Thursday 31st July
Great news from Monsewer Peter Way, the legendary
former bass player of UFO. It seems that he has been given
the all-clear from the prostate cancer battle that took
up the most recent 12 months of his life. Check out the
full
story at the Classic Rock website. Here’s hoping
that the bit about being ‘Clean for four years’
is also true.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 30th July
Today and tomorrow are all about writing a story
on one of my all-time fave bands, the Dan Reed Network
– featuring the only singer ever to call up and
express thanks for a less favourable than usual review
after his group had played one of the biggest gigs of
their career, opening for the Rolling Stones. Am looking
forward to getting to grips with this one, though with
the sheer volume and quality of material that Dan provided,
I could’ve written a story twice or three times
as long! Fellow fans might like to know that it’s
set to appear in the new issue of Classic Rock Presents
AOR, which is due in September.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 29th July
Since catching them opening for Nuclear Blast
label-mates Scorpion Child and Orchid at Dingwalls some
months ago, I’d been looking forward to seeing a
full set from Blues Pills so the invitation to attend
a launch event for the band’s self-titled debut
album was most welcome. However, Mr Beare and I made it
with just minutes to spare as, having sat in a pub for
a couple of hours drinking some very strong pear cider
and setting the world to rights we bowled up at the crypt
of St Pancras New Church and discovered that we were at
the wrong venue! Cue an extremely hasty taxi dash to the
Old Church – an imposing scenario for a show, though
as we were to discover its acoustics weren’t exactly
suitable for an electric rock show.
A young quartet made up of American, Swedish and French
members, Blues Pills have all of the basic ingredients
to climb the ladder. Via songs such as ‘High Class
Woman’, ‘Dig In’ and the excellent,
rousing ‘Devil Man’ they do a fantastic job
of turning back the clock to the days of Peter Green-era
Fleetwood Mac, Hendrix, Free and early Deep Purple. Their
mid-set cover of Tony Joe White’s ‘Elements
And Things’ was also rather handy! The stagecraft
isn’t really there yet, however, and when guitarist
Dorian Sorriaux broke a string, causing the show to grind
to an abrupt, ugly halt, the silence was deafening. As
the problem dragged on vocalist Elin Larsson was forced
admit that, “I wish I knew a joke!” She’s
unlike to be on The Comedians anytime soon, but Christ…
what a set of pipes! Despite the saddening lack of an
encore, the lone idiot dancer who pushed to the front
and leapt around among the pews so unselfconsciously was
worth the price of admission alone.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 28th July
Expecting another day of frenzied activity…
another issue of Classic Rock closes, so I’m juggling
news stories – the new Pink Floyd album (!), an
obit for Johnny Winter, the arrival of new deluxe editions
of Led Zeppelin’s ‘IV’ and ‘Houses
Of The Holy’, UFO commencing the recording of a
new album with Chris Tsangarides, Lou Gramm and Mick Jones
to work together again (albeit on separate solo projects),
Mr Big drummer Pat Torpey vowing to fight Parkinson’s
disease and the Roll Of Honour relocating to Los Angeles
in its tenth anniversary year. Phew!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 27th July
Wow… I’ve just seen Palace goalie
Julian Speroni’s new all-salmon pink kit. My first
reaction? Now I know what I’m buying Merv Goldsworthy
for Christmas!
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 26th July
I’m feeling a wee bit fragile after last
night’s visit to the 100 Club for the debut live
performance from Space Elevator. “It’s always
a worry to come out onstage and find that someone is wearing
the same outfit as you”, chirruped their frontwoman
The Duchess, who just like Lee Aaaron at the Marquee Club
in 1983 was sporting a skin-tight, one-piece garment that
left absolutely nothing to the imagination. I wouldn’t
know, my own catsuit was confiscated at the door on the
grounds of public decency. Later on she giggled: “Thanks
for coming to see us on a hot sticky night; you can all
take your clothes off if you want. But I won’t...
I’ve no pants on under this catsuit.” When
I innocently posted some camera phone pix on Facebook
all manner of lurid comments followed, including the classic
quip of: “That’s an unusual place to hide
a Twix”.
And of course it would be easy to be swept away in a
tidal wave of Carry On Camping-esque smut but for the
fact that Space Elevator are a really good, Brian May-approved
poppy hard rock band with some outstanding material. I’ve
really grown to like their self-titled, independently
released album and bolstered by a line-up that adds keyboards
and a male-female backing vocal duo, Space Elevator they
did a grand job of bringing all but two of its selections
to life onstage. Highlights included the dramatic, powerful
opener ‘Elevator, ‘Loneliness Of Love’,
‘Little White Lies’ (which The Duchess informed
us was “written about Ziggy and Chantelle from Big
Brother, series five”), the Queen-flavoured ‘Oil
And Bubbles’, the Dr Who-themed ballad ‘I
Will Find You (Gallifrey Dreams)’, which as an impressive
Tardis-themed video, and the swansong of ‘We Are
The Losers’, described by The Duchess as “Our
anti-‘We Are The Champions’ song, ’cos
most of us are losers. We try hard and we never give up,
but mostly we lose…” at which point she spotted
me in the crowd and teasingly added: “…Especially
Crystal Palace, eh Dave?” I thought that was a bit
of a low blow, to be honest.
Anyway, Space Elevator put on a hugely enjoyable show
that scuppers any accusations of being a mere novelty
act. But above all, The Duchess proved that she has a
voice to justify her complete, unswerving confidence in…
shall we call them… bodily issues? Hehehe.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 25th July
Aware of my vinyl junkie status, my mate Dan
Tobin at Earache Records has just furnished me with ‘Leave
A Scar: Live North Carolina’, the new double gatefold
release from Blackberry Smoke… their best songs,
great audio quality and on clear vinyl. I expect to be
giving this some major welly over the weekend!
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Thursday 24th July
It’s 12.30am as I type and I’m staying
up late to watch Palace's next pre-season friendly with
Columbus Crew (of Ohio, USA). I’ve got a pint of
wine and a big plate of spicy crisps. The teams are just
coming out of the tunnel, and yessssss… Speroni
is in goal this time! Final score 2-2: A good workout,
but the endless second half substitutions took their toll
on the game’s flow. Right… off to bed.
… And back to the PC a matter of hours later. I’ve
a melodic rock column to write for Classic Rock. The door
of my office is open, sunlight streaming in from the garden,
Bob The Dog dozes deskside and I’ve a pint of Diet
Iron Bru with five ice cubes… perfect conditions
to savour the new Work Of Art album, ‘Framework’,
which is a complete and utter monster!!! I’m also
digging the newies from Loverboy, State Of Salazar, Miss
Behaviour and Skyscraper.
On the downside, belatedly I’ve just got a copy
of Judas Priest’s newie. It contains a couple of
good tracks and a whole lot of empty bluster. Their place
in hard rock immortality is unquestionable, of course,
but ‘Redeemer Of Souls’ is an album too far,
I fear (make that two if you consider ‘Nostradamus’).
Would I prefer a 2014 version of Priest functioning at
maybe 60% capacity or to remember them as they once were
– the finest heavy metal band on the planet, bar
none? Sadly, I fear it’s gonna have to be the latter
option.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 23rd July
I’ve no idea why Amazon alerted me to the
existence of a remarkable new book entitled They dared
To Dream: How Rodgers’ Liverpool Went To Close…
mebbe ’cos Crystal Palace are namechecked so many
times in the Customer
Reviews, but I’m struggling to understand why
someone has actually bothered to write a book on Liverpool
*nearly* winning last season’s Premier League title.
The comments by supporters of rival clubs are so bloody
hilarious you will howl with laughter! I know I did! CPFC
were 8 minutes away from winning the Cup Final almost
a quarter of a century ago… maybe I should consider
writing a book about that??!!
I’ve been playing a promo of an excellent band from
Jefferson, Missouri, called Shaman’s Harvest. Due
in mid-September it’s called ‘Smokin’
Hearts & Broken Guns’ and save for a rather
awful cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Dirty Diana’
it’s a real kick-ass rock ‘n’ roll record
that will surely appeal to fans of Black Stone Cherry.
Look out for it!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 22nd July
After a longer than expected journey back to
London (don’t ask!) and three shower-less days it
was nice to get home, slice off the Steelhouse dirt, chuck
everything into the laundry, eat a warm evening meal and
sleep in my own bed.
Given the upsetting experience of their recent Hyde Park
gig, I find it pretty hard to believe that Motörhead
have just announced a new tour… well, if you consider
three gigs with a day off in between each show constituting
a tour. And they’re playing Wembley Arena in London,
the group’s largest headline show in over a decade
– on November 8… the same that day the Vega
play across town at the Garage. That means a trip out
of town for one band or the other. Ho hum.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 21st July
Almost 24 hours later than billed the ELECTRIC
BOYS kicked off Day #2 of the Steelhouse Festival,
taking to the stage in sizzling midday heat. Beginning
their 45-minute set with ‘Spaced Out’ and
‘Desire’, the opening tracks a new album called
‘Starflight United’ that really set the tone:
hard rock riffing with a sex-a-licious funky backbone.
The more familiar strains of ‘Knee Deep In You’,
‘Rags To Riches’ and ‘Pilot Of My Soul’
got the crowd strutting their stuff, while ‘Electrified’
was introduced by a snippet of the Kansas classic ‘Carry
On Wayward Son’. By the time they closed with ‘All
Lips And Hips’ the arena was filling up nicely,
its occupants grooving like proverbial bastids.
Backed on drums by my old mate Bob Richards, the locally
based, male-female duo of BUCK & EVANS
offered a nice turn of pace and a languid , blues-rock
atmosphere. Sally Ann has a superb, smouldering voice
and it’s easy to see why Slash has expressed approval
of corkscrew haired guitarist Christ Buck’s technique.
I’d love to see them again… and believe me,
I shall.
The lads from BAD TOUCH were camping
right next door to my landlord and landlady Jeff and Phillipa,
and we’d had a bit of a laugh with them on the previous
evening, so had their set been a let-down… well,
that would’ve been a bit embarrassing for us all.
Luckily, it wasn’t the case. Still working on a
debut album proper (the current 13-song disc ‘Down
And Out’ is a collection of their previous EPs),
the band have bags of swagger and a Crowes-meets-Aerosmith
vibe. I’ll definitely be taking another look at
them on September’s tour with the Electric Boys.
It was hot and sticky and the storm clouds has been gathering
– we were going to get a good soaking at one point
or another. And typically, it happened just as one of
the main band’s that I’d come along to see,
HEAVEN AND EARTH, introduced themselves.
Winding up their first ever European tour the Los Angelinos
have been building up quite a head of steam and although
the weather Gods did their best to scupper the mood, singer
Joe Retta exclaiming “What the hell… lovely
timing!” as they wound up opening number ‘Victorious’,
their quality was not to be denied. ‘No Money, No
Love’ was among the finest chewns played all weekend.
Englishman Stuart Smith is fine guitar player with a strong
Blackmore fixation, and his band are cast in template
of Purple, Rainbow, Bad Co and Dio-era Sabbath, it was
such a shame that time constraints forced the omission
of three songs, including a fabulous rendition of the
Purps classic ‘When A Blind Man Cries’ that
a crowd in London had enjoyed a couple of weeks earlier.
Come back soon, please!
Truth told, I knew little about TOSELAND,
save that the group’s namesake and singer/pianist
James is a now-retired former speedway champion whose
debut album, ‘Renegade’, was produced by Toby
Jepson. By now the sun had come out again and after a
couple of unremarkable numbers the shade of the beer tent
began to look extremely inviting. He didn’t sound
very much better from there, either… but I did have
a nice chat with Conny Bloom of the Electric Boys (pictured).
Luckily, BERNIE MARSDEN had just what
the festival needed, reliability, great material and a
warm, likable and downright modest stage persona. Curiously,
the ex-Whitesnake guitarist held back material from the
forthcoming solo album ‘Shine’ in favour of
covers by Albert King (‘Born Under A Bad Sign’),
Little Walter (‘Just Your Fool’), Fleetwood
Mac (‘Oh Well’), Rory Gallagher (‘What’s
Going On’) and the Cream-popularised ‘Sittin’
On Top Of The World’, in addition to one of his
own (‘A Place In My Heart’) that had been
reworked by Joe Bonamassa. Bernie’s tale of meeting
the composer of ‘Ain’t No Love In The Heart
Of The City’ was pretty amusing and of course there
was a medley of ‘Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues’
and ‘Fool For Your Lovin’’. Before he
began the final tune, ‘Here I Go Again’, Marsden
quipped: “This is the encore... If I go down the
stairs I might not get back up them again!” There
was another lovely moment at the show’s conclusion
when as the final chords rang out Bernie approached two
small kids wearing ear protectors and stood on boxes in
the front row, both of whom had been peering over the
barrier, and handed each of them a plectrum. The look
on their faces was a picture!
I’ve never been too enamoured of THE ANSWER,
and so as the stage was cleared for the enduring Irishmen
I opted to kick a ball around backstage, swig some more
cider, head back to the tent for warmer clothes and as
the sun prepared to set awaited the Sunday night headliners,
EUROPE. And what a polished, exhilarating
display the Swedes delivered. It’s hard to think
of a more convincing reinvention than the one Europe have
undergone since 2009, phasing out the cheesier elements
of their sound to play some of the finest classic hard
rock of the current millennium. The inclusion of the catalogue
gems ‘Wasted Time’ and ‘Sign Of The
Times’ was most welcome as was adding Budgie’s
‘In For The Kill’ in honour of the location.
The set-list ran as follows: ‘Riches To Rags’,
‘Fire?box’, ‘Superstitious’, ‘Scream
Of Anger’, ‘No Stone Unturned’, ‘New
Love In Town’, ‘Wasted Time’, Guitar
Solo/‘Girl From Lebanon’, Drum Solo, ‘Sign
Of The Times’, ‘Demon Head’, ‘Carrie’,
‘Love Is Not The Enemy’, ‘Let The Good
Times Rock’, ‘The Beast’ and Medley:
‘Rock The Night’/‘In For The Kill’,
followed by ‘Last Look At Eden’ and ‘The
Final Countdown’.
Next year’s fifth anniversary Steelhouse
show takes place on July 25/26 – take note Andy
Beare who booked the wrong weekend off work and then couldn’t
change it! This weekend is fast becoming a highlight of
the rock ‘n’ roll calendar… miss it
at your peril!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 20th July
It felt strange to wake up under canvas; I hadn’t
camped at a festival for many, many years but as I had
struggled to find accommodation at Steelhouse the offer
of a pod in the six-man tent of my friends Jeff Gilbert
and Phillipa Douglas was too generous to turn down, especially
as they do things properly… with a cooked brekkie
to start the day!
I arrived on site after a high speed mobile piss-up
that involved wine pouches, frozen tequila drinkies and
Prosecco, plus cider in a local B&B-cum-pub where
my fellow travellers Richard Thompson, Belinda Bullick
and Tyrina Gallagher were staying. I wasn’t reviewing
the show anyway but the second band, SKARLETT
RIOT, were already onstage and their brand of
punky rock ‘n’ roll sounded okay from across
the main arena to the camp site as I dumped off my gear…
save for those dodgy Yank accents – you’re
from Scunthorpe… what’s that all about?
It felt bloody fabulous to be back at Steelhouse, which
really is one of the friendliest festivals I’ve
ever attended. Three quid a pint, a reasonably priced
selection of food, quick stage turnarounds, footie in
the backstage area (the Banana Man was back!) and none
of those frustrating stage clashes experiences that we
ensure elsewhere. And, unlike last year (which was plagued
by torrential rain), the weather was mostly fantastic.
The view from the top a Welsh mountain wasn’t bad,
either…
Though I’d enjoyed the band’s debut album
this was my first sighting of local lads BUFFALO
SUMMER, who played an entertaining set of blues-based
hard rock that climaxed, fittingly, with their best tune,
‘Down To The River’. Having caught the end
of TAX THE HEAT with Kansas a few days
earlier, I took the opportunity to locate the toilets
and have a dump. ’Nuff said. GRAVELTONES
are a band I can take or leave; a couple of great tunes,
plenty of filler. And as news that Electric Boys weren’t
going to make it from Sweden in time to play as billed,
Graveltones elongated their own set to compensate. ’Twas
okay; more time in the beer tent. They sounded okay from
there… And well played THE AMORETTES,
billed as Sunday’s openers, who agreed to perform
a day earlier – effectively swapping with Electric
Boys, who it was announced, would play the next day.
SEBASTIAN BACH wasn’t universally
well received, the former Skid Row frontman is a past
master at getting people’s backs up, but I really
enjoyed his special guest slot, which mixed Skid Row standards
such as ‘Slave To The Grind’, ‘Big Guns’,
‘Piece Of Me’, ‘18 And Life’,
‘In A Darkened Room’, ‘I Remember You’
and, of course, ‘Youth Gone Wild’ with solo
material, including ‘Temptation’, Harmony’
and ‘All My Friends Are Dead’. During the
set Bach spotted me in the crowd at the Steelhouse Festival
and commented on my Skid Row 1st album garment: “Is
that you out there, Dave Ling? You’ve had that shirt
for thirty fucking years… Have you changed it in
that time? I can smell you from here, dude!” Two
days later he'd have had a point... During Seb’s
set a dad carried his tiny daughter on his shoulders to
the front of the stage and taught her to throw the horns.
After multiple attempts she finally got it right and was
rewarded by huge cheers from the crowd. A great moment,
I almost blubbed.
As darkness fell BLACK STAR RIDERS brought
day #1 to a triumphant close. Resisting the temptation
to preview material from their forthcoming second album
(which is to be produced by Joe Elliott) the band once
again offered a 50-50 split of BSR originals and Lizzy
(and associated) tunes. My old mate Ricky Warwick is really
coming into his own as a frontman and whilst I recognise
that there are some people that will never warm to the
group, believing them to be a Lizzy rip-off (hello Belinda!),
those views are in the minority – certainly given
the rousing response they commanded at Steelhouse. Here’s
the set-list: ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’, ‘Are
You Ready’, ‘Bloodshot’, ‘Bad
Reputation’, ‘Before The War’, ‘Jailbreak’,
‘Hoodoo Voodoo’, ‘Suicide’, Kingdom
Of The Lost’, ‘Hey Judas’, ‘Southbound’,
‘Kissin’ The Ground’, ‘Valley
Of The Stones’, ‘Emerald’, ‘Bound
For Glory’, ‘Cowboy Song’ and ‘The
Boys Are Back in Town’, followed by Damon Johnson’s
Guitar Solo, ‘Whiskey In The Jar and ‘Rosalie’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 19th July
Up early for the trip to the Steelhouse festival
in Wales. Classic Rock is on deadline (again), and yesterday
was especially busy. So it was strange to get an eleventh
hour call asking whether I could interview Joe Perry in
the evening, principally to get the Aerosmith guitarist
to pay tribute to Johnny Winter, who died two days ago.
(Perry was interviewed along with his hero Winter for
the July issue of Classic Rock onboard the latter’s
tour bus in Los Angeles). Myself, I saw Johnny onstage
just the once, at London's Astoria Theatre in 2007, and
in all truthfulness it wasn’t a very pleasurable
experience but, my… what a great artist.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 18th July
Given that the headliners were onstage for a
meagre 88 minutes the ‘evening with…’
part was a bit of an exaggeration, but the London date
of Kansas’ 40th anniversary tour offered much to
enjoy. Nine years had elapsed since the US pomp rockers
last played in the UK, and much had been made of lead
singer/keysman’s Steve Walsh’s decision to
jump ship upon the tour’s completion. Frankly, this
was no great shock. His voice has been something of a
liability in recent years.
Mr Beare and I were sat (sat???!!) three rows back, directly
in front of Walsh, guitarist Rich Williams, and violinist/occasional
guitarist David Ragsdale, who played brilliantly. The
sound was great, likewise the set-list which save for
two songs recorded in the 1980s (‘Hold On’
and ‘Fight Fire With Fire’) dated back to
the group’s glorious heyday of 1974-1977.
The biggest (and only) disappointment was Walsh’s
delivery. It’s not the guy’s fault that he’s
63 years old but he just doesn’t cut it anymore,
not even close. A track like ‘Song For America’
or ‘Icarus – Borne On Wings Of Steel’
began all ornate and grandiose, a veritable symphony of
sound, and then Steve moved to the mic and… phhhttttt...
the firework was extinguished. I felt sorry for the guy,
and his voice actually picked up towards the end of a
set that lasted for less than 90 mins, but it definitely
affected my enjoyment of what would otherwise have been
a stellar gig. I wish him all the best for his retirement
and wonder what happens next for Kansas and their vocalist-in-waiting,
Ronnie Platt, briefly a member of the band Shooting Star
and who can be seen singing Kansas songs on YouTube with
a covers group called Arra.
The set-list ran as follows: Medley: ‘Mysteries
And Mayhem’/‘Lamplight Symphony’, ‘The
Wall’, ‘Point Of Know Return’, ‘Song
For America’, ‘Hold On’, ‘Dust
In The Wind’, ‘Cheyenne Anthem’, ‘Belexes’,
‘Icarus - Borne On Wings Of Steel’, ‘Miracles
Out Of Nowhere’, ‘Down The Road’ and
‘Portrait (He Knew)’, plus an encore of ‘Fight
Fire With Fire’ and the evergreen ‘Carry On
Wayward Son’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 17th July
It was nice to get away from the desk a little
early and jump on a bus to the Oval for an evening T20
blast game between my local county side, Surrey, and Somerset.
Besides my eldest lad Eddie, the game was watched by a
great gang of people including my fellow Eagle, Neil Pudney,
who managed to snap this photograph as I availed myself
of a little additional refreshment, well… it was
a very hot evening, and Surrey did win!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_
Wednesday 16th July
A great time was had last nite at the 12 Bar
Club where the Dowling Poole played a rather splendid
unplugged show to launch their debut album, ‘Bleak
Strategies’. I’ve followed and enjoyed Willie
Dowling’s career since the days of The Grip (‘The
Ballad Of Vera Daydream’, anyone?) and he is such
a great writer – one of the very few artists of
whom you can hear a snippet of a tune and say, ‘Aaah,
Willie wrote that one!’ As usual the between-song
banter was every bit as entertaining as the tunes. Get
Dowling on a rant and he’ll have your sides splitting.
It was nice to meet Willie’s partner in crime Jon
Poole, of Cardiacs fame in the Crobar afterwards, too!
Just wish I could remember what the heck we spoke about!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 15th July
I thought that the new telephone directory had
arrived but no… it’s the bumper, expanded
edition #200 of Classic Rock. 200 Q&A interviews with
rock musicians on the big issues of life, and I conducted
a whopping 52 of them: Art (Ian Anderson, Eric Bloom),
Death & Mortality (Joe Bonamassa, ‘Fast’
Eddie Clarke, Devin Townsend, Ricky Warwick), Drugs (Steve
Lukather, Mike Portnoy, Dave Wyndorf), The Environment
(Steve Hillage, Richie Sambora), Fame (Alice Cooper, Chris
Squire, Mick Box), Fighting & Violence (Phil Mogg,
Johnny Van Zant), Heroes & Villains (Scott Gorham,
Steve Harley, Michael Monroe, Thijs van Leer), Inspiration
(Max Cavalera, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Steve Perry),
Legacy (John Mayall, George Thorogood), Marriage (Chris
Robertson, Zakk Wylde), Money (Joe Elliott, Joey Tempest,
Tony Wright), Partying (Francis Dunnery), Pastimes (Danny
Bowes, Luke Morley), Politics (Fish, Rick Wakeman), Religion
(Dave Brock, Steven Tyler), Rock & Roll (Dan Baird,
Biff Byford, Ian Gillan, Hank Marvin, Ginger Wildheart),
School (Tony Banks, Robert John Godfrey, Mike Rutherford),
Singers (Rich Robinson, Steve Vai), Sports (Glenn Hughes),
Survival & Comebacks (Eric Moore) and Technology (Keith
Emerson, Todd Rundgren). The contents are very, very impressive
indeed, and all for the price of a ‘regular’
issue!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 14th July
World Cup beers with Eddie (out of shot), Cliff
Evans of Tank, Mark Taylor and Steve Goldby at a German
pub in Hammersmith. It all got a bit out of control (and
that's just the swearbox). Eddie wouldn’t eat his
sauerkraut – fussy git. But he did like his first
experience of Sambucca (don’t tell his mum). Today
is going to be a bit of a struggle…
Amazingly, this self confessed technophobe
is now on Skype after Dan Reed persuaded me to sign up
for this afternoon’s chat and my newly appointed
IT manager Arnie Ling did the difficult technical bits.
I’m gonna have to re-learn my whole interview etiquette…
scratching one’s bum is now strictly verboten! I
hope it’ll reduce my phone bill which after issue
#200 will be monumental.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 13th July
The world ‘legend’ is over-used,
of course, but ten years ago on this very day a goalie
named Julian Speroni signed on the dotted line for Crystal
Palace FC from Dundee for a fee of just £500,000.
The rest is history. Jules has made 349 first team appearances,
kept 101 clean sheets, won Player Of The Year on four
occasions and played alongside 169 different teammates.
On top of that he’s a lovely fella and a huge fan
of rock music. I’m looking forward to saying ‘thanks’
at his testimonial.
Still in the realm of football (and with a not to Speroni’s
homeland)… I believe there’s an important
game this evening? Eddie and I have made plans to watch
it in a German bar with a few friends.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 12th July
Last night was spent at one of my fave London
venues, the Borderline, for a show billed as An Evening
With Tim Bowness and Henry Fool or, as Bowness quipped
from the stage: “It’s a bit of a Frankenstein
combination; you can call us Tim Bowness & Henry Fool
Featuring Colin Edwin” in reference to the presence
of ex-Porcupine Tree man Edwin on bass guitar.
Bowness was promoting an excellent solo
album called ‘Abandoned Dancehall Dreams’,
mixing its best selections such as the sultry set-opener
‘The Warm Up Man Forever’, ‘Smiler At
50’, ‘Dancing For You’ and ‘Songs
Of Distant Summers’, with songs by the newly revived
Henry Fool (‘Judy On The Brink’, the as-yet
unreleased ‘Almost The End Of Everything’
and a first encore of ‘Poppy Q’. The night
also featured material by the singer’s other group
No-Man (‘Time Travel In Texas’, ‘Housewives
Hooked On Heroin’ and ‘Mixtaped’). Topped
off by the breathy, emotive vocals of the show’s
focal point and embellished by saxophonist/flautist Myke
Clifford, the music was consistently understated. Cool,
soothing ambient prog really doesn’t get much better.
My only problem was the show’s modest 70-minute
duration. Oh well, not to worry… I was back in the
Crobar in time for some additional nightcaps!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 11th July
Yesterday’s interview with Walter Trout
was the guitarist’s first since the liver replacement
operation that saved his life. Walter and I go back to
the days of his solo debut, ‘Life In The Jungle’,
released in 1990, and despite him being in hospital it
was an easy-going and stress-free conversation. The 63-year-old
is recovering well, even making gags about his surname
(a good sign considering his live album from 1992 was
called ‘No More Fish Jokes’). Discussing the
fact that fans and industry colleagues raised $245,000
towards his healthcare bills, the poor fella broke down
when I asked whether he knew how loved he was… obviously
not. Check
out the story at the Classic Rock website.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 10th July
Last night I was among the crowd at the second
of Extreme’s ‘Pornograffiti’ album-themed
London shows. By all accounts the previous night’s
crowd was far bigger, but size isn’t everything
and singer Gary Cherone praised us for our noisiness and
enthusiasm. Filling the entire set proper, I thought the
‘Pornografitti’ segment was great, except
for the godawful lounge jazz song, ‘When I First
Kissed You’, which I’m told is on the record…
that’ll tell you how often I’ve played Side
Two of my original vinyl edition! However, a sprawling
45-minute encore – yes, really! – was at least
twice as long as necessary, especially as they failed
to play ‘Kid Ego’. Instead we got: ‘Warheads’,
‘Rest in Peace’, ‘Am I Ever Gonna Change’,
‘Play With Me’, ‘Midnight Express’
and ‘Cupid’s Dead’. Nuno Bettencourt
experienced some guitar hardware problems during ‘Warheads’
which held things up for several minutes and served to
take the show a few minutes past curfew – that must
have cost Extreme a quid or two – but when his solo
in the same song came along, boy was it worth the wait!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 9th July
Well, that was an interesting gig… who
the heck needs a sauna when the Winery Dogs (aka Mike
Portnoy, Billy Sheehan and Richie Kotzen) play at the
Underworld in Camden??!! Mike Portnoy’s drum kit
is sometimes bigger than the venue’s stage! All
three band members turned in a first-class display, sweat
was running down the walls. Kotzen’s reputation
as a guitar whizz-kid is well deserved but his soul-drenched
singing is every bit as good. Portnoy, who from time to
time improvised by using a spotlight above his head as
an addition percussive tool, was quite right when he roared:
“The Winery Dogs at the Underworld! This is one
we’ll all remember for a long time, and you were
there! I know you had a choice of American rock bands
[Extreme were across town at the Forum], so we’re
glad that you chose this one!”
Obviously, being out at a gig I missed last nite’s
World Cup Semi Final action between Brazil and Germany
as it went down but I’ve just watched the Beeb’s
replay over brekkie. 1-7… who saw that coming??!
Loved it when the commentator said: “Germany are
going to declare in a minute.” It was indeed just
like watching Brazil… that’s Alan Brazil,
now 55 and 21 stone. Hehehe, it couldn't have happened
to a more deserving bunch of diving, fouling, conceited,
egomaniacs!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 8th July
Owwwwch! Almost tore the nail off my left pinkie
finger in what can only be termed a bizarre gardening
accident (true!) Oh well, given what happened to poor
ol’ John ‘Stumpy’ Pepys the damage could’ve
been much, much worse...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 7th July
Received a finished copy of the Download Festival
programme – it looks wonderful. ’Twas a pleasure
to have been involved again this year, despite not being
able to make the event in person.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 6th July
I’m back from Iron Maiden’s excellent
gig at the Sonisphere Festival. There are no prizes for
guessing the source of the day’s dumbest quote.
“So this is Knebworth Park, where Led Zeppelin played
their last ever gig,” cried Sebastian Bach excitedly.
“Was it right here, in this exact tent?” Er...
no, Seb. That’s wrong on so many levels.
Sadly, for reasons that I won’t go into, my partner
in grime Mr Beare and I arrived on site too late to see
many of the bands that played. Black Spiders performed
well in a tent, eliciting a strong audience reaction,
but former Skid Row man Bach’s 45-minute display
was plagued by sound and equipment issues, the latter
of which caused him to leave the stage without playing
‘Youth Gone Wild’. Boo, hiss!
This was the final show of a three-year tour for the
Maiden England? show, with a slightly readjusted repertoire
that featured a returning ‘Revelations’…
fantastic stuff. Bruce Dickinson, who had led an ariel
dogfight above Knebworth, was in typically ebullient form,
telling us it was “the last concert in England...
for a while” and further teasing the crowd with
a buoyant yet vague rap about the special things on the
way “in years to come.” The set-list ran as
follows: ‘Moonchild’, ‘Can I Play With
Madness’, ‘The Prisoner’, ‘Two
Minutes To Midnight’, ‘Revelations’,
‘The Trooper’, ‘The Number Of The Beast’,
‘Phantom Of The Opera’, ‘Run To The
Hills’, ‘Wasted Years’, ‘Seventh
Son Of A Seventh Son’, ‘Fear Of The Dark’
and ‘Iron Maiden’, followed by ‘Aces
High’ (complete with Churchill speed intro), ‘The
Evil Of Man U (Goes On And On)’ and ‘Sanctuary’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 5th July
What a lovely day out in Hyde Park. Superb company
– many too many names to mention! – plenty
of booze, sweltering heat and some great music. Taking
discreet swigs from a bottle of dark rum concealed in
my bag, Mr Beare and I crept as close to the front as
possible before Motörhead’s arrival. What followed
was highly emotional. It was wonderful to see Lemmy back
on a stage but he was looking and sounding frail –
very frail. The band had been allocated 45 minutes, but
when Mikkey Dee took a solo during ‘Dr Rock’,
just five songs in, it was an obvious ploy to give Lemmy
a rest. They made it through ‘Going To Brazil’
(dedicated by Phil Campbell to the English football team
– it was short stay!), ‘Killed By Death’
(which featured a guest appearance Whitfield Crane…
er, why?), ‘Ace Of Spades’ and ‘Overkill’
and it was time to say goodbye… perhaps literally.
Once it was done, Mr Beare and I both wiped away a tear
or two. It pains me to say it, but I really don’t
think they’ll be back.
Truthfully, in the wake of the upset caused by Motörhead
I didn’t feel like paying much attention to the
rest of the bill. Cider time had arrived! Faith No More
were way better than I’d expected, including ‘From
Out Of Nowhere’ and ‘Epic’ in a blistering
opening to their set, while Soundgarden played their ‘Superunknown’
album in its entirety.
I stayed to watch a few numbers by Black Sabbath. Why
leave early? Well, it was becoming harder and harder to
get a beer, I’d seen them at the O2 Arena just a
few months earlier and as dusk approached, the lure of
the Crobar was pretty hard to ignore. With no further
activity in their diaries, and with Tony Iommi battling
his own health problems, it’s being speculated that
Black Sabbath, too, may have roared their last. Given
the unexpected quality of the comeback disc ‘13’
and their own inestimable contribution to the genre, this
would be a significant loss. To quote Soundgarden, ‘…Back
Days’, indeed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 4th July
Thanks for all of the birthday wishes, folks.
This parrot is another year closer to dropping off its
perch, but the little pressie of a vinyl edition of ‘Outsider’
from Maria and the Heep office was most welcome.
The sun is blazing overhead and today I shall be at Hyde
Park for the British Summer Time Festival. For me it’s
all about seeing the one and only Godfather of Rock ‘N’
Roll, Mr Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead, in a mid-afternoon
slot. Who knows how many more times we may be afforded
the honour. Sad but true…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 3rd July
I really enjoyed last night’s debut London
appearance from the LA-based melodic hard rock band Heaven
And Earth. After some preliminary beverages at the Wetherspoons
pub in the shopping complex Sweden’s Million played
a fine warm-up set and as show-time arrived the cider
was flowing like Niagara Falls (well, it was my birthday!).
Heaven And Earth aspire to “take up from where iconic
bands like Deep Purple and Bad Company have left off”
and their new album, ‘Dig’, was certainly
among the finest releases of last year. Inevitably, their
95-minute set was based upon its best moments, such as
the brilliant ‘No Money, No Love’ and the
superb lighter-waving ballad ‘I Don’t Know
What Love Is’, though they also tapped a self-titled
record from 2004 that was released under the name of mainman
Stuart Smith for another of the night’s best received
tunes, ‘Don’t Keep Me Waiting’. (For
those that might be unaware, this album featured some
amazing special guests including Richie Sambora, Bobby
Kimball, Glenn Hughes, Joe Lynn Turner, Howard Leese and
many more, and is well worth seeking out). Inevitably
the ghost of Deep Purple was never too far away, and it
spoke volumes that among the covers they played was as
exquisite remake of the Purps standard ‘When A Blind
Man Cries’. But before doing so the band said some
very kind words and invited yours truly to join them onstage,
which rather took me aback! Embarrassed I shouted: “I
can’t believe they made it at last… aren’t
they fucking brilliant?” into the mic and scuttled
back to join my pals Andy Beare, Harj Kallah, David Boyce
and Darryl Jupp to partake in yet more liquid refreshment.
Thanks to Dave Craig for the snap!
Topped off by an encore of Free’s ‘Mr Big’,
this was a wonderful show that deserved more than the
150-odd fans lucky enough to have witnessed it. I can’t
wait to catch H&H again in a couple of weeks at the
Steelhouse Festival in Wales. Meanwhile, here’s
what they played in Islington: ‘Victorious’,
‘Back In Anger’, ‘No Money, No Love’,
‘House Of Blues’, ‘Man & Machine’,
‘I Don’t Know What Love Is’, ‘Heaven
& Earth’, ‘See That My Grave Is Kept Clean’,
‘Don’t Keep Me Waiting’, ‘Waiting
For The End Of The World’, ‘Sexual Insanity’,
‘It’s Got To Be Love’, ‘When A
Blind Man Cries’, ‘Good Times’, ‘Rock
& Roll Does’ and ‘Mr Big’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 2nd July
Today is my birthday and, not unreasonably, I
had really hoped to take the day off. My plan was to make
the most the beautiful weather and take the train down
to Kingston-Upon-Thames, hiking back to central London
along the Thames-side path, passing Kew Gardens, Battersea
Power Station and Westminster along the way. Somewhat
amazingly, this walk made second spot in the Lonely Planet’s
top ten ‘city hikes’, with only the Tijuca
Forest in Rio de Janeiro holding it off the top spot.
Alas, I got caught up in re-writing some news pages and
final mopping up of the bumper Issue #200 of Classic Rock,
and before I knew what was happening lunchtime had arrived.
But it’s not all bad news; this evening I shall
be visiting the Islington Academy for a gig by the California-based
band Heaven And Earth, whose most recent album ‘Dig’
was praised across the board by the melodic hard rock
media and whose guitarist, Englishman Stuart Smith, is
a fella that I’ve been in email and phone contact
with for several years, despite never having met. I’m
sure it’ll be a blast! For those that have yet to
hear the band check out this
wonderful YouTube clip.
Still referencing CR#200, After considerable thought (and
I mean *very* considerable!), I’ve gone with Steven
Wilson’s ‘The Raven That Refused To Sing’
as the finest record to have been issued within the magazine’s
lifespan (see Diary, June 26). A very tough decision!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 1st July
Urggggh. Suffering from way too many pints of
Stargazer cider (yes, it’s called that, really…)
at the launch party for the second album from Scotland’s
Flood Of Red, who besides being in attendance played a
short live set that was good but nothing remarkable. Barney
was the first man to bring up Palace’s exploits
over the Villa but luckily no blood was spilled, hehehe.
This not-so-l’il beaut made such a resounding thud
upon hitting the mat, it almost went through the floor.
The first ten albums by Dream Theater (barring their independently
released debut ‘When Dream And Day Unite’)
on CD – 12 hours of prog-metal magnificence…
Meanwhile, the Playlist and
YouTube pages have been updated.
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