I’m slightly ambivalent to the Panther whose
joke is something that becomes old very quickly. However,
from my place in the backstage bar (admittedly behind
a Perspex window high above the throng), their command
of such a huge and devoted audience was pretty damned
astonishing.
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