Sunday 30th June
Up with the cockerel… lots and lots to
do: I’m splitting the day between dotting Is and
crossing Ts on the gig guide for Classic Rock Presents
The Blues and yet more green-fingered activities. The
former is a pretty arduous, repetitive task that involved
surfing around the websites of numerous artists and venues.
A dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it!
I have found also the time to update the Playlist
and YouTube pages, also to add
a few more ludicrous entries to the Quotes
pages.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 29th June
Once the kids went to bed it was time to watch
Channel 4’s documentary The Man With 10-Stone Testicles.
OM-fuggin’-G, what a shocker! A real-life Buster
Gonad from the pages of the Viz comic, this poor dude
from Las Vegas had a scrotum which had swelled to such
proportions he was forced to transport it in an upside
down hoodie (yes, really). Worse still: said area of his
anatomy was enlarging by 3lbs per month. It brought new
meaning to the term: ‘Grow a pair’. All joking
aside, my heart went out to the fella… luckily he
found a surgeon prepared to operate for free… but
did they really need to show the surgery in such graphic
detail??!! Ugggh. This morning I still feel queasy at
the memory. I’m just glad that I’m not having
Scotch eggs for breakfast!
Anyway, the gardening frenzy continues. I’ve put
in an excellent day's work... Strimmed the lawns front
and back; rose bushes are trimmed and weeds cut away.
Cue: One homeless fox, who leapt out at me from the long
grass! Dunno who was the more surprised – me or
him/her. Feeling exhausted, battered and torn but quite
proud of myself... Tomorrow I must get on with the mowing
before the weather gets too hot.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 28th June
Just how bewitching was last night’s Bonnie
Raitt gig at the Royal Albert Hall?! It was an honour
to have attended such an overwhelmingly fabulous show.
The Californian-based slide guitarist/vocalist is now
63 years old and has ten prestigious Grammy nominations
to her name… basically, in a glittering four-decade
career she’s pretty much seen and done it all. Thanks
to the popularity of the widely-covered ‘I Can’t
Make You Love Me’ – a song she discovered
though wasn’t actually responsible for writing –
it was recently theorised that “the hippest thing
an artist can do is cover a song by Bonnie Raitt.”
And yet at times her emotion was impossible to conceal.
Introducing a shimmering cover of John Prine’s ‘Angel
From Montgomery’, when she spoke so eloquently and
with such love about her mum who she lost a few years
back, in sympathy and shared emotion I very nearly blubbed
along with her (for those unaware last year I lost my
own mother). The front-of-house-sound was immaculate and
the for all of their raucous enthusiasm, the audience
was quiet and attentive at all of the right moments, including
an understated take on Bob Dylan’s ‘Million
Miles’, the delicious ‘You Can’t Fail
Me Now’, ‘Not Cause I Wanted To’ and,
of course, the aforementioned ‘I Can't Make You
Love Me’.
It’s rare that for me to such a statement but I
just couldn’t say a single bad thing about this
show. Departing after almost two hours a disbelieving
Bonnie called it a “gig of a lifetime”, and
it was hard to disagree! Based largely on her excellent
current record, ‘Slipstream’, the set-list
ran as follows: ‘Used To Rule The World’,
‘Right Down The Line’, ‘Something To
Talk About’, ‘Million Miles’, ‘You
Can’t Fail Me Now’, ‘Come To Me’,
‘No Gettin’ Over You’, ‘Marriage
Made In Hollywood’, ‘Not Cause I Wanted To’,
‘Angel From Montgomery’, ‘Down To You’,
‘I Got News For You’ (with vocals from B3
keysman Mike Finnigan), ‘Thing Called Love’
and ‘Feels So Damn Good’, followed by a spine-tingling
‘I Can't Make You Love Me’, ‘Have A
Heart’, ‘Nick Of Time’ and a kick-ass
‘A Big Ol’ Hunk O’ Love’ (an Elvis
Presley cover, apparently).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 27th June
I’ve been an enormous fan of George Thorogood
since seeing him on the TV show Rock Goes To College back
in ’78 (I remember trying to record it onto a cassette
via a hand-held microphone… very silly!). So I was
thrilled to accept an offer from CR’s Blues magazine
of an interview before last night’s gig at Shepherd’s
Bush Empire. GT remembered me from our last encounter
at the House Of Blues in New Orleans way back in 1999
and, nicer still, complimented my interviewing technique
as I prepared to take my leave.
With some time to kill I strolled to Notting Hill and
the Record And Tape Exchange. For a couple of quid apiece
I picked up a couple of mint vinyl platters; a self-tiled
solo album from 1980 by Procol Harum keysman Matthew Fisher
that features John Verity, Rod Argent, Tim Renwick and
the late, great James Dewar, plus an interesting-looking
obscurity from the Portland-based combo Johnny And The
Distractions, ‘Let It Rock’, released by A&M
in ’81.
Thorogood’s show was excellent – as usual.
The Delaware native has never been one of rock music’s
most prolific writers, indeed just three of the night’s
14 tunes were self-penned originals, but his taste in
cover versions – including artists such as Bo Diddley,
Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, The Strangeloves and Hank
Williams – is exceptional. Introduced as “the
undisputed, undefeated, heavyweight rock ‘n’
roll champions of the world”, the Destroyers ripped
through a party-friendly 100-minute display. If George’s
dynamite remake of Hank Williams’ ‘Move It
On Over’ doesn’t make you want to move your
feet then let’s face it… you’re probably
a corpse. A searing version of the Elmore James standard
he has long since made his own, ‘Madison Blues’,
was the perfect choice as an encore. Here’s the
set-list: ‘Rock Party’, ‘Who Do You
Love?’, ‘Help Me’, ‘I Drink Alone’,
‘One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer’, ‘Cocaine
Blues’, ‘Seventh Son’, ‘Get A’
Haircut’, ‘Bad To The Bone’, ‘Move
It On Over’, ‘Tail Dragger’ and ‘You
Talk Too Much’, plus my highlight of the night,
‘Madison Blues’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 26th June
Okay, England didn't win but I had a splendid,
beertastic soiree at The Oval with Neil Pudney, Paul Berry
and my sports bud Eddie Ling. You can’t beat an
evening under the floodlights with fours and sixes being
belted all over the shop. We must do it again soon!
Just received a package from Rock Candy Records containing
re-mastered re-issues from Derringer (‘Sweet Evil’),
the self-titled debut from Randy Hansen and ‘Salute’
by Scott Gorham’s post Lizzy band 21 Guns. I’m
very happy to own REO Speedwagon’s ‘Nine Lives’
and ‘You Can Tune A Piano… But You Can’t
Tuna Fish’ on CD at last – brilliant!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 25th June
I’m busy writing a melodic rock round-up
for the new issue of Classic Rock. Am really enjoying
Newman’s newie, ‘Siren’ (to be released
via AOR Heaven on July 22) and ‘Underneath’
by Robin Beck (HMMR/Cargo, August 15). But the album that
I simply cannot stop playing is Heaven & Earth’s
‘Dig’, a gem of a release that will leave
fans of Joe Lynn Turner-era Rainbow drooling all over
the carpet. Check it out, it’s on Quarto Valley
Records. You won’t regret it.
Within an hour or two I will take a bus ride across South
London to The Oval for this evening’s T20 international
between England and New Zealand. Can’t wait for
the sound of leather on willow, also the taste of Pimms
on tongue, for the first time this summer! Must remember
to remove the cherry brandy from the freezer before leaving!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 24th June
In a hugely amusing twist, Shiteon have sacked
their manager Gus Poyet without bothering to inform him
of the decision. The Uruguyan learned he was out via BBC
Three production staff whilst working as a pundit during
the Confederations Cup. The saga of the Team From The
South Coast just gets funnier and funnier. Just watch
them go into freefall. I love the fact that losing to
Palace in the home leg of the play-offs was what sent
them into a tailspin. Bragging rights for all eternity!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 23rd June
I’m *finally* doing some weeding in the
garden (!), singing along lustily to a recording of H.E.A.T.’s
recent gig at the Borderline – sorry, neighbours.
Found myself laughing aloud at the song ‘Heartbreaker’
from the Swedes’ current opus ‘Address The
Nation’, which has a line that goes: “She’s
a heartbreaker with a heart of stone”... it’s
just so quintessentially AOR. “So your main course
is heartbreak, would you like a side order of heartache
with that?”
Oooh, nice… Romeo’s Daughter have announced
a few club dates in the Autumn, including the Underworld
in Camden on October 4. Not to be missed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 22nd June
Recovering after a night on the ale in the West
End and a lovely curry ‘n’ goss catch-up with
a group of friends. Despite the best of intentions I stumbled
home on the last train from Charing Cross to Catford Bridge,
very much the worse for wear.
I was supposed to be doing some work on the garden today,
and of course it’s raining cats ‘n’
dogs outside Ling Towers. The grass has now exceeded waist-high
proportions. I guess I’ll have to do my album reviews
instead and postpone those green fingered activities for
24 hours. *Please don’t rain tomorrow!!!*
Was hoping to go and see the Wildhearts this evening but
I’ve got the kids for the weekend. Oh well, my Saturday
night viewing is sorted... the postie has just delivered
a DVD Raven’s new rockumentary ‘Rock Until
You Drop: A Long Day’s Journey’. Coming to
a Loony Asylum near you on July 15, it looks fantastic!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 21st June
Needed cheering up after a very shitty week here
at Chateau Ling, then I’m asked to accompany Motörhead
to the Wacken Festival in August and Hammer fling me a
fabulous ZZ Top ten-disc boxed set (the complete studio
albums from 1970-1990) to review... lo and behold, I’m
smiling again!
BTW, for the first time on CD the ZZ box restores the
original mixes for ‘ZZ Top’s First Album’,
‘Rio Grande Mud’ and ‘Tejas’.
Containing around 100 tracks it retails for around £25
– that’s VFM and no mistake!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 20th June
Yay! My guest ticket for Bonnie Raitt’s
show the Albert Hall has been confirmed! And it also looks
as though I shall get to see George Thorogood & The
Destroyers at Shepherd’s Bush Empire… that’s
a bit of a result!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 19th June
A frantic few days of rawkenrawllll, how better
to relax than to catch up on some TV on the Sky+ box.
I’m really enjoying the Sky Atlantic series Banshee,
it was another decent episode this week...
Eldest lad Eddie and I were hopping about excitedly by
my computer as the new Premier League fixtures were announced
at 9am. Palace be entertaining Spuz at Selhurst on the
opening day of the season – how exciting!! On the
downside, however, aaaaarg - the clashes mount up... we
are at home to Fool’Em on the Saturday of Firefest!
There are away trips to Stoke and Hull for Hawkwind’s
‘Warrior On The Edge Of Time’ and Black Star
Riders shows at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. And it’s
a choice between a trip to the mecca of prawn sandwiches
(AKA Old Trafford) or Roger Waters at Wembley Stadium.
Bloody annoying!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 18th June
With members of Black Sabbath, Motörhead,
Saxon, Black Star Riders, Stone Sour, Paradise Lost, Alice
In Chains and Asking Alexandria among those subjected
to having my tape recorder thrust beneath their nostrils,
the Golden Gods was a bit of a hoot. Here I am in conversation
with the lovely Doro Pesch.
The other piccie is a rather nice one of my long-time
journo buds, ‘Mad’ Malcolm Dome and Jerry
Spewing… sorry, Ewing. No alcohol was harmed in
the making of this photograph. No thanks to the wag at
my Facebook page who posted: “Is this the start
of a campaign for The Goodies Reunion?!”
Given his well documented health issues
it was great to see Tony Iommi looking so fit and well,
but the night’s biggest star was Brian Blessed,
who scooped the trophy of Spirit Of Hammer. Blessed is
louder than Motörhead, Slayer and Metallica put together.
When we spoke he launched into a lengthy monologue about
how rock fans are “deeply sensitive and pure”,
before reminiscing about coming down on a cattle truck
train from Yorkshire to the Old Vic in London with Patrick
Stewart – “We were both aged 11 and we stank
of piss and shit” – and meeting Richard Burton
who gave them both a fiver and front row seats for Henry
V. You don’t get such high quality anecdotes from
Dani Filth, now do ya?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 17th June
Okay, I’m off to the IndigO2, the smaller
of the two halls of the O2 Arena, for tonight’s
Metal Hammer Golden Gods ceremony. I shall be interviewing
the winners as they come off stage and into the Media
area to face the paparazzi scrum. Though free alcohol
is available in abundance there will be no boozing for
yours truly, the task can be stressful enough without
introducing grog into the equation and my text is due
first thing in the morning.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 16th June
Awoke at the Best Western in Sandiacre and looked
hopefully out of the window. “Oh shit, those rainclouds
are still there.” A quick all-you-can-eat breakfast
buffet, jumped into a sherbert dab (cab… keep up!)
and straight back to the Download site – apart from
the straw that had been put down overnight it felt like
we’d never been away. Harj and I barrelled straight
into the backstage Guest bar. “Pint of cider and
a lager please.” “Sorry, gents… no booze
for sale until midday” was the response. Thank Gawd
for the 1.5 litres of white wine I had secreted in my
bag and snuck past security on the way in! “Okay,
just two plastic glasses please!”
Making their debut at Donington Park racetrack UFO kicked
off the main stage at the unearthly hour of 11am –
a full hour before alcohol was (officially) available.
“They must’ve thought, shove us on early and
at least we’ll be standing up,” quipped a
dapper-looking Phil Mogg. A couple of impressive cuts
(‘Wonderland’ and the Stones-y ‘Burn
Your House Down’) were pulled from last year’s
‘Seven Deadly’ album, but mostly the band
stuck with a selection of the songs for which they are
best known; ‘Lights Out’, a delicious ‘Love
To Love’ (never fails to move me, that one –
in fact, I had to wipe away a tear at seeing the band
up on a Donington stage at last…), ‘Rock Bottom’
(perhaps an unusual choice given the set’s brevity)
and ‘Doctor Doctor’. Just as suddenly as they’d
arrived, UFO were gone. Sniff.
Anathema were on my ‘to see’ list but weather
concerns prevented a lengthy hike over to the second stage.
The sun actually came out awhile for Black Star Riders
(the band formerly known as Thin Lizzy) as replacements
for Buckcherry on the main stage, though without warning
the heavens opened and hailstones plummeted down during
‘Whiskey In The Jar’. Scott Gorham and company
are in a classic ‘damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don’t’
scenario vis-à-vis the name change, I actually
feel a bit sorry for them, especially as they’ve
made such a great debut record. True to their word they
performed mostly unheard songs from said disc, ‘All
Hell Breaks Loose’, and the quality of ‘Bloodshot’,
‘Hey Judas’ and ‘Bound For Glory’
– the latter a shameless yet irresistible mix of
Lizzy’s own ‘Waiting For An Alibi’ and
‘Guilty Of Love’ by Whitesnake – was
appreciated by a loud, noisy crowd.
I absolutely adore Alive In Chains though they often comes
across as surly and sullen. “They’re cutting
us off”, William DuVall moaned when stagehands hauled
them off a few minutes early. Well, you should’ve
been ready on time, you muppets! However, the set-list
was a stunning combination of classics (‘Them Bones’,
‘Dam That River’, ‘Again’, ‘Down
In A Hole’, ‘Man In The Box’ and ‘Rooster’)
and post-reunion material (‘Hollow’, ‘Check
My Brain’ and ‘Stone’).
In the 24 years that I’ve followed them –
my first sighting was at the Opera On The Green in Shepherd’s
Bush in July ’89 – I’ve never seen Thunder
play a bad gig. Aside from the enviable writing skills
of Luke Morley, Danny Bowes would walk into just about
any band you can name – “Hands up if you like
sex?” he says before an ode to onanism titled ‘The
Devil Made Me Do It’. “Hands up if you don’t
like sex.” When a couple of hands are raised: “Weirdos.”
Though in a state of “semi-retirement” to
quote Bowes, following their recent eclipsing of Journey
and Whitesnake, at Download they reminded us that they
are simply one of the most consistently entertaining groups
this country has to offer.
At the personal request of Steve Harris, Voodoo Six have
been supporting Iron Maiden right across the European
festival circuit. Closing out the Red Bull tent with a
dose of melody-conscious, slightly detuned hard rock,
the Londoners lived up to the title of their current disc,
‘Songs To Invade Countries To’. I enjoyed
watching them as much as seemed to relish playing.
What to say about Iron Maiden? I’ve seen the band
50 or 60 times and last night’s ‘Maiden England’
set would make it into the top for our five of those.
The Spitfire fly-by which preceded the group’s arrival
was a masterful touch (later, over a wee dram, we wondered
whether the following night’s Teutonic headliners
Rammstein might respond with a Messerschmitt?!), and from
where Harj and I were stood – just in front of the
mixing desk – the sound was loud, heavy crystal-clear…
perfect. The band seemed to be having fun, Bruce Dickinson
joking about “Turning ze schpotttlights on zee peeeeple”
in a Scorpions stylée, the only slightly annoyance
being those seemingly endless plugs for Trooper ale. 90,000
satisfied punters, then. The set-list ran as follows:
‘Moonchild’, ‘Can I Play With Madness’,
‘The Prisoner’, ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’,
‘Afraid To Shoot Strangers’, ‘The Trooper’,
‘The Number Of The Beast’, ‘Phantom
Of The Opera’, ‘Run To The Hills’, ‘Wasted
Years’, ‘Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’,
‘The Clairvoyant’, ‘Fear Of The Dark’
and ‘Iron Maiden’, followed by ‘Aces
High’, The Evil Of Man (Goes On And On)’ and
‘Running Free’ – fucking cool or what??!!
Post-show hours were spent in the Classic Rock tent, swigging,
dancing and falling over as the Dark Lord (Hammer editor
Alex Milas) manned the death deck – perfect!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 15th June
Perhaps inevitably, the rain clouds held off
till my friend Harj Kallah and I had gained access to
the arena at Donington Park. Not that we really cared
by that point; two bottles of wine between King’s
Cross and Long Eaton and some cider in the taxi does tend
to foster a carefree, convivial mood. I’ve neither
the time nor inclination to provide a detailed breakdown
of the bands that we watched; to be brutally honest if
I wasn’t reviewing a group or had a particular interest
in them, it was much better to be backstage and under
cover of the Classic Rock/Metal Hammer/Prog tent, where
the beer queues were minimal, or in the Red Bull tent,
where Swedish retro-heads Free Fall provided an early
highlight of the show.
I’m happy to say that the torrential downpour faded
away a minute or two before Uriah Heep took to the stage
for their first appearance at Castle Donington since 1982.
Was Trevor Bolder smiling down on them? It actually felt
like it. Although they took the brave step of opening
with two comparatively recent tunes (‘Against All
Odds’ and ‘Overload’) the crowd reaction
to such classics as ‘Sunrise’, ‘Stealin’’,
‘Gypsy’, ‘Look At Yourself’ and
‘Easy Livin’’ was nothing less than
superb.
After last year’s false start when motorway congestion
caused Europe to arrive too late to play, Joey Tempest
was pumped up, shadow boxing like a loony from the wings
before the quintet began with ‘Riches To Rags’
and ‘Firefox’. “We made it! Five punks
from the suburbs of Stockholm to the cradle of fucking
rock music,” he later bellowed from the stage. Harj
had never seen Europe before and stood there with a big,
cheesy grin across his face… no surprise, Tempest
and company delivered the best of the 40-minute sets that
I saw over the entire weekend. ‘The Final Countdown’
is one of those songs that I’d willingly cast into
the blast furnace of Room 101, but when Europe played
it the crowd went WILD, WILD, WILD!
Having headed back to the CR tent to dry ourselves and
grab a couple of beers, we caught the last three songs
of what sounded like a stirring set from the mighty DragonForce.
It’s always hard to not smile when I watch them
play. I smirked all the more whilst recalling an interview
I did with Herman Li for the event’s official programme
in which he recalled his band bowling up at the Download
site several years back in a tour bus previously used
on the X Factor tour – still sporting the show’s
logo. “People knocked on the door until 4am,”
Li laughed, still clearly amused by the notion of anyone
expecting to meet Simon Cowell and being faced by co-guitarist
Sam Totman in his grots. “It’s not a pretty
sight.”
In the wake of such a miserable afternoon and evening
a good ol’ dose of new generation Southern Rawwwk
seemed just what the doctor ordered. Headlining the second
stage, Black Stone Cherry turned in a typically confident
and entertaining display. Never has the song ‘Rainman’
seemed more appropriate. They also introduced a brand
new tune called (I think) ‘Me & Mary Jane’
from their upcoming fourth album – a prime slice
of bump ‘n’ grind if ever I heard it. What
a great band – no wonder Gary Rossington recently
singled them out as one of the few acts capable of carrying
on Skynyrd’s mantle once they are gone.
In the end, though… fuck it… it had been a
long day. The warmth of the hotel bar beckoned.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 14th June
Donington Park-bound. The weather here in Catford
at 6.04am is gorgeous, with rain forecast for the weekend
can we move the show to my back garden? No? Oh well, see
you there...
Last night offered a rare sighting of Michael Katon, the
blues-boogie specialist from Hell, Michigan (yes, really),
at the Beaverwood Club in leafy ol’ Chislehurst.
Former readers of Kerrang! might recall Katon, who created
quite a noise at the time of his 1988 album, ‘Proud
To Be Loud’. With sunglasses perched precariously
atop his head and a jutting jaw-line he looked alarmingly
like the adult lovechild of Janick Gers and Desperate
Dan, and the music was sublime. Although Katon’s
nickname of Uncle Boogieman is well deserved, his set
was pretty diverse, flitting from fruity slide guitar
numbers (‘Tight White Pants’ and ‘Roadhouse
69’) and the hard-edged 12-bar for which is rightly
renowned, he even sang a fragile version of Muddy Waters’
‘Catfish Blues’ without the aid of a microphone.
Somewhat improbably the salacious ‘Barbecue On My
Boogie’ included the line: “She spreads BBQ
sauce all over my boogie/Hot sauce up and down my ice
cream cone”. But my favourite moment was ‘Lucky
Lucky Lucky’, a slow blues ode to an ex-partner
that was dedicated to “all the divorced folks out
there”. I particularly appreciated the line: “Don’t
let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, baby.”
Well, we’ve all said it (or wished we had)…
Anyway, here’s the set-list: ‘Hard On! (The
Boogie)’, ‘Check Out The Blues’, ‘Yeah…
But We Can Boogie’/‘Come On Back To Hell’,
‘Lucky Lucky Lucky’, ‘Red Moon Rising’,
‘Diablo Boogie’, ‘Barbecue On My Boogie’,
‘Tight White Pants’, ‘Roadhouse 69’,
‘Two Angels Flying’, ‘Catfish Blues’
and ‘Get On The Boogie Train’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 13th June
The postie has just been, depositing the new
ish of Dave Lewis’ ever-excellent Zep magazine Tight
But Loose. Focussing on the band’s 1973 tour, it’s
another great, in-depth read. He also brought finished
copies of some budget CD sampler anthologies that I worked
on for Universal Records. Diamond Head’s ‘Am
I Evil?: The Best Of’ and ‘Heat Of The Moment:
The Essential Collection’ by Asia both feature my
sleeve notes, but I’m
especially proud of a Creedence Clearwater Revival set
called ‘Bad Moon Rising: The Collection’ for
which I also compiled the track listing… I gather
my selections were run past, and approved by, John Fogerty
before it received the go-ahead. They’re available
for the price of a pint at your local supermarket.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 12th June
I’m playing ‘Charlemagne: The Omens
Of Death’, the decidedly Manowar-esque new album
from Sir Christopher Lee – complete with ‘heavy
metal arrangements’ from current Judas Priest guitarist
Richie Faulkner, it’s completely bonkers. I once
had the honour of putting the tape recorder under Lee’s
nose for a quote after he won a Metal Hammer Golden God
award. When I asked why he liked heavy metal Sir Christopher
fixed me with *those eyes* and replied: “It’s
the power!”, and again for emphasis with *that voice*,
“THE POWER!” ’Twas bit of a life highlight!
Just seen the
awful news that Vivian Campbell from Def Leppard is the
latest rock star to suffer a cancer battle. Sounds
like he’s putting up a good fight and remains in
good spirits. I wish him all the very best.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 11th June
I’ve just done my first ever interview
with the legendary Danish frontman King Diamond. I asked
him about Mercyful Fate’s debut UK show, which took
place at the basement of the Hammersmith Clarendon in
March 1983 – I’ve even got bootleg cassette
somewhere. How amazing that it was three decades ago,
also that it cost £1.50 to get in, with Savage as
the support act! We also discussed whether or not the
singer ever got around removing the curse he allegedly
placed on Manowar after touring the UK – very briefly
– with Joey DeMaio and company in ’84. You’ll
have to read the article to find out. It was a fabulous
conversation!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 9th June
My Saturday night was spent at a public house
in Thornton Heath, a mere stone’s throw from the
Home Of Football, as I joined the celebrations for the
40th birthday of my friend Rita Gaughan. En route to the
pub I passed CPFC’s Club Shop and loved this new
sticker in the window so much that I had to take a photo!
Fucking hell... gardening yesterday, DIY today (the
bathroom needed sanding down and re-painting). So un-rock
‘n’ roll it’s just not true. Next stop:
How do I get an allotment?! (Only kidding…).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 8th June
It feels like a Climax Blues Band kinda day.
Am now playing ‘FM Live’, the newly re-mastered
version of the 1973 double concert set (via Esoteric Records).
Am also attempting to do some gardening as I can no longer
see the house from the window in my office. Question:
When does a weed cease to be a weed and become a plant
in its own right? This is murderous. The garden was so
lovely when we first moved here all those years ago, now
the lawn is up to my waist; I might have to pull up everything
and start again from scratch. #napalmthewholebloodylot.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 7th June
On the occasion of my boozing buddy Andy Beare’s
36th birthday (cough, splutter...) a few libations were
in order. So it was off to the Crobar and thence onto
the Borderline to say farewell to Jackdaw4, who were bowing
out at a launch party for their new album, ‘Dissecticide’
– the fourth release of a sadly underappreciated
ten-year career.
Known for his exploits with The Grip, The Wildhearts,
Honeycrack and more, guitarist/singer Willie Dowling was
on fine form considering he had invited us to “witness
the death spasms of a great band as the corpse spasms,
defecates and expires”. What might have been a solemn
affair actually turned out a lot of fun, Dowling exclaiming:
“If we could’ve expected this response we’d
have split up a lot more often.” The night began
with a six-song, half-hour unplugged set that included
Willie’s sarcastic take on the world of advertising,
‘We Sold It All’, before an electric display
that was based upon ‘Dissecticide’. Along
the way we heard a few of our host’s homespun philosophies
about the “unholy triumvirate” of Cameron,
Osborne and education secretary Michael Gove (“With
a special level of hatred for Gove”), homosexual
giraffes, Facebook and Twitter “for making narcissists
out of everyone”, also the sheer worthlessness of
Milli Vanilli, the Spice Girls and Boyzone and all other
acts that achieve success by miming and/or dance routines.
The main set ended with a sizzling rendition of the new
album’s brilliant, Sparks-meets-Queen-esque ‘Why
Don’t You Come And See Me When She’s Not Around’,
before Dowling returned to the stage unaccompanied and
launched into a hilarious snippet of Sinatra’s classic
‘My Way’. How better to see things out than
one of the night’s two Honeycrack tunes, ‘Animals’
(the other being ‘Samantha Pope’). The decision
to include the latter was hugely vindicated, and here’s
hoping it might inspire Dowling to consider staging some
‘A Night With’-style shows, cherry-picking
the best bits of career. Intriguingly, he left the stage
with the words: “Maybe our paths will cross again”.
Here’s the set-list: ‘Happy? (Dumka)’,
‘We Sold It All’, ‘The Day I Wrote The
Book’, ‘Jesus Wants My Soul Back’, ‘Karaoke
Ballet’, ‘What Comes Around Goes Around’,
‘Abigail’s Last Hurrah’, ‘Foundations’,
‘Frobisher’s Last Stand’, ‘By
The Weekend’, ‘Made Of Stone’, ‘Samantha
Pope’, ‘Wire To The Wire’, ‘Coming
Up For Air’, ‘Why Don’t You Come And
See Me When She’s Not Around’, followed by
‘My Way (Excerpt)’, ‘King For A Day’,
‘Life’s A Celebration For The Few’ and
‘Animals’.
I’ve just booked my travel for the Download Festival.
This time next week I shall be on board a choo-choo train
for Long Eaton, hoping to be on site for Monster Truck
at 1pm, followed by Freefall, the mighty Uriah Heep, DragonForce,
Europe (what a shame they clash with Down!) and later
on a nice bit of Black Stone Cherry. Can’t wait!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 6th June
Just saw Bonnie Raitt interviewed on BBC1’s
Breakfast Time show. What a talented artist and lovely,
modest person (I’ve interviewed her twice –
once at length for Classic Rock Presents: Blues). Must
go and see her at the Royal Albert Hall on June 27.
I’m very much digging the new Alice In Chains album,
‘The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here’. Roll on the
Download Festival! And better late than never, I’ve
also just received a finished copy of the wonderful, self-titled
debut from the UK-based proggers Lifesigns (it’s
been out via Esoteric Antenna since January, apparently…).
With cameos from Steve Hackett, Thijs Van Leer from Focus,
King Crimson’s Jakko Jaksyzyk and Fish guitarist
Robin Boult, it’s a seductive, hugely impressive
collection that’s no doubt destined to attain heavy
rotation here at Ling Towers.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 5th June
For yours truly, witnessing a gig by Rick Springfield
represented something of a ‘bucket list’ opportunity.
The Aussie-born singer/guitarist hadn’t played in
the UK since May 1985 – long before I became a fan
of his. So this was one gig I was not gonna miss.
Rick burst onto the Shepherd’s Bush Empire stage
and seemed keen to make up for lost time, exclaiming:
“Was anyone at the show we did at Hammersmith last
time? We thought it was time to come back, thanks for
sticking around for the last 30 years!” His band
were tight but unfussy and I had no problem with the fact
that he seemed pretty keen to plug his current album ‘Songs
For The End Of The World’ as said disc was arguably
the best modern-rock record of last year. For me, things
started to go slightly awry at around the halfway mark
with a medley of tunes that I’d preferred to have
heard performed in their own right. A guitar solo and
a cover of Robert Johnson’s ‘Cross Road Blues’
also seemed slightly incongruous, but each time a question
mark was raised, Springfield came bouncing right back.
‘Don’t Talk To Strangers’ became a joyful
crowd singalong, and he invited a cute ten year old called
Megan out of the crowd to sing and dance with him, before
going walkabout around the entire venue – even high-fiving
just about everybody in the balcony! – during an
extended, jammed-out take on ‘Human Touch’.
And how else to close out the set proper than the brilliant,
evergreen ‘Jessie’s Girl’? Those minor
blemishes were well and truly forgotten… till Rick
came back out for an encore comprising ‘All My Loving’
by the Beatles (!) and a Cheap Trick-esque ditty called
‘I’ll Make You Happy’ that was originally
recorded by the Easybeats, later covered on his ‘Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance’
album. Talk about an anticlimactic end to a show that
I’d waited decades to see!! And all for less than
80 minutes!
Anyway, for better or worse, here’s what was played:
‘Wide Awake’, ‘I’ve Done Everything
For You’, ‘Living In Oz’, ‘Celebrate
Youth’, ‘Our Ship’s Sinking’,
‘Affair Of The Heart’, ‘I Hate Myself’,
‘Rock Of Life’, ‘Love Somebody’,
Medley: ‘Bop Till You Drop’/‘Calling
All Girls’/‘Don’t Walk Away’/‘State
Of The Heart’/‘What Kind Of Fool Am I’,
‘Love Is Alright Tonight’, ‘Don’t
Talk To Strangers’, Guitar Solo/‘Cross Road
Blues’, ‘Human Touch’ and ‘Jessie’s
Girl’, followed by ‘All My Loving’ and
‘I’ll Make You Happy’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 4th June
I’m back from Trevor Bolder’s funeral…
a beautiful, sad day out at St Mary’s Church in
Beverley (just outside of Hull), followed by a wake for
family, friends and band-mates past ‘n’ present.
The service was just as beautiful as the church and how
on earth Mick Box got through that tearful eulogy and
the coffinside version of ‘The Wizard’ I have
absolutely no clue. What can I say? Band-leader extraordinaire,
and an all-round great guy. Here’s a photo I took
of three of Trevor Bolder’s favourite drummers;
Lee Kerslake, Woody Woodmansey and Russell Gilbrook. Towards
the afternoon’s end the booze and stories began
to flow. At one point I found myself swigging a pint of
cider with a Cointreau depth charge, ahem… As you’d
expect, the train journey home was a bit on the messy
side… Mark dozed off and for a while thought he’d
lost his phone, having awoken in a pool of red wine. I
myself dozed off face down in a mountain of pickled onion
flavoured Monster Munch! Yeah, Trevor was sent off in
style. 1950-2013, RIP.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
Monday 3rd June
Suited, booted and up at stupid o’clock
for a sombre sojourn to Yorkshire. Meeting my friend Mark
Taylor at King’s Cross and our train departs at
the unearthly hour of 6.30am… gruh!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 2nd June
File this one under ‘life highlights’…
a meeting with bona fide Crystal Palace legend Mark Bright
at yesterday’s Beer Festival. I had a lovely day
out at Selhurst; tried most of the ciders and Eddie and
I ended up hanging around for considerably longer than
expected. The fact that the 2-0 victory over Shiteon,
followed by the Wembley Final (including extra time, ’natch),
were being shown on the TVs in the lounges and also via
the Jumbotron might have had something to do with our
extended stay, hahaha!
The Orpington Record Fair is on this weekend but I’ve
gotta battle through the hangover and work for the entire
day, as tomorrow I head up to Hull for Trevor Bolder’s
funeral. I did manage to catch this evening’s friendly
between England and Brazil at the Maracana Stadium in
Rio. Coming back from behind to stun the crowd and take
a 2-1 lead, it briefly felt like Hodgson’s men might
win the game. Great entertainment!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 1st June
Okay, I’ve been out for a run, showered
and am ready to depart nice ‘n’ early to meet
Neil Pudney and Tina Edmonds at Selhurst Park for the
CPFC Beer Festival. There will be photo opportunies with
the Championship Play-Off trophy and no less than 30 different
types of cider for sale, including Oaky Dokey (5.50%),
Lisping Cowboy (5.20%) and Mr Whitehead’s Heart
Of Hampshire (6.00%). Coincidentally, it’s three
years to the day since the ownership rights to the ground
were settled and the club was rescued from financial meltdown,
so I predict a bit of an apple-tastic promotion knees-up!
Monthly amendments to the Playlist
and YouTube pages are up!
|
