Tuesday 28th February
I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday’s
trip to Sweet guitarist Andy Scott’s place in the
West Country, where I became the first outsider to hear
the group’s new studio album. Though the fact that
‘New York Connections’ is a covers album is
already in the public domain I’ve been asked not
to divulge any significant details prior to its official
release, which is still a few weeks away (that’s
okay, I can ‘do’ confidential if I try hard
enough!!). Suffice to say that the band have selected
some tracks that will come as a complete surprise and
others that probably will not, awarding them the full
Sweet stacked vocal harmony treatment. Following the playback
Andy, his batman Kevin Smith and I headed to a local watering
hole for a tasty pub lunch and a wide-ranging discussion
that touched upon vanishing Koi carp, the new Status Quo
documentary, crop circles and, um… van hire adverts.
I couldn’t resist sampling some of the local gut-rot
scrumpy cider which helped me to doze for a large chunk
of the train journey back to London. All in all, a fantastic
day out and an experience to file under ‘childhood
ambition realised’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 27th February
The total sponsorship monies for my 10K
run continues to escalate. Fresh from his work on the
new Accept album, former Sabbat guitarist Andy Sneap has
pledged a tenner. Referring to a fracas at the Hammersmith
Clarendon way back in the 80s, when I was threatened by
Virus’ heavily tattooed singer, then rescued from
a nasty mauling by the intervention of Satan/Pariah/Skyclad
guitarist Steve Ramsay, Sneap proved a memory as long
as his hair with the comment: “Just imagine Henry
Heston is behind you... You’ll be past that finish
line in seconds.” I also raised a loud titter when
fellow scribe Joel McIver dropped by the web
page to offer a very metal £6.66… marvelous.
Many thanks to everyone that has donated.
It felt a bit dirty supporting Liverpool in yesterday’s
League Cup Final against Cardiff, the team that vanquished
Palace in the semis, but what the heck. The trophy stays
in England. Yessssssssssss! I’m happy with that.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 26th February
I’m still giggling at that complete
plum Mark Noble, who told the TV cameras it was “guttering”
that Wet Sham didn’t get all three points again
Palace in a game the visitors could easily have won. No,
“guttering” is something else entirely. How
many braincells...?! The game was watched by a rather
full Ling Towers, strong booze washing down a mountain
of bacon sarnies. I’m a bit peeved that Fat Sam
Allardyce once again saw fit to take a pop at Super Dougie’s
Palace, just ‘cos the ’Apless ’Ammers
couldn’t beat them. What an ungracious, conceited
twat. Fat Sam’s team will go up, but straight back
down again. Sorry, Shammers.
Afterwards we made the most of the mild weather by retiring
to the local park for a game of footie – Clan Ling
(myself and Eddie) versus Clan Pudney (Neil and his son
Luke) with Bob The Dog trying to assist the ‘home’
side whether possible, to the chagrin of our long suffering
referee, Harj Kallah.
Once everyone had gone home, the remainder of Saturday
night was spent playing the new Rock Candy edition of
the ‘Time Tells No Lies’ album by Praying
Mantis here in my office at full blast, followed by my
newly acquired version of UFO’s ‘Seven Deadly’
on beautiful, double gatefold orange vinyl.... f**k the
neighbours.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 25th February
As some of you may know, I am set to undertake
a 10K fun run in Crystal Palace Park a week tomorrow.
Well, my race number has just arrived and so has the device
that one ties into one’s shoelace to calculate the
finish time. This being my first such event, and because
I’m really only doing it for the heck of it, I had
decided not to seek sponsorship. However, I was surprised
to realise that the terms of my entry demanded 10 x £5
sponsors, so cautiously I asked a few close friends how
they might feel about raising some cash for Breast Cancer
charities (as somebody close to me is currently suffering
the fallout of this awful disease). By lunchtime the total
had reached £160… blimey!!! That was a bit
of a shock! Should anyone else feel like chipping in to
sponsor me in the fun-run and help out this extremely
good cause, please click here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 24th February
It’s been a long week dominated
by interview tape transcription, an arduous and repetitive
process, so this afternoon I was happy to take a short
break and conduct a phone interview Michael Kiske and
Kai Hansen, the former Helloween pair who are now members
of the band Unisonic.
I must say, I’m rather taken with the Unisonic album
– a fruity, melodic slab of heavy metal (due for
release via Ear Music/Edel on March 23). Its title song
is a bit of a steal of Twisted Sister’s ‘You
Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll’ and
‘Stormbringer’ by Deep Purple, but hey…
it’s great to hear Michael singing hard rock once
again. Kiske and Hansen were both in talkative mood, which
makes my job that much easier.
Anyway, I’m already looking forward to a great weekend
of sport. Various pals have threatened to show up for
a massive piss-up here at Ling Towers. A fry-up will line
the stomach before the early drinking begins, then the
Wet Sham-Palace match on Sky at lunchtime, England versus
the Taffs with the oval-shaped ball, followed by the second
T20 game between Eng and Pakistan. Bring it on…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 22nd February
Had you told me as a spotty, pudding
bowl-coiffured teenager that someday I would be invited
to guitarist Andy Scott’s country pile in the west
of England for a sneaky preview of a new album by my favourite
band, Sweet, then I’d
probably have called you delusional. But incredibly, it’s
actually happened. As I type this, preparing for a phone
interview with Jonathan Davis of Korn, I’m spinning
my vinyl of Zebra Records’ 1987 release ‘Hard
Centres: The Rock Years’ – complete with Malcolm
Dome’s sleeve notes – it still sounds absolutely
bloody awesome.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 21st February
Having been decidedly unimpressed by ‘Tattoo’,
its somewhat iffy first single, last week I finally managed
to beg/steal/borrow a copy of the new Van Halen album
‘A Different Kind Of Truth’ (thanks a lot,
Steve Hammonds!!). Commercially speaking the groups first
album in 14 years went straight in at #2 in the Billboard
Chart, but verdicts have been pretty polarised, Malcolm
Dome attracting the ire of the haters for a critique at
the Classic
Rock website which claims “it’s OK, but
no more”, while melodicrockcom’s Andrew McNeice
awarded a mark of 98%. Though my schedule hasn’t
allowed a whole lot of time to delve beneath its skin,
‘ADKOT’ received the thumbs up from yours
truly on first spin alone. My rating lies somewhere between
the two extremes (Ooops – Gary Cherone pun unintentional!!),
though I suspect ‘Chickenfoot III’ will prove
the superior record when all’s said and done.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 20th February
If Carlsberg made football results...
Yesterday afternoon Br***ton & Homo Albion were thrashed
6-1 by Liverpool, conceding no less than three own goals
in an FA Cup tie at Anfield – thus fulfilling an
age-old tradition of Br***tonians scoring up the wrong
end. The result meant utter, glorious, shameful humiliation
for Palace’s loathed rivals. P.S. Poyet now states:
“We’re not ready for the Premier League”.
No shit, Sherlock!!!
Here we go again: Play… Stop… Rewind…
Play – Yes, it’s set to be another busy week
of interview transcription. For the very first time in
my lengthy career as a music writer I’ve just used
the word “obstreperous”. Given that the term
means “resisting control or restraint in an unruly
difficult manner; noisy, clamorous, or boisterous”,
it’s perhaps no wonder that it cropped up in a story
about Uriah Heep!! (Ashley Howe, please go direct to Pseud’s
Corner... do not pass go, do not collect £50).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 19th February
The result from yesterday’s clash at Selhurst
Park: Crystal Palace 4, Twatford 0. In the wake of the
Eagles’ first league victory of 2012, which ended
a run of six winless fixtures and all but preserves the
club’s status in the Championship for another season,
I found myself in the Crobar, pounding down a few sambuca
shots. Consequently, I’m feeling a wee bit poorly
today.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 18th February
Following a hectic day of phone interviews –
I spoke to Halestorm’s Lizzy Hale, Brent Smith of
Shinedown and the British-born, now Californian-based
blues guitarist Philip Sayce – last night was spent
at home, catching up on some crap telly. The Biggest Loser
is an awful, awful TV show, yet I love the stupidity of
its wobbly-bellied contestants who all seem to think that
voting one another off the competition is the hardest
thing they’ll ever do in the their lives –
get real. It’s great to have The Walking Dead back
on our screens again after its series intermission, and
although I cannot work out whether it’s supposed
to be a comedy or a drama the new season of True Blood
just keeps on getting better. When a new run of Mad Men
begins again for the first time since October 2010, you
will have to prise me from my comfy living room chair.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 17th February
I’m a big fan of London-based melodic power
metal DragonForce, having followed their career since
they opened for Halford at the LA2 in 2000 under the name
of DragonHeart. The only downside to DF is the complete
plums that tend to attend their gigs. Take last night
for instance. The band were playing a special intimate
show at the 100 Club to preview their fifth album, ‘The
Power Within’. You’d think that the fans would’ve
been thrilled to have gained admission. Most of them were,
but of course I found myself standing next to one complete
tosser who’d come along purely to shout abuse. This
brain-dead individual thought it was clever to keep bellowing:
“Bring back the old singer!” (seemingly unable
even to recall ZP Theart’s name). Undeniably, Marc
Hudson has big boots to fill but as the newcomer introduced
‘Starfire’, this berk announced to his mates:
“I can sing this better than that c**t,” before
proceeding to prove that he singularly could not. Imagine
my fury when I moved to evade his annoying presence, only
to find the donut standing and his cronies next to me
again. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Anyway, the show was very good indeed. My interest piqued
by a two-page story in the current issue of Metal Hammer,
I made a point of catching the support act, Pythia. The
female-fronted symphonic metalheads **do** perform in
rather silly mock-warrior garb that includes leather body
armour (very useful for deflecting arrows… not!),
and Emily Alice Ovenden (also a member of The Mediaeval
Babes) **does** have an operatic-style voice powerful
and classy enough to complement her dark good looks. I
shall make a point of tracking down the UK band’s
new album ‘The Serpent’s Curse’.
No matter how wrecked they might get, DragonForce never
fail to entertain. During their opening song, ‘Heroes
Of Our Time’, Sam Totman stood behind Herman Li,
directing slanty-eyed gestures and ‘wanker’
hand signals at his guitar counterpart, who responded
to this challenge with yet another unfeasibly fast barrage
of notes. Already comfortable in the band’s legendary
mickey-taking culture, Marc Hudson grinned: “This
song came out when I was 15 years old – I didn’t
buy it then and I wouldn’t buy it now” as
an introduction to ‘Black Fire’.
Perhaps surprisingly, the band opted to play just two
new tracks in the 75-minute set; ‘Cry Thunder’
was debuted when they supported Iron Maiden last year,
and sounds rather like Manowar with Thin Lizzy-ish guitar
parts added (not a bad thing in my book), whilst ‘Lost
Fallen World’ lived up to Hudson’s description
as “the fastest song that DragonForce has ever written”.
I’m really looking forward to grabbing a copy of
‘The Power Within’, which arrives via the
band’s own Electric Generation Recordings on April
15. Here’s the set-list: ‘Heroes Of Our Time’,
‘Operation Ground And Pound’, ‘Cry Thunder’,
‘My Spirit Will Go On’, ‘Starfire’,
‘Lost Fallen World’, ‘Black Fire’,
‘The Last Journey Home’ and ‘Fury Of
The Storm’, followed by an inevitable encore of
their video game-popularised signature song ‘Through
The Fire And Flames’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 16th February
OM-fuggin’-G... a watermarked audio
promo of Iron Maiden’s live double album ‘En
Vivo!’ (see Diary, February 1st) has just arrived
from EMI Records by motorcycle courier. I almost kissed
the poor fella! Kevin Shirley’s sound mix sounds
absolutely amazing on my office Death Deck. Speaking of
which… It’s interesting that Maiden are to
turn the clock back to 1988 this summer with a series
of North American shows based upon their ‘Maiden
England DVD’, which was filmed on the ‘Seventh
Son Of A Seventh Son’ tour. UK appearances are thus
far conspicuous by their absence, but the press release’s
closing statement of “Rest of world... we’ll
see you next year!” is pretty encouraging.
Meanwhile, much of the last day or two has been spent
getting to know the forthcoming conceptual It Bites album,
‘Map Of The Past’ (due via Inside Out Music
on March 26), with a 500-word review for the next issue
of Prog magazine in mind. New underwear pls... It’s
a right little beaut. (That’s eight words…
just 492 to go!)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 15th February
Like many others, presumably, I’m
upset by the news that the next issue of Classic Rock
Presents AOR (#6, which hits the stands on February 28),
will be the last in the title’s present format.
A “giant-sized Yearbook/Bookazine” is planned
for later this year, possibly in September, but so far
as the bi-monthly mag goes, that’s it… kaput.
Don’t ask me why the plug was pulled, it’s
probably a conversation for the bar (though it’s
no great secret that I was opposed to the title of ‘AOR’
from the off, and of course the usually high cover price
must have played its part)… The word ‘Gutted’
is a bit of an understatement.
Considering all of the above, a thunderous pat on the
back is due to the staff of Fireworks magazine, the 50th
issue of which (which features Amy lee of Evanescence
on the cover) has thumped onto the mat at Ling Towers.
Well done to all concerned; the magazine’s contributors
do not receive financial reimbursement for their efforts,
instead they are happy to share their love of music and
keep the scene alive in the purest possible sense. Check
out an interview with Fireworks editor Bruce Mee here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 14th February
No, the postie didn’t bring me a Valentine’s
Day card yesterday, but I’m still smiling thanks
to the receipt of a certain voicemail – :-) :-)
:-) :-) :-) – even after Crystal Palace contrived
to throw away a 2-0 lead at Brizzle City, drawing a game
that they had seemed destined to have won, or at least
taken a point from. This was a major disappointment as
until facing the Eagles, BC had quite literally become
a team that couldn’t have scored in a brothel with
the aid of Ron Jeremy’s private bits, at least since
flogging their best player Nicky Maynard to Wet Sham.
Most of the day was spent in the habitual ‘play-stop-rewind-play’
formation, transcribing my recent phone interviews with
Steve Morse, Neal ‘No Relation’ Morse, Casey
McPherson and Dave LaRue, AKA the members of Flying Colors
that are not named Mike Portnoy, for an upcoming story
in Prog magazine. I must say that Flying Colors’
album (self-titled, set to be released via Music Theories
Recordings on March 26), is a right little belter…
sounding nothing like Deep Purple, Dream Theater or Spock’s
Beard, but full of intelligent-sounding, very immediate
material, or as the press release quite rightly puts it:
“Virtuoso musicians and a pop singer joining together
to make new-fashioned music the old-fashioned way”.
Prog magazine had commissioned me to review
last night’s London show from Pain Of Salvation.
Luckily I arrived at the Garage in good time to see support
act Cryptex, an often bass guitar-less and endearingly
bizarre trio from Salzgitter, Germany, whose debut album
‘Good Morning, How Did You Live?’ has received
many favourable critiques. Exchanging their instruments,
or simply dropping the bass altogether, one minute they
were brandishing what appeared to be a mini-glockenspiel
during the track ‘Alois’, the next manic frontperson
Simon Moskon produced a didgeridoo to introduce ‘Gypsy’s
Lullaby’. I thought they were great, and the Garage
seemed to agree.
Daniel Gildenlöw and company were making a swift
return to the UK after supporting Opeth last November,
pepping material from their current release ‘Road
Salt Two’ with unexpected catalogue gems such as
‘Enter Rain’ from ‘Scarsick’ and
‘The Perfect Element’ album’s Ashes’;
selections that Gildenlöw called “songs we
never thought we’d play live, not because we didn’t
want to do so but because they’re very difficult
[to perform].” Not that musicianship nor quality
vocals are areas that Pain Of Salvation should feel the
need to fret about. With Luke Machin of The Tangent making
a guest appearance on guitar during ‘No Way’,
the band were on top form, though I must confess my attention
started to wander during some of their more drawn-out
tracks. Anyway, here’s the set-list: ‘Softly
She Cries’, ‘Ashes’, ‘Linoleum’,
‘The Deeper Cut’, ‘1979’, ‘To
The Shoreline’, ‘Chain Sling’, ‘Ending
Theme’, ‘Stress’, ‘Kingdom Of
Loss’, ‘No Way’ and ‘Enter Rain’,
plus encores ‘The Physics Of Gridlock’ and
‘Sisters’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 13th February
Managed to get in some running over the
weekend. On Saturday afternoon I completed ten laps of
the local park – beating my existing record by two
complete circuits. When I reached nine laps it had seemed
silly not to get into double figures. So the training
for next month’s 10K fun seems to be going according
to plan.
Much of yesterday afternoon was spent braving ‘bus
replacement services’ as I attempted to cross London
by train to hear a few tracks from Vega’s forthcoming
second album. Singer Nick Workman was laying down some
final vocal parts with John Greatwood, the producer/engineer
of their highly regarded debut ‘Kiss Of Life’.
I heard about a half-dozen tunes in various states of
completion. Knowing my aversion to the band, Nick joked:
“There’s much less U2 on this album. It’s
more like Coldplay.” In fact, what they played me
was quite a bit more guitar-orientated, with just two
tracks (‘Skin Deep’ and ‘Hands In The
Air’) that could legitimately be described as AOR/melodic
rock. Indeed, several hours later and one of the songs,
‘White Knuckle Ride’, is still bouncing around
my brain. That has to be a good sign…
P.S. My boozing buddy Mark Taylor has posted a fine (if
ever so slightly drink-sodden) overview of the recent
Great British Rock And Blues weekend in Skegness. Read
it here.
Obviously, names and details of certain alleged events
have been amended to protect the innocent. Is it even
possible to be “professionally lubricated”??!!
Ahem…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 12th February
The cancellation of yesterday’s
game between Crystal Palace and Doncaster left me with
something of a loose end. After writing a few reviews
and doing a bit of interview transcription I headed into
Lewisham for a mooch around the shops, returning home
with a bit of a literary bargain. Raising Hell: On The
Rock ‘N’ Roll Highway is a beautiful, deluxe
hardback book of b/w photos from rock’s long-lost
golden age: images of The Who, The Eagles, Rod & The
Faces and many more. Its pix and road-flavoured anecdotes,
courtesy of celebrated lensman Tom Wright, are accompanied
by a foreword from Pete Townshend and usually sell for
twenty notes – more than enough to persuade yours
truly to remove his wallet and part with three hundred
and ninety-nine heard-earned pennies. I cannot wait to
read it…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 11th February
I’m still attempting to regain my composure
after last night’s excellent gig from Dream Theater
at Wembley. Okay, the rows of empty seats on the opposite
side of the Arena suggested that Hammersmith Apollo would
have been a more suitable venue this time around but DT
have headlined this cavernous hall twice before, and what
they proceeded to serve up over more than two hours suggested
that they will do so again in the future, once the furore
over the exit of drummer, songwriter, co-producer and
all-round driving force Mike Portnoy is a thing of the
past.
As proven at last summer’s High Voltage Festival
and on the album ‘A Dramatic Turn Of Events’,
newcomer Mike Mangini is the perfect replacement for Portnoy.
His solo last night was truly monstrous, and I’m
somebody that usually abhors such gratuitous excesses.
Also, as an attendee of DT gigs since the Marquee Club
back in 1993, I’ve never seem them in such a relaxed
and contented mood. In a very poor impression of a British
accent, singer James LaBrie beamed: “We’re
having the best time of our frickin’ lives up here”,
a pointed reference to days gone by.
Offering six brand new selections, including ‘Beneath
The Surface’ in a two-song acoustic interlude (its
unplugged counterpart being ‘The Silent Man’),
the set-list was an absolute joy, delving all the way
back to ‘When Dream And Day Unite’, 1989’s
very first (LaBrie-less) debut for ‘A Fortune In
Lies’. ‘War Inside My Head’ and ‘The
Test That Stumped Them All’, from arguably the group’s
darkest and heaviest album, 2002’s ‘Six Degrees
Of Inner Turbulence’, were followed by an exquisite
solo from John Petrucci, a spine-ting appetiser for ‘The
Spirit Carries On’, the guitarist’s afterlife-themed
masterpiece from the conceptual ‘Metropolis Pt.
2: Scenes From A Memory’ record, released back in
1999. At times, Dream Theater were so absolutely bloody
magnificent that I found myself inadvertently shaking
my head in awed appreciation. “We’ll keep
coming back for as long as you want us to”, grinned
LaBrie after they’d blitzed through an encore of
the Metallica-esque golden oldie ‘Pull Me Under’.
This story ain’t over, no sir…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 10th February
It had been quite a while – five
years, I was astonished to discover – since my last
sighting of Canadian band The Trews, so the offer of a
few free drinks at an intimate showcase soiree at the
12 Bar Club, followed by additional bevvies at the Crobar,
seemed like a bit of a no-brainer.
Before the onset of such shenanigans I conducted a cool
face to face interview with Ken Hensley, who’d flown
into town from his place in Spain to oversee the final
mix-down and fadeouts of his forthcoming album, ‘Love
& Other Mysteries’. We sat and chatted in the
cafeteria of Metropolis Studios over a few cups of tea
– a great way to pass an afternoon. Hensley looked
in fine condition: There are a few additional lines on
the face but he still has that impressive barnet of his,
and, blimey, he can talk for England…
The Trews showcase was a lot of fun. Quite often these
events are a little uncomfortable. The band is uncertain
of the audience, who tend to reciprocate. Nobody really
knows whether or not to clap. Throw in the fact that The
Trews – a household name in their homeland –
had been shoehorned onto a stage the size of a bigger-than-average
living room table and were expected to play in an unplugged
stylée. Throwing in a few sound gremlins along
the way, unease was excusable. And yet the band have some
wonderful songs, and when they harmonise together the
combination of their four voices is quite hypnotic. They
purred through six tracks – ‘Hope And Ruin’,
‘Misery Loves Company’, ‘Poor Ol’
Brokenhearted Me’, ‘If You Wanna Start Again’,
‘Ishmael And Maggie’ and ‘Hold Me In
Your Arms’ – before guitarist John-Angus MacDonald
enquired: “Do you guys want us to do another song
or should we stop?” The answer was an unequivocal
‘keep on going’, and, as a request from the
crowd, they fired off ‘No Time For Later’
before calling it a night. A rather good one, at that…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 9th February
For the past week a pre-release CD of Halestorm’s
second album, ‘The Strange Case Of…’
has been lodged in my Death Deck ahead of its official
unveiling on April 9. Metal Hammer have commissioned me
to interview their singer Lzzy Hale, so it was only natural
that I took my place among an absurdly loud and enthusiastic
crowd at the Roundhouse as the Pennsylvanian quartet did
a sterling job of warming up an audience gathered to worship
their Roadrunner label-mates, headliners Shinedown.
Three quick-fire songs was all it took for their brand
of hard-driving, hook-laden brand of rock ‘n’
roll to get the crowd leaping around. Wearing a very short
pair of shorts (I just happened to notice that, ahem...)
and covering every inch of the stage, Hale flirted with
the Roundhouse for all she was worth, pouting: “You
got me all hot and bothered – now what are you gonna
do about that?” as an introduction to the new album’s
‘Freak Like Me’. No doubt about it, Lzzy has
a gutsy, powerful voice that’s well suited to two
cover versions; Skid Row’s ‘Slave To The Grind’
and an acapella rendition of Heart’s ‘Crazy
On You’ (the rest of their set comprised ‘Love
Bites (So Do I)’, ‘It’s Not You’,
‘Dirty Work’, ‘American Boys’,
‘Familiar Taste Of Poison’, Drum Solo and
‘I Get Off’). I’m sure Halestorm will
be back before too long, and I definitely won’t
be missing them.
Inciting the wrath of organizer Andy Copping (who Tweeted:
“Fuck those guys! I can’t deny it!”)
Brent Smith unzipped his trousers and took a piss on protocol
by announcing that Shinedown will be at Download this
summer. On this performance, they deserve it. Smith has
lost some weight since the Floridian band were last in
the UK two years ago – I saw them back then at the
Islington Academy – and his voice is in considerably
better shape though perhaps he could still do with some
salads and a few laps of his local park (a la Ling). Encouraging
the audience to shake hands and high-five those to the
left and right of them, Smith’s between-song patter
was cheesy enough to have coated a hundred thousand pizzas,
but his band forge a remarkable connection with their
audience. Often derided as modern rock, onstage they pack
a whopping metallic punch, heading back to the dressing
room after ‘.45’ to a squalling wall of guitar
and bass feedback. And at the other extreme their cover
of Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ confirmed
a softer, more sensitive side. The hysterical reaction
to songs such as ‘The Crow And The Butterfly’
and ‘Second Chance’ was little short of astonishing.
I kid you not, there were people exiting the venue with
tears in their eyes. If Smith can be persuaded to cut
back on his yakking, this remarkable band will have the
world at its feet. Here’s the set-list: ‘Sound
Of Madness’, ‘Enemies’, ‘Devour’,
‘If You Only Knew’, ‘Cyanide Sweet Tooth
Suicide’, ‘Adrenaline’, ‘Save
Me’, ‘The Crow And The Butterfly’, ‘Diamond
Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)’ and ‘.45’,
with encores of ‘Bully’, ‘Simple Man’,
‘Second Chance’ and ‘Fly From The Inside’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 8th February
The snow almost completely gone, thankfully,
though here in South London the temperature still hovers
at around the zero mark. Over the last few days preparations
for next month’s 10K run have had to be moved indoors.
On Monday evening, whilst sweating it out on the exercise
bike in my office, I listened to Def Leppard’s ‘X’
– a record that, along with ‘Music From ‘The
Elder’’ by Kiss, appears in the current issue
of Classic Rock’s list of The 50 Worst Albums Of
All Time. Sorry, but I find that quite unfathomable. I’m
a big fan of both of these albums. ‘X’ may
have been written by hitmakers for Britney Spears, Pink,
The Backstreet Boys, Westlife and Celine Dion but is full
of wonderful songs such as ‘Now’, ‘Unbelievable’
and ‘Long Way To Go’. Back in August 2002
Classic Rock called it “commendable, occasionally
inspired and always entertaining” and it came third
in the critics’ Top 20 of that year, so should we
seek skeletons in the closet then Leppard’s grunge
album, ‘Slang’, would have made a much better
choice? Anyway, rant over.
Back to last night and I did eight laps of the park –
a personal record. Listening to a live recording of The
Union’s gig at Islington Academy enlivened the experience
considerably but it was so darned cold that when the earpiece
fell out, my fingers had become so numb that replacing
it was quite impossible. That’s a bit silly, isn’t
it?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 7th February
You know that a good day is in store when
you come downstairs to make the kids’ sandwiches,
switch on Paul Anthony’s Planet Rock Radio breakfast
show and the first thing you hear is the opening chords
of Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s immortal
‘Hollywood Nights’. I must play my vinyl of
the ‘Stranger In Town’ album, or perhaps better
still Seger’s ‘Greatest Hits’ CD, later
on. And with the snow all but melted, I may even be able
to head out to the park for my first run in a few days.
Hurrah!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 6th February
How utterly embarrassing: Pakistan have just completed
a humbling 3-0 whitewash over England… claiming
the final match by 71 runs after the tourists had bowled
out the home side for 99 runs on the first day. Pathetic
– that’s all I can say.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 5th February
Brrrrrr… as I type Catford is covered beneath
a layer of snow. Judging by the commentary of yesterday’s
0-0 draw between Boro and the mighty Eagles, the game
took place in freezing cold conditions that must have
resembled one of those Christmas snowglobes. Freedman’s
men enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession (56%
vs 44%), forcing more shots on goal than the home side,
but simply could not break the deadlock. The club has
now failed to triumph in five consecutive league matches
since the start of the current calendar year, which is
becoming slightly worrying.
And meanwhile, still in the realm of all things ice-cool,
it seems that Bill Ward, having complained of an “unsignable”
contract in an ‘open letter’ to his band-mates
and fans, may not be participating in this summer’s
Black Sabbath reunion – a rather sad state of affairs.
Various rumours and actual percentages are being thrown
about by those that cannot have a clue of what’s
really happening, but as a co-founder of the band it doesn’t
seem as though drummer Ward is being treated particularly
fairly. I could go into a bit of a rant with my opinions
on this subject, however the Thrash Hits website has already
posted a summation that’s pretty hard to improve
upon. It’s rather long but well worth reading, so
click here.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 4th February
It’s lunchtime and I’m back
in my office just in time for the radio commentary of
Crystal Palace’s game up in Middlesbrough. A big
chunk of my morning was spent involved in an illuminating
interview with Alan G Parker, the director of Status Quo’s
new movie. Parker is a fascinating, talkative individual
who has been somewhat miscast as a punk rock purist. He
was responsible for making the film Who Killed Nancy?
and also managed Stiff Little Fingers for a number of
years, but Alan is also covered in tattoos of Kiss, Mötley
Crüe, Slade, Thin Lizzy and many, many more. His
passion for rock music is quite contagious. From what
he claims, his documentary will do the Quo proud when
it’s released in October. Obviously, it would be
unprofessional of me to divulge the most important parts
of the conversation but as a fan of the Frantic Four I
walked away from our rendezvous full of optimism for what
the coming months might bring.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 3rd February
Lots of fun was had at last night’s Spinefarm
Record showcase gig over at the Garage in North London,
where admission to see three up ‘n’ coming
bands cost a mere ten quid… supreme value for money
in this day and age. Ahead of their support slot with
Steel Panther, Cambridge-based whippersnappers The Treatment
got things underway with a kick-ass 35-minute audio assault
that not even various equipment and sound issues could
derail, delivering the highlights of their debut album
‘This Might Hurt’ before closing with two
explosive covers, ‘Way Of The World’ by More
and, rather splendidly, a yobbish rendition of Slade’s
‘Get Down And Get With It’ that almost caused
my jaw to hit the floor. If anything, the sound seemed
to deteriorate for London’s own Jettblakk, whose
strong-arm display included the likes of ‘Get Your
Hands Dirty’ and the excellent ‘Two Hot Girls’.
I’ve begun warming to Jettblakk and like the rest
of their fans am dying to hear album #2, which by all
accounts isn’t too far away.
Though the Garage was pretty full by the time the headliners
arrived, the appeal of Reckless Love continues to elude
me. Having been left underwhelmed by the Finns’
UK debut at the Barfly back in May 2010, to these ears
at least their second album also turned out a damp squib.
‘Beautiful Bomb’ is a wonderful tune that
wouldn’t have been out of place on Headbangers’
Ball in the mid-80s but all the high kicks in the world
(courtesy fast-talking blonde bombshell frontman Olli
Herman) cannot mask a dearth of quality material. Somebody
that I was sharing a drink with as Reckless Love played
has just reminded me that I called them “an Aldi
version of Van Halen”. Harsh but fair, I think.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 1st February
Yesterday evening was spent at a central
London press reception/playback of ‘En Vivo!’,
Iron Maiden’s latest live audio-visual recording,
filmed back in April before 50,000 raving South American
loonies. Preceded by a typically blunt intro from the
band’s manager Rod Smallwood, a selection of tasty
nibbles (hotdogs, veggie burgers and fries) was washed
down by a wines and beers as the attendees were shown
an 88-minute documentary, Behind The Beast, that accompanies
the main feature. As a long-term fan I found the practical
inner workings of the The Final Frontier World Tour rather
interesting, especially the customizing of their now legendary
Boeing 757 plane, Ed Force One. Also, of course, the crowd
scenes and Kevin Shirley’s astonishing audio sound-mix,
were nothing less than stunning. However, the biggest
laugh was saved till the closing moments of Behind The
Beast. Only guitarist Adrian Smith could finish circumnavigating
the globe several times on such an utterly triumphant
tour, then turn around and with a perfectly straight face
inform a camera crew: “It’s time to put a
few shelves up; go away and do some painting and decorating.”
‘En Vivo!’ arrives on March 26.
For those that care, the Playlist
and YouTube pages have been
updated.
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