Monday 30th September
Here’s
what I got up to this morning! A face to face interview
with Gene $immons at the Classic Rock office, followed
by a chat with Alan G Parker about the upcoming Kiss movie.
I’ve had ups & downs in the past with Gene but
he was in a surprisingly conciliatory mood; he even invited
me to check whether his hair was real! (And thus it seemed
- incredibly).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 29th September
Palace’s Premier League disappointment
continues. Yesterday’s trip to St Mary’s was
always going to be difficult but I managed to find a live
weblink and, full of trepidation, sat down to watch the
game (under normal circumstances it’s a trip I’d
have made but – surprise, surprise – demand
for tix from so-called gloryhunters now makes such opportunities
rather more difficult). The Eagles turned in a disciplined
first-half performance and deserved to go in level at
half time. As the second half kicked off I turned off
the volume to conduct a phone interview with UK blues
star Joanne Shaw Taylor, a lady whose music I really enjoy.
Then… BOSH! Two minutes later Saints took the lead
and I bit my tongue… “So, how much of your
show is improvised?” I asked… (KICKS DESK…
PUNCHES WALL… AARRRG!) BOSH! Two minutes later a
second goal for Saints sees me struggling to maintain
my professionalism… FOR FUCK’S SAKE, PALACE!
“How much do you know about your support act, King
King; presumably you have played with them before…?”
Luckily, I don’t think she noticed! Haha.
Talking of Palace, Eddie and I have just returned from
an excellent charity game that saw a team of club legends,
managed by Sir Steve Coppell and featuring Eddie McGoldrick,
Kenny Sansom, Richard Shaw, Neil Shipperley and Stevie
Kember, pit their skills against local pub the White Horse
(including my good friend Paul Newcomb, who actually got
to switch sides and play alongside his heroes –
lucky git!). It finished 5-5, raising a couple of grand
for Geoff Thomas’ leukaemia charity. Great fun,
and for a good cause.
My Sunday evening concluded with the final episode of
Dexter, a once great series that has now quite rightly
been put out of its misery. For me, it ceased to be believable
when sister Deb learned of the subject’s dark secret,
but Jeez… what a non-event of a conclusion.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 28th September
Back to the Islington Academy for the 2nd time
in 24 hours. Last night was the closing show of Y&T’s
latest tour of the UK. There was no sign of Jeff Scott
Soto, whose guest appearances at the US group’s
London shows are now almost de rigeur, but once again
the quartet played a set of quality and distinction.
Drinking partner Mr Beare and I managed to arrive by 6.45pm,
in time for a short yet rather sweet opening slot from
Night By Night, a young UK-based band who have caught
the ear of Def Leppard’s Rick Savage (“Real
songs with great riffs and vocal harmonies”) –
apt, as they sound quite a lot like the Leps circa the
‘High & Dry’ album. I hadn’t seen
them with their new singer, but they put on a very creditable
display.
Mr Beare and I both agreed that Dave Meniketti had sounded
a little throaty for the first couple of numbers of the
headline act’s set, but he sang himself over the
obstacle as Y&T rolled out another unstoppable display.
Containing three very decent songs from current disc ‘Facemelter’
(‘How Long’, ‘I Want Your Money’
and ‘I’m Coming Home’), at two hours
and five minutes the set was perhaps a little shorter
than usual but that was probably down to curfew issues.
Boasting a brilliant, emotive solo from Meniketti, ‘I
Believe In You’ was the night’s real showstopper,
and it was cool to see the Night By Night gang joining
in with a little tomfoolery during the encore. The set-list
ran as follows: ‘Mean Streak’, ‘Hard
Times’, ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark’,
‘Don’t Stop Running’, ‘Black Tiger’,
‘Dirty Girl’, ‘Midnight In Tokyo’,
‘How Long’, ‘Lipstick And Leather’,
‘Hurricane’, ‘Winds Of Change’,
‘Contagious’, ‘I Want Your Money’,
‘Rescue Me’, Meniketti’s Slow Blues
number, ‘Squeeze’, ‘Summertime Girls’,
‘I Believe In You’ and ‘I’m Coming
Home’, followed by ‘Barroom Boogie’
and ‘Forever’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 27th September
Someone call a glazier… last night Uli
Jon Roth blew the doors off the Islington Academy!! The
former Scorpions/Electric Sun guitarist was in truly incredible
form as part of a co-headline tour with Diamond Head.
Nathan James, who is probably best known for an unsuccessful
attempt at winning the reality TV show The Voice, and
ex-Persian Risk vocalist Carl Sentance took turns to accompany
Uli for an 80-minute set of tracks culled from the first
five Scorps albums (okay, I know that ‘All Night
Long’ didn’t appear on a studio record, but
let’s not quibble). “40 years ago I joined
that band and it was an important time in my life, so
we’re revisiting the sins of my youth,” he
grinned. To my great shame I’d only heard Nathan
James sing once before, with JSS at the Underworld, but
last night his flamboyant delivery was the perfect complement
for Uli’s evocative playing during ‘We’ll
Burn The Sky’ and ‘In Trance’. I swear
that I almost wiped away a tear during the Hendrix-esque
‘Fly To The Rainbow’, which saw Uli take to
the mic to deliver that classic line about “The
lake made out of crystal raindrops”. You can rest
assured that I will be catching a full-length set from
Mr Roth during this current tour. Meanwhile, here’s
the set-list: ‘All Night Long’, ‘Longing
For Fire’, ‘Crying Days’, ‘The
Sails Of Charon’, ‘Sun In My Hand’,
‘We’ll Burn The Sky’, ‘In Trance’,
‘Fly To The Rainbow’, ‘I’m Not
Your Stepping Stone’, ‘Dark Lady’, ‘Pictured
Life’ and ‘Catch Your Train’.
Fair play to Diamond Head, who managed to avoid being
overshadowed by responding with one of the best gigs I’ve
seen from mainstay Brian Tatler since the departure of
vocalist Sean Harris almost a decade ago. The wonderfully-named
frontman Nick Tart has been a staple of the DH picture
since that point, and last night there were times when
he sounded alarmingly like Harris – that’s
a good thing, obviously. However, with between-song comments
such as: “Y’all from round here, are ya? Local?”
and: “I can see all of your faces when the lights
come up, it scares the fuck out of me” (which was
inflicted upon us TWICE!), his stage patter is bloody
diabolical. Musically, however, with just three songs
culled from the post-Harris years, Tatler wound up a great
night by giving the audience almost exactly what they
wanted to hear, viz: ‘Play It Loud’, ‘I
Feel No Pain’, ‘Dead Reckoning’, ‘Come
Alive’, ‘To Heaven From Hell’, ‘In
The Heat Of The Night’, ‘Shoot Out The Lights’,
‘It’s Electric’, ‘Give It To Me’,
‘Sucking My Love’, ‘The Prince’
and ‘Am I Evil?’, followed by an encore of
‘Lightning To The Nations’ and ‘Helpless’
(the latter of which included a Drum Solo… yes,
really).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 26th September
My friend Paul Newcomb emailed to ask whether
I was attending last night’s gig by Royal Souther
Brotherhood at (…whisper its name quietly…)
Under The Bridge, the venue situated beneath the stand
of an insignificant little West London football club whose
name I forget. Having caught last year’s gig at
the Jazz Café of course I was planning to go. But,
as I made quite plain, I would *not* be drinking at the
show. So how on earth did I end up glassy-eyed at Trafalgar
Square waiting for a night bus home? Well, it was the
fault of RSB, who played a truly fabulous gig, and Mr
Newcomb who “forgot” my sobriety pledge and
thrust a pint of cider into my hands, thus triggering
another libation-fuelled evening. The band, whose essence
is an irresistibly distilled blend of rock, soul, blues
and good ol’ Southern Rock, played and sang wonderfully.
Once again their cover of the Grateful Dead’s ‘Fire
On The Mountain’ was to prove the centrepiece of
the show. I’ve never had any interest in the Dead
before, but its sheer magnificence made me consider picking
up a ‘best-of’ anthology, just to say that
I gave ’em a try. Astonishingly, the main set also
closed with a bluesed-up cover of ‘Working Man’
by Rush that I hope someone will have caught for YouTube.
At encore time they were joined by support act Samantha
Fish for a run-through of Tom Petty’s ‘Stop
Dragging Mt Heart Around’ before closing with ‘One
My Out’ by the Allmans (guitarist Devon is, of course,
the son of ABB legend Gregg) and, finally, a version of
‘Gimme Shelter’ that didn’t appear on
the set-list. At one point I turned around to survey the
audience and was gobsmacked to see Roman Abramovic standing
just a few feet away, his face etched with its usual gormless
grin. That I resisted the temptation to try to lamp one
of the men that I consider responsible for the beautiful
game’s ruination should inform you just how much
fun I was having!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 25th September
I have been wading through the newly arrived
ninth issue of Classic Rock Presents AOR, with Derek Oliver’s
Heart retrospective piece as its cover story. As ever
there’s lots and lots to read, including my interviews
with Robin Beck, Graham Bonnet, Micke Larsson from ColdSpell
and the elusive Robert Tepper (whose UK tour was cancelled
just as the issue was put to bed – bah).
Fantastic news for my fellow prog-rock fans… King
Crimson are back. I didn’t see that one coming!
At all!!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 24th September
Someone had left a so-called ‘celeb’
mag on the bus as I came home from yesterday’s trip
to the chiropractor. What a fascinatingly compulsive if
downright absurd piece of literature it turned out to
be. Kerry Katona – pregnant for 5th time and unwed
at 33 (“I thought it was a dodgy Chinese”).
Should I know who Kim Kardashian is, because Reveal failed
to, er, reveal any of her distinguishing achievements
except for “going blonde”. And as for the
real life reader tale of a 22-year-old hairdresser who
was almost cut in half after venturing onto a live railway
line to retrieve a handbag worth just twenty quid, well…
good grief! Um… let’s just say I reside within
a bubble that can be considered somewhat ‘niche’,
and long may it stay that way. Hahaha!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 23rd September
Palace 0, Swansea 2. A very disappointing result.
There was no shame in losing to a Swans side that only
a few days earlier had enjoyed a famous, emphatic European
result, but conceding a goal in the 2nd minute was incredibly
frustrating. The Eagles had seemed to be clawing their
way back into proceedings until doing the exact same thing
at the start of the 2nd half – game over, effectively.
As I type I’m up with dawn chorus, defying am Everest-sized
hangover, to complete a track-by-track of the new Motörhead
album, ‘Aftershock’, for Classic Rock’s
FanPack edition. What can I say… it’s magnificent,
maintaining the band’s purple patch of the last
few years.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 22nd September
How much had I been looking forward to Kip Winger’s
second annual one-man gig at the Borderline…? Let’s
just say *a heck of a lot*!! And what fun it turned out
to be. Kip wandered out onto the stage, 12-string guitar
in hand, and mused: “Who do we have here, anybody
I know? Everybody I know! There's my buddy Dave [referring
to yours truly in the front rows]”, before launching
into a stunning 105-minute routine that merged Winger
tunes, solo material and a liberal dose of stand-up comedy.
“I just turned 52 in June… what the fuck is
this thing with having to piss all the time?” he
mused. Remarried to an Englishwoman after his first wife
died in a car crash, newly sober and having reinvented
himself as a writer of classical music, Winger doesn’t
take himself too seriously anymore. “I take requests,”
he announced, “but the set-list is the same old
shit.”
Along the way he revealed that the recording of a fifth
Winger album is underway, playing the crowd a fantastic
new Reb Beach riff on his mobile phone, also unveiling
a segment of a track co-written by ex-Kix bassist Donnie
Purnell (“Whenever I’m dry on lyrics I call
up the guy that wrote all the cool Kix shit”) and
phoning Beach to trade some amusing banter. Having just
as much fun as the crowd, Kip proved gregarious, magnificently
indiscreet and far more self deprecating than you’d
expect. “What people don’t know is that ‘Miles
Away’ and ‘Without The Night’ are the
same fucking song”, he grinned and proceeded to
play choruses of both, inviting a member of the crowd
called Belinda to duet with him on ‘Miles Away’.
“Winger just did a 25th anniversary thing [in America]
– we should come back and do that show here [at
the Borderline], right?” he teased, “let me
give you all the number of my agent.” Don’t
hold your breath on that one, but now into its second
year Winger (the man) hopes to make this an annual shindig,
so don’t miss the 2014 event. Meanwhile, here’s
the set-list: ‘Cross’, ‘Easy Come Easy
Go’, ‘Who’s The One’, ‘Steam’,
‘Blind Revolution Mad’, ‘Free’,
‘Headed For A Heartbreak’, ‘Rainbow
In The Rose’, ‘Miles Away’, ‘Can’t
Get Enuff’, ‘Deal With The Devil’, ‘Blue
Suede Shoes’, ‘Spell I’m Under’,
‘Under One Condition’, ‘Without The
Night’, ‘Down Incognito’, ‘Madeleine’
and ‘Seventeen’ (now sensibly amended to ‘She’s
Only 43’!)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 21st September
Had to bail on last night’s plans for ‘curry
evening’ in the West End with the confirmation of
two important transatlantic phone interviews. I was taken
aback by the modesty of Robbie LaBlanc from the US-Swedish
band Find Me, who appeared genuinely gobsmacked that anyone
would express an interest in his music, despite the rapturous
reviews for the act’s Frontiers Records debut, ‘Wings
Of Love’. And it was also hilarious to chat with
Coney Hatch’s Andy Curran… he of Kerrang!’s
infamous ‘Wanger Of The Week’ fame.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 20th September
I’ve been having a bit of a Small Faces
morning after receiving a very attractive pic disc of
‘Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake’ in the mail
(thanks to the wonderful Rob Caiger). Followed it with
the 2CD deluxe edition of the same band’s debut…
complete 17 bonus tracks! Nice.
The same postal haul also offered the new issue of Prog
magazine’s October issue, with Camel on the cover
and my own three-page Dream Theatre article which includes
the following quote from singer James LaBrie: “Dream
Theater has become a much more free-thinking, positive-spirited,
camaraderie-based band than it’s ever been.”
Ouch!
Elsewhere it’s been a case of editing Classic Rock
news stories and preparing questions for two phone interviews.
Am looking forward to asking Andy Curran from Coney Hatch
about his near-legendary “trouser-snake”,
which won the bassist a Wanger Of The Week award in Kerrang!
back in the 1980s. The Canadian band’s comeback
album, ‘Four’, has been on repeat all afternoon…
it’s great.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 19th September
Listened to – and enjoyed – Stryper’s
new album, ‘No More Hell To Pay’, before last
night’s interview with vocalist Michael Sweet, who
turned out to be a nice fella. You’ve gotta love
that the legendary Christian rockers have covered the
Doobies’-popularised ‘Jesus Is Just Alright’
on said disc… Haha!
I was feeling a wee bit down in the dumps so I have just
gone online and booked a hotel for the Dan Reed Network’s
first live show in the UK for over 20 years at the Enchanted
Festival in, of all places, Chelmsford! I figured
that having come perilously close to going to Portland,
Oregon, for last NYE’s reunion, then a road trip
to the wilds of Essex has gotta be done!!! Roll on October
12!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 18th September
Another night, another record release party…
Jeez, I’m turning into Mark ‘I Had A Night
In With The Missus Back In 1995’ Taylor. Or perhaps
not! I fancied taking a quick look at The
Graveltones, a duo nominated as ‘Best New Band
of 2013’ at the upcoming Classic Rock Awards, and
who will shortly be opening on some gigs with The Temperance
Movement.
Here’s a tip on how not to start a gig, lads. Coming
onstage and spending nine mins thanking everyone but the
bar staff (including your tatt artist and your cousin’s
milkman) really isn’t very advisable. No, not at
all. Neither is going straight back again to the dressing
room to return six minutes later… it does kinda
deflate the atmosphere a little.
The music, on the other hand, was rather agreeable. With
a drummer that looks a little like a younger Brian Blessed
and a furry-faced vocalist/guitarist whose heavily synthesized
axe effects covered for a lack of bass, their sound is
a primal howl of blues-laden, fuzz-toned hard rock, though
the underlying feel is decidedly garage-like in its approach.
I really enjoyed a couple of their songs (two tracks in,
one that might’ve been called ‘I Don’t
Care About The Trouble’ had a groovy, thunderous,
almost Zeppelin-ish vibe; likewise another more superior
offering could’ve had ‘I Got The Blues’
in its title) but hearing them all for the first time
induced a slight air of sameyness. The occasional addition
of female co-vocalist and keyboard player served to spice
things up, and I crept out a little before the show’s
end… but I shall certainly keep an ear open for
their full-length record, ‘Don’t Wait Down’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 17th September
Congratulations to The Temperance Movement (see
Diary, Friday 13th), whose self-titled debut has entered
the UK’s national album chart at Number Eight, a
place above the newie from Placebo! A great achievement.
[Edit: This was a mid-week position, the album actually
debuted at No. 12… still a feat to be proud of!]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 16th September
Sunday was pretty much a write-off, though I did manage
to complete my latest melodic rock column for the next
issue of Classic Rock. I really enjoyed the second album
from Sweden’s Impera, ‘Pieces Of Eden’,
which includes a widdlesome remake of ‘Goodbye’,
from Paul Stanley’s flawless 1978 solo album. I
was also delighted to stumble upon the fact that John
Fannon, once of the criminally underrated pomp-rockers
New England, whose sublime self-titled debut from 1979
was actually produced by Starchild Stanley, has a new
solo record entitled ‘Saved All The Pieces’.
One quick email to Mr Fannon via his website
and the album was in my ‘in’ box – the
internet can sometimes be a wonderful thing, right? Though
the newie is far more based in singer/songwriter territory
it still made me want to go away and watch this
classic New England song, later covered by Bronz,
on a permanent loop-tape.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 15th September
*Ouch, my head*. My friend Kev Denman journeyed
to Ling Towers for yesterday’s televised clash between
ManUre and Palace. Bacon sarnies and a shedful of beer
and wine paved the way for a game that – once again
– turned on a dubious penalty shout. If anything,
the decision to award the home side with a spot kick in
the 44th minute was even more disappointing than the one
that decided the opening season’s home game against
Spurs. Ashley Young was clearly outside the box when he
threw himself to the ground after an admittedly desperate
challenge from Palace defender KG. Though the lino couldn’t
shed any light on the claim’s validity, the ref
– some dim-witted ponce called Jon Moss, who really
should go back to Culture Club – awarded it anyway.
More calamitous still, Moss deemed that KG was the last
man between Young and the goal (obviously too blind to
have noticed Danny Gabbidon between the collision and
Julian Speroni), and reduced the Eagles to ten men. My
mobile began chattering with texts from supporters of
Palace and other clubs: “Never a pen”…
“Disgraceful decision!”… “F**king
cheats!”… “1-0 to the referee!”…
sentiments that the studio pundits seemed to agree with.
OK, I’m not saying Palace would have won the game,
nor even managed to keep their net intact for another
45 minutes, but we were defending resolutely, and to have
reached the interval goalless would’ve been a priceless
moral boost. Thanks to the oafish officiating the eventual
result – 2-0 to ManUre – became a foregone
conclusion.
The sense of injustice only served to increase our thirst.
As the afternoon wound on, and we watched England’s
cricketers actually win a one-day international, Kev finished
off a crate of Stella Artois bottles and I sank two and
a half bottles of wine, with cider chasers – before
venturing out for yet more beer and a pricey but bloody
fantastic Indian meal at the Babur restaurant in Brockley
Rise. How we ordered I’ve no clue; I must’ve
been talking Martian by that point…
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 14th September
No doubt about it, 2013 has already been quite
a year. Status Quo’s ‘Frantic Four’
line-up reunited (so much for Francis Rossi’s classic
quote: “That’d be like trying to get your
dick up your own arse – impossible”), my beloved
Crystal Palace defied the odds to return to the Premier
League and last night I saw Sweet play their classic ‘Desolation
Boulevard’ album track ‘Turn It Down’
for the very first time. As Mick Box would say: “Appy
daze!”
Given the glamour of Sweet in their Top Of The Pops heyday,
the location for such an unexpected delight – the
Merton Manor, a working men’s club on the outskirts
of south London – couldn’t have been any more
unlikely. But this was no ordinary gig, more of a fundraiser
for Ingrid Paasch, a popular rock fan struck down by an
aneurism, whose specialist treatment is not available
on the NHS. Paasch is long-time friend and fan of Paddy
Goes To Holyhead, whose frontman Danny Hynes organised
and closed the show (its opening act was Weapon UK). In
a further nice touch, Danny Bowes and Luke Morley from
Thunder played a couple of numbers, ‘Brown Sugar’
and ‘Addicted To Love’. Reuben Archer also
joined in with the perennial ‘Doctor Doctor’
as I made a return journey across a rain-swept South London.
Thanks for the lift back to Catford, Jeff and Phillipa!
But for me, the night was all about Sweet. Save for two
of their cheesiest bubblegum hits, ‘Wigwam Bam’
and ‘Little Willy’ (check out this
clip, filmed by my friend Sally Newhouse), guitarist
Andy Scott elected to focus on the band’s tougher,
hard rocking alter-ego with turbo-charged renditions of
the band’s biggest hits from the 1970s. There were
no complaints from me. Scott has surrounded himself with
an impressive line-up that can both rock like dervishes
and cover the group’s trademark harmonies (keyboardist
Tony O’Hora’s higher-pitched contribution
was wonderful). My friend Mark Taylor stood a few yards
away headbanging like a loon, and who could blame him?
There were also a couple of selections from last year’s
hugely underrated covers set ‘New York Connection’.
Russ Ballard’s ‘New York Groove’ interpolated
the Alicia Keys section of Jay Z’s ‘Empire
State Of Mind’, while a metalized remake of ‘You
Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’ by Dead Or Alive
followed a tease of Sweet’s classic anthem ‘Sweet
FA’ – yes, really… and both worked magnificently.
The set-list ran as follows: ‘New York Groove’
(including ‘Empire State Of Mind’), ‘Hellraiser’,
‘Turn It Down’, ‘The Sixteens’,
‘Wigwam Bam’, ‘Little Willy’,
‘Teenage Rampage’, Medley: ‘Sweet FA’/‘You
Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’, ‘Love Is Like
Oxygen’ (including ‘Fanfare For The Common
Man’), ‘Blockbuster’, ‘Fox On
The Run’, ‘Action’, Bruce Bisland’s
Drum Solo and, inevitably, ‘The Ballroom Blitz’.
Get well soon, Ingrid. Here’s hoping that the funds
raised by this most excellent of nights will speed your
recuperation.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 13th September
You know it's gonna be a lo-o-o-o-ng Friday when
you switch on Paul Anthony’s Planet Rock breakfast
show to be greeted by Quo’s ‘In The Army Now’
as a soundtrack to the making of the kids’ sandwiches.
And you know you are still royally f**ked up on champagne
from the night before when you find yourself singing along…
Oh, the shame. Shoot me now.
How did I end up in such a pathetic state? Blame it on
The Temperance Movement, who threw a launch party for
their excellent self-titled debut, which in keeping with
their retro spirit is available on CD, double gatefold
white vinyl and… er… cassette! What can I
saw except that I overindulged in the champers and failed
abysmally to line my stomach with canapés. I’ve
been a big fan of these guys since seeing them opening
for Little Angels and Skin at Shepherd’s Bush Empire
several months back and since then they’ve come
on in leaps and bounds. The album is just as fantastic
as I’d hoped and the group played an intimate set
for those gathered at London’s Gibson Studios. Happy
to say that it included my fave track from the record,
the truly delicious ‘Smouldering’. Check it
out here
and buy the album – it’s wonderful.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 12th September
Still on heavy rotation here at Cheateau Ling,
the fabulous new albums from Fish (‘A Feast Of Consequences’)
and Michael Monroe (‘Horns And Halos’). Listening
to the former, which largely dwells upon the First World
War, and I understand why Fish snorted with laughter during
a phone interview that we conducted few months ago, during
which I asked whether ‘Feast…’ was a
little more upbeat than its predecessor, ‘13th Star’.
D’oh!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 11th September
Blimey… England’s game with Ukraine
in Kiev finished goalless and was pretty forgettable,
being truthful, but the point gained cements our place
in the box seat of the qualifying group. Overcome Montenegro
and Poland at Wembley next month and the plane tickets
to Brazil in 2014 can be booked.
I had to laugh at the fact the Robb Flynn of Machine Head
has posted spoof congratulations to Avenged Sevenfold
for the success of their new
“covers album”. The record concerned topped
the charts in several countries including here in the
UK and the group’s homeland of the United States
and is, of course, comprised of original tunes (in the
loosest possible sense). One listen to ‘This Means
War’, which shamelessly, blatantly rips off ‘Sad
But True’ by Metallica, is enough to justify Flynn’s
sarcasm. “Who knew that re-recording Metallica,
Guns N’ Roses and Megadeth songs could be such a
worldwide hit!!??” he quips. Brilliant.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 10th September
Last night was spent at the Royal George public
house, just off London’s Charing Cross Road, where
a launch party for ‘Oceans Of Time’, a new
album by the female-fronted UK proggers Touchstone, took
place. Fun and a few drinkies were had by all.
Okay, my no-holds-barred interview
with Francis Rossi has been posted at the Classic
Rock website. I respect Rossi’s unflinching honesty
but if he's trying to scupper the next FF reunion... well,
he might just have got his way. As expected, its contents
have really set the cat among the pigeons over at Quo’s
unofficial message
board. One of my favourite postings says simply: “The
trouble with Mr R is that you want to kiss him, then slap
him.”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 8th September
After a bit of a crap week (Friday night not
included), I decided to stop work and take some ‘me
time’, nipping over to Greenwich for a Saturday
afternoon root around the bargain basement at the Record
& Tape Exchange. I scooped up a couple of interesting-looking,
mint condition vinyls by obscure Christian rock artists
from the 1980s – one of which (‘Equator’
by Randy Stonehill) was rather good. Elsewhere the cheapo
CD racks overflowed with decent stuff, most of which I
already owned on vinyl yet was well worth the minimal
asking price. I bought material by Nazareth, Lou Reed,
The Doors, the Small Faces, Michael McDonald, Alice In
Chains, James Taylor, Paul Weller, Jackson Browne, David
Bowie (‘The Best of 1974-’79’…
niiice!) and even the debut from the Stone Temple Toilets
which I’d never even had on vinyl, my favourite
of theirs being ‘Purple’. 13 albums for £13
quid… is that VFM, or what?
As a long-time fan of the often hilarious TV series I
thought I’d check out the new Alan Partridge movie,
which happened to be showing at a small cinema just over
the road. Having bought a cold bottle of cider and some
nice grub I was astonished (in a nice way) to find that,
once inside the theatre, the seated area actually had
its own bar! What a result! The film had some laugh aloud
moments but didn’t really stand up as a bona fide
cinematic statement. ’Twas a pleasant way to have
killed a solo, footie-less Saturday night, though.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Saturday 7th September
Eldest lad Eddie and I were thrilled to be invited
to last night’s World Cup Qualifier between England
and Moldova. The Mastermind question was... how many Tesco
wine pouches would it take to get from Catford to Wembley
Stadium? Two, three, four...? In the end I required four,
plus a couple of Old Rosie ciders at the North Star in
Finchley Road. Goals from Gerrard, Lambert and Welbeck
(two) sealed an emphatic victory, and with Poland having
been held 1-1 by Montenegro the Three Lions now sit atop
Group H. Splendid.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday 6th September
Well, the Winery Dogs get a big thumbs up from
me. Having reviewed their debut album for the current
issue of Metal Hammer (8/10 – “If you expect
one big muso wank, think again”), last night I joined
a sold-out crowd at London’s Islington Academy to
determine whether they could recreate the same magic onstage.
What a great gig! Richie Kotzen sang like a rock God and
besides playing the record in its entirety, their encore
of Elvin Bishop’s ‘Fooled Around And Fell
In Love’ was exquisite. Pre-show I had chatted with
a friend about Mike Portnoy’s uncharacteristically
stripped-down approach to playing drums, joking that compared
to his usual super-busy technique it felt like he was
playing one-handed with the Winery Dogs. Imagine the roar
of surprise and approval from the crowd when Portnoy played
a section of ‘We Are One’ in that exact same
way! The audacity of the man!
Inevitably, there were some solo sections. Portnoy kept
his tastefully short at around a minute long, though Billy
Sheehan, who battered his bass like a demon throughout,
was a little more indulgent. Credit to Kotzen, who played
an actual song (Poison’s ‘Stand’) when
allowed a showcase of his own. The show also featured
another of Kotzen’s tunes, ‘You Can’t
Save Me’, before segueing into ‘Shine’,
from Mr Big’s 2001 album ‘Actual Size’.
For me, the only negative aspect of the night didn’t
come from the band but a small section of the crowd, who
instead of upping their attention levels during the show’s
quieter moments (‘Damaged’, ‘You Saved
Me’ and especially the soulful brilliance of ‘The
Dying’) merely talked loudly through its subtleties.
How incredibly disrespectful. Anyway, here’s the
set-list: ‘Elevate’, ‘Criminal’,
‘We Are One’, ‘One More Time’,
‘Time Machine’, ‘Damaged’, ‘Six
Feet Deeper’, Drum Solo, ‘The Other Side’,
Bass Solo, ‘You Saved Me’, ‘Not Hopeless’,
‘Stand’, ‘You Can’t Save Me (Excerpt)’,
‘Shine’, ‘I’m No Angel’,
‘The Dying’ and ‘Regret’, plus
‘Fooled Around And Fell In Love’ and ‘Desire’.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday 5th September
I’ve been researching for Classic Rock’s
new Motörhead fan pack edition of the ‘Aftershock’
album . Am so glad I kept all of my vintage cuttings from
Sounds, NME, Record Mirror and more. Just found hand-written
questionnaires from Lem, Fast Eddie and Philthy from my
days on a teenage magazine. It has some great answers
from Lemmy:
SCHOOL REPORT: Eventful
CHILDHOOD AMBITION: To burrow through
an elephant
LIVES: Eratically
COOKS: Too many spoil the broth
FIRST CRUSH: Champion The Wonder Horse
FIRST KISS: Champion The Wonder Horse
SLEEPS: Face down in a pool of vomit
RECORDS: Rock'n'rollmoreeasylisteningassocationfootball
FURRY FREINDS: Phil Taylor, Wile E
Coyote
GIGS: The spontenous ones are best.
I like wandering into places and finding a good band.
Recently: Rock Goddess at the Marquee
LUSTS: Blondes, brunettes, redheads,
Dobermans
TURN OFFS: Men wearing suspender belts
CONFESSIONS: I have a chemical toilet
I WISH… I didn't have one.
Do me a favour: When I die… please don’t
throw all of this into a skip!
Aaaah… Just found what I was looking for…
some dog-eared old reviews of the Heavy Metal Holocaust
festival at Port Vale FC in 1981 (co-starring Ozzy Osbourne,
Triumph, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush, Riot and Vardis,
amplified by what has since been called “the biggest
PA system ever used in Britain”). I will never forget
Lemmy asking us: “Is it loud enough? 135,000 decibels
and you want me to turn it up? ...Alright then!”
Equally amusing: A group of elderly residents had objected
to the festival taking place on noise pollution grounds
till the promoter, Straight Music, offered them all a
free day trip to Blackpool on the same day! Haha!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday 4th September
Yesterday’s phone interviews included Camel
guitarist Andy Latimer and Al Stewart. It was a great
opportunity to engage with two artists whose music has
fascinated me for many years. Thumbing through the racks
as a naïve teenager I often used to see ‘Year
Of The Cat’, which has a slieeve featuring Stewart
in feline face make-up and would wonder whether he had
something to do with Peter Criss. How ridiculous! Stewart,
who is about to launch a UK tour that includes a Royal
Albert Hall revival of ‘Year Of The Cat’,
was a fine, jovial and talkative fellow. We laughed a
lot, especially when discussing the fact that he once
played guitar in what he called a “tuppeny-ha’penny
band from Bournemouth” called The Sabres that featured
Tony Blackburn on vocals and future Fleetwood Mac bassist
Bob Brunning (“Tony was a cross between Cliff Richard
and Elvis – he had a gold lamé jacket and
would occasionally rip his shirt open! In the end I think
he thought that I played too loud”). Suffice to
say that I’m well and truly overloaded with material
for my story, but it’s always better to have too
much to work to work with than the reverse.
Latimer is another great raconteur. Ten years ago doctors
gave him just 20 months to live but a bone marrow transplant
has turned his life around to spectacular effect. In October,
Camel will be revisiting their 1975 album ‘The Snow
Goose’ on a European tour that includes four UK
shows. Having retired from the stage a decade ago, Latimer’s
enthusiasm for this second lease of artistic life is contagious.
As our chat wound down he kindly offered to put me on
the guest list for the London show. In return I stated
how nice it was to hear him sounding so chirpy and said
that I hoped that his improving health will allow more
tours and interviews to come. “Wouldn’t that
be nice?” he replied. “My last wish would
be to go out in a few years’ time with a heart attack
after a fourth encore at the Royal Albert Hall…
or maybe in the dressing room, that wouldn’t be
so messy. Yeah, that would be quite good, I think!”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday 3rd September
Yesterday was the final day of the transfer window.
Usually this means hiding behind the sofa, remote control
in hand, trying not to listen to news of some cash-rich
club seducing away one of our Academy starlets. Amazingly,
though, the current timeframe saw the Eagles using their
own chequebook as the list of purchases grew – Barry
Bannan from Aston Villa, Reading’s Jimmy Kebe and
Adrian Mariappa, the highly rated Adlene Guedioura from
Nottm Florist – and even a (failed) last ditch attempt
to lure the admittedly injury prone Andrew Johnson back
to SE25, something a loan of Stoke’s Cameron Jerome
could well cover. At one point during the televised mad
dash to the finish line (“This just in from the
Crystal Palace training ground!”) Sky Sports News
said that Ollie’s men were the 12th biggest spenders
in Prem, having shelled out £17.6m. They look very
sensible buys, too! I’m stunned!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 2nd September
Okay, I believe in the gods of Karma. After so
much CPFC-inspired joy, it’s time for some more
pain at the chiropractor. My shoulder injury is taking
longer to heal than I’d expected.
With a dearth of good gigs on the horizon I’ve been
catching up on telly time. The return of The Newsroom
is something I’ve been dying for.
Meanwhile, for those that give a rat’s arse, I’ve
finally found the time for the usual monthly updates of
my Playlist and YouTube
pages.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday 1st September
Here’s a great photograph of eldest son
Eddie and I celebrating the final whistle at Selhurst
Park: Crystal Palace 3 Sunderland 1. It had been 3,052
days since the Eagles’ last victory in the Premier
League. No wonder things got completely and utterly out
of control. I’m *still* violently hung over –
at 4pm the following day. That really was quite a sesh.
The sight of my pal Kevin Denman waltzing with some old
bird at the Victory Club will stay with me till the day
I die. I had no idea he is such a good dancer. Kev really
should be in the next series of Strictly..., but he’d
better keep his hands off my future wife, the CPFC-supporting
secret rock chick Suzanna Reid of BBC Breakfast Time fame!
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