THE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

THE 50 RECORDS YOU NEED TO HEAR – AND THE BEST SONG ON EACH!

ALSO

WISHBONE ASH
THE PROFESSIONALS
VON HERTZEN BROTHERS
WALTER TROUT
WARRIOR SOUL
CATS IN SPACE
& MORE
 JANUARY 2018 ISSUE 244

64 Features
27 2017: The Year
Queen In Rock
The best albums, the best tracks and interviews with some of
“Playing live you see joy in people’s the artists who made them. We look at the best records the
rock world gave us, and the people we lost from it, over the
faces. It’s what it always was. past 12 months, including…

Somehow it’s all worth it.” 28 Albums Of The Year

Whether from legends, established stars or new rockers on
the block, the past 12 months have seen the release of some
outstanding albums across all genres. Including…
32 Marilyn Manson
His new record, life, death, and painting with piss. Ew…
36 Von Hertzen Brothers
Working on their latest album prevented them from quitting.
42 Anathema
Hard work, preparation and how attention to detail paid off.

50 Tony Iommi
Never give up. Ghosts exist. The 90s weren’t fun. … The Black
Sabbath guitarist on what his eventful life has taught him.

54 Marillion
Steve Hogarth looks back over a busy and successful 2017 and
forward to exploring new horizons and visiting familiar ground.

58 2017 Playlist
No time to listen to the 50 best albums? Then try the less
labour-intensive best 50 tracks of the year.

62 Cats In Space
Looking to bring some much-needed fun back into rock’n’roll.

64 Queen
Doctor Brian May on his “just out of this world” year.

67 Guns N’ Roses
It was the year the reunited GN’R finally got back in the ring
with British fans. Knockout?

68 Joe Elliott
The Leppard frontman on how his adventure continues.

70 Those who left us

Gone, but never to be forgotten.

72 Walter Trout
What did the bluesman buy when we took him vinyl shopping?

76 The Professionals
Former Pistol Paul Cook’s latest line-up are back, giving it
another go and “having a bit of fun”.
GETTY
JANUARY 2018 ISSUE 244
Regulars
12 The Dirt
Ozzy Osbourne, GN’R and Avenged Sevenfold confirmed as
Download headliners, and the Prince Of Darkness announces
his farewell tour; photographer Alec Byrne’s forgotten archive
resurrected for new book and exhibition… Welcome back
Warrior Soul, Peter Hammill and Mabel Greer’s Toyshop…
Say hello to Palaye Royale and The Texas Gentlemen, say
goodbye to George Young, Phil Miller,Fats Domino…

19 Raw Power
Looking for the ultimate aural experience? Then the £8,999
oBravo earphones might be just what your lugholes need.

22 The Stories Behind

The Songs
The Byrds
So You Want To Be A Rock’n’Roll Star is a 60s classic. And if
you saw the band live in ’65 you might even be on it!

24 Q&A
Bill Bailey
The rock’n’roll comedian talks punk, hens, having a good
work ethic and playing Light My Fire at a cremation.

50 Reviews
New albums from Bob Seger, Peter Hammill, Galactic
Cowboys, Warrior Soul, Spock’s Beard, King Crimson,
Cactus, Evanescence… Reissues from Rolling Stones,
Ramones, Eagles, INXS, Gary Moore, The Doors, Moody
Blues, Deep Purple, Green Day… DVDs, films and books on
Kiss, Lou Reed, Nikki Sixx, Dave Hill… Live reviews of
Metallica, Steely Dan, Wishbone Ash, Doobie Brothers,
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club…

85 Live Previews
Must-see gigs from Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, Max & Iggor
Cavalera, Uli Jon Roth, Electric Boys and Threshold. Plus full
gig listings – find out who’s playing where and when.

130 Heavy Load

Beth Hart
The singer talks about her troubled childhood, insecurity,
singing with Jeff Beck, death and the “miracle” of life.

50 SUBSCRIB
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Tony Iommi
“I definitely believe in angels,
because three of them
ROSS HALFIN

saved my life in my late teens.”

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 WELCOME

ell, we made it. It’s

December 2017 and we’ve
rock’n’rolled through another
12 months of high-voltage
music-related shenanigans.
And it’s been a rollercoaster
ride, having begun this year in
an uncertain state of flux. In fact
as midnight struck on January 31, 2016, officially
there was no Classic Rock magazine to speak of,
as the company that previously published us had
imploded. But, like the very best of bands, our
comeback tour continues to be quite the journey…
2017 has seen some of rock’s biggest artists play
some spectacular shows, so in this special end-of-
year issue we peep behind the scenes with Metallica
at the O2 (p120); have a chat with Brian May about
what’s what with Queen in 2017 and their world-
conquering News Of The World tour; catch up with
Tony Iommi to get his meaning-of-life thoughts now
that Sabbath have played their final show; and so
much more. We’ve enjoyed great new albums from
returning heroes and discovered some amazing
new music from fantastic undiscovered bands – just
Subscribe!
check out the CR critics’ Top 50 Albums Of The
Year (starting on p28) for proof.
The upshot? Rock’n’roll is in rude health, and we’ll
be all set to bring you more in 2018. Meantime, may
you and yours have a spectacular Christmas and
a very happy new year. Cheers!
Save money, get your issues early and
THE COVER: reap exclusive subscriber benefits.
TONY IOMMI/JOSH HOMME/ Siân Llewellyn, Visit www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk
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QUEEN: GETTY; MARILLION: WILL IRELAND Editor for our latest subscription offers.

This month’s contributors

SLEAZEGRINDER
…is very clearly the Evel
Knievel of sleazy-rock
journalism. When not
spelunking through rock’n’
roll’s deepest, darkest
canyons for Classic Rock
and helping compile our
cover CDs, he hosts the
Advanced Demonology
podcast and the Heavy
Leather Topless Dance Party
TV show. He lives in Boston
– and he deserves to.
STEVE MITCHELL
Designer and illustrator Steve
Mitchell is responsible for the
shiny typography on this
month’s cover. A regular
contributor to Classic Rock
and its sister titles, he has
worked in design for the
music industry for many
years, and has recently
branched out into screen-
printing and selling his own
art prints. See more of his
work at 57design.co.uk
FRASER LEWRY
Fraser’s a huge fan of both cats
and space (he climbed inside
the Apollo lunar module as
a child, and once published
a book about kittens), so it
made complete sense to
dispatch him to interview Cats
In Space, the 21st century’s
answer to the Electric Light
Orchestra and 2017’s best kept
secret (page 62). When not
Cat bothering, Fraser steers all
CR ’s online shenanigans.
Stereo
Can also be played
on mono
equipment

SIR K 66 087
(2SRK 1987)

Germany: Z
France: WE 666

LC 2112 5150

Established 1998

Editor Art Editor Features Editor

Siân Llewellyn Darrell Mayhew Polly Glass
Album of 2017: Bash & Pop, Anything Could Happen Grave Pleasures, Motherblood Anathema, The Optimist

Production Editor Reviews Editor Online Editor News/Live Editor

Paul Henderson Ian Fortnam Fraser Lewry Dave Ling
Bash & Pop, Anything Could Happen All Them Witches, Sleeping Through The War Bash & Pop, Anything Could Happen Cats In Space, Scarecrow

Contributing writers Contributing photographers

Marcel Anders, Geoff Barton, Tim Batcup, Mark Beaumont, Max Bell, Essi Berelian, Mark Blake,
Simon Bradley, Paul Brannigan, Rich Chamberlain, Stephen Dalton, Johnny Dee, Malcolm Dome,
Lee Dorrian, Mark Ellen, Claudia Elliott, Paul Elliott, Dave Everley, Jerry Ewing, Hugh Fielder, Gary Graff,
Michael Hann, John Harris, Nick Hasted, Barney Hoskyns, Jon Hotten, Rob Hughes, Neil Jeffries,
Emma Johnston, Jo Kendall, Dom Lawson, Paul Lester, Ken McIntyre, Lee Marlow, Gavin Martin,
Alexander Milas, Paul Moody, Grant Moon, Kate Mossman, Kris Needs, Bill Nelson, Paul Rees,
Chris Roberts, David Quantick, Johnny Sharp, Sleazegrinder, Terry Staunton, David Stubbs, Everett True,
Jaan Uhelszki, Mick Wall, Paddy Wells, Philip Wilding, Henry Yates, Youth
Thanks this issue to Louise Brock (design) and Jo Kendall (production)
Ami Barwell, Adrian Boot, Dick Barnatt, Dave Brolan, Alison Clarke, Zach Cordner, Fin Costello, Henry Diltz,
Kevin Estrada, James Fortune, Jill Furmanovsky, Herb Greene, Bob Gruen, Michael Halsband, Ross Halfin,
Mick Hutson, Will Ireland, Robert Knight, Marie Korner, Barry Levine, Jim Marshall, John McMurtrie,
Gered Mankowitz, David Montgomery, Kevin Nixon, Denis O’Regan, Barry Plummer, Ron Pownall,
Neal Preston, Michael Putland, Mick Rock, Pennie Smith, Stephen Stickler, Leigh A van der Byl, Chris Walter,
Mark Weiss, Barrie Wentzell, Baron Wolman, Michael Zagaris, Neil Zlozower.
Cover photos: Tony Iommi/Josh Homme/James Hetfield: Ross Halfin; Queen: Getty; Marillion: Will Ireland

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 SS
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© ALEC BYRNE
43
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17
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© ALEC BYRNE

T.Rex at the Lyceum Ballroom,

London, January 16, 1974.

Back row: Pete Townshend, Rocky Dijon, Roger Daltrey.
Front row: Brian Jones, Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon,
John Lennon, Eric Clapton. Rock And Roll Circus,
Intertel Studios, Wembley, December 11, 1968.
© Alec Byrne
Jimi Hendrix and Mick
Jagger at Top Of The Pops,
BBC Lime Grove Studios,
London, May 4, 1967.
© ALEC BYRNE
Garage Days
Revisited
Photographer’s astonishing forgotten archive
resurrected for new book and exhibition.
London Rock – The Unseen Archive is
the title of a new book by Alec Byrne,
an English photographer who worked
for NME from 1966 onwards, starting
as a 17-year-old, shooting some of the
biggest music stars of the 1960s and 70s,
including David Bowie, Led Zeppelin,
The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who,
Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks and Marc Bolan.
Many of its candid images have never
been seen before. Byrne gave up rock
photography after relocating to Los
Angeles during the mid-70s, and much
of his library of images spent many years
locked away in a garden shed. That they
survived at all is a minor miracle.
“In 1970 my studio in London was
destroyed by fire,” he recalls. “And when
I shipped everything to California, during
the crossing there was storm damage
and water got into the boxes. Then I had
an office on Sunset Boulevard, and in
’94 the building was red-tagged by the
Northridge Earthquake.”
It wasn’t until a visitor to Byrne’s
office expressed admiration for a framed
Beatles print on his wall that the seed
of the book was sown. “He asked me
where I bought it, and when I replied
that I’d taken the photo myself, that led
to a conversation about these boxes of
photos in the garage.”
Byrne, who had by then moved into
cinematic photography, decided to hold
an exhibition of his work in Los Angeles.
When 1,000 people turned up on its sole
night, “I knew right away that they had to
come out of those boxes in my garage and
out to where people could see and enjoy
them,” he explains.
Asked to name his favourite of the
photos in the book, he singles out
a session that he did with David Bowie
at Haddon Hall, the singer’s home from
October 1969 to May 1972. “Forty-five
years later, one of those shots was used as
the opening image in his Five Years boxed
set [2015],” he marvels.
Byrne is also extremely
proud of a photo of T.Rex
playing at London’s Lyceum
in 1974 that shows Marc
Bolan on his knees. “I was
so lucky to get that!” he
exclaims. “Those lights
saying ‘Rex’ behind him
were flashing, so when I got
into the darkroom I was
This month The Dirt was compiled by Simon Bradley, Rich Chamberlain, Lee Dorrian, Nick
Hasted, Jamie Hibbard, Hannah May Kilroy, Dave Ling, Grant Moon, Paul Rees
thrilled to have captured Marc in that
pose and with the words illuminated
behind him.”
Catching Mick Jagger and Jimi
Hendrix at Top Of The Pops seemed equally
heaven-sent. “Every Thursday at four p.m.
I visited Lime Grove Studios [where TOTP
was recorded], and on this occasion I saw
Jimi go over to Jagger. So I asked whether
I could snap them together and they said
it was fine.
His photo of a collection of stars (left)
taken at the shooting of the Stones’ Rock
And Roll Circus in Wembley in December
1968 is another remarkable image.
“Oh my God,” he exclaims. “Just
a minor line-up of talent! I don’t even
know how I managed to get into that
taping [of the film], but once inside
it was so disorganised. Everyone was
just wandering around, which for
a photographer was incredibly beneficial.
The amazing thing was that there seemed
to be no egos; there was no diva-esque
behaviour. ‘Hey, guys, would you mind
if I got you all together over here?’ And it
was no problem. That wouldn’t happen
now. You wouldn’t even gain entry to the
building now.”
Besides the onset of punk rock – “to
me that really wasn’t music,” he says
– the already declining access to stars
contributed to Byrne abandoning
photographing rock stars, and switching
to the world of cinema instead. “I was
lucky when I arrived in Hollywood and
[one of] the first people I connected with
was David Soul, and for six months I was
the only photographer allowed on the set
of Starsky & Hutch.”
Were those images of a bygone age
always lurking in the back of his mind?
“No,” he admits. “Trying to make it in
Hollywood you must be so driven and
focused that they were pushed into the
background. But seeing them again in
my book is a stirring reminder of rock’s
golden years.” DL
London Rock: The Unseen
Archive is published via
Virgin Books on Dec 7.
The hardback costs £50.
Photographs from the book
can be viewed in exhibition
form at Proud Galleries in
London from Dec 8 to Jan
28 (www.proud.co.uk ).
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 13

Thank you
and good night.
Martin Eric Ain
July 18, 1967 – October 21, 2017
Tom Gabriel Fisher (aka Tom G
Warrior) has led the tributes to his
former Celtic Frost bandmate, who
died of a heart attack, aged 50. Born
Martin Stricker, he played bass for
the Swiss heavy metal band over two
spells, as well as in CF forerunners
Hellhammer. “Our relationship was
very complex and definitely not free
of conflict,” Fischer explains, “but
I am deeply affected by his passing.”
Gord Downie
February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017
None other than Canada’s Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken
in praise of Gord Downie, frontman
for the Tragically Hip. The 53-year-
old had been diagnosed with
a terminal brain tumour last year.
“We are less as a country without
Gord Downie in it,” said Trudeau,
a close friend of Downie. “We all
knew this was coming, but we hoped
it wasn’t. It hurts.”
Daisy Berkowitz
April 28, 1968 – October 22, 2017
Putting aside past hostility, Marilyn
Manson suggests that his fans
should listen to the track Man That
You Fear in honour of his former
guitarist, who at 49 has lost a battle
with cancer. Scott Putesky took his
stage name by combining Dukes Of
Hazzard’s Daisy Duke with serial
killer David ‘Son Of Sam’ Berkowitz.
Liam Davison
November 8, 1967 – November 3, 2017
The members of Mostly Autumn are
“devastated” by the unexpected loss
of their former guitar player. Davison
was a co-founder of the British
progressive rock band in 1995, left,
then and returned in 2007, and quit
for good following the recording of
Dressed In Voices in 2014. The cause
of death has yet to be announced.
Davison was 49 years old.
Iain Shedden
January 6, 1957 – October 16, 2017
Iain Shedden, former drummer with
The Saints and a veteran music
writer, has died at the age of 60.
Born in Scotland, he played with The
Jolt before emigrating Down Under
where, in 1982, he joined Brisbane’s
own Saints. He spent 24 years as
a music critic for The Australian,
remaining with the title until his
death from laryngeal cancer.
14 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
George Young
November 6, 1946 – October 22, 2017
Blaze Bayley
closes his Infinite
Entanglement sci-fi AC/DC have paid tribute a musician, songwriter,
trilogy with a new
album titled The
to the man who helped to
shape many of their earliest
producer, advisor and much,
much more, you could not
Redemption Of William albums. George Young was ask for a more dedicated and
Black, released on the elder brother of Malcolm professional man.”
March 2. His tenth and Angus, played bass with It added: “You could not
solo release includes them during formative years ask for a finer brother. For
a guest appearance and, along with Easybeats all he did and gave to us
from Fozzy singer bandmate Harry Vanda, throughout his life, we will
Chris Jericho. co-produced their albums always remember him with
High Voltage, TNT, Dirty Deeds gratitude and hold him close
Following the Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock and to our hearts.”
departure of lead Powerage. In later years he also helmed Away from AC/DC, Young and Vanda
singer Jameson Burt, 2000’s Stiff Upper Lip. become a hugely successful writing team,
Mount Holly have Acknowledging George’s contribution their global hits including Friday On My
split, just as their to AC/DC, a band statement said: Mind and Love Is In The Air.
debut album Stride “Without his help and guidance there Young was 70 at the time of his passing.
By Stride entered would not have been an AC/DC. As Cause of death has yet to be revealed. DL
America’s Alternative
Rock Top 40.
“How ironic that the
band breaks up on the
same day it achieves
Phil Miller
its greatest success,” January 22, 1949 – October 18, 2017
says their guitarist
Nick Perri.
Fans of the 70s Canterbury scene in it was ’nothing but the truth’. He had
particular will have been saddened by a tumbling sense of timing that was
the death of Phil Miller, whose highly impossible to replicate. Effortlessly
individual guitar playing style and tone hurdling over time signature changes like
was a key element of Hatfield And The a world-class show jumper; you would
North and National Health, to name just have felt like applauding if you had not
two of the bands he was a member of. been so enraptured by the engaging
Many rock fans’ introduction to Miller elegance of it all.
was either when he joined Matching “Early on he developed a unique
Mole or played on Caravan’s 1972 album tone that was like pale blue ice, indeed
Waterloo Lily. But it was with the Hatfields almost angelic, but that could then
As this issue went to that he will be most often remembered, turn shockingly crimson when a gale
press, Jeff Lynne’s his marvellous technique and startlingly blew up and the terrain turned from
ELO (pictured) creative soloing lighting up records pastoral into something more rugged
announced eight new such as their self-titled debut album and and challenging. In either mode it was
indoor shows. They standout follow-up The Rotters’ Club. absolutely iconic, totally his own and
are: Nottingham “Phil’s compositions were sophisticated, one of the central pillars of the so-called
Motorpoint Arena but his solos were deeply blues ‘Canterbury sound’.
September 30, rooted,” explains Miller’s friend and “The man was indivisible from his
Glasgow Hydro fellow guitarist Doug Boyle. “He was music. Touchingly warm and gentle
Arena October 3, incapable of lying, whether he was at heart, he did everything with soul,
Manchester Arena 5, wearing a guitar or not, so when (fully compassion and occasionally formidable
Newcastle Metro dressed) he bent a string, it ached, force. In his hands a guitar was a sword of
Radio Arena 9, and you ached in sympathy because righteousness. Amen.” PH
Birmingham Arena 10,
Leeds First Direct
Arena 15, London
O2 Arena 17 and
Liverpool Echo
Fats Domino
Arena 23. February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017
Marilyn Manson has
sacked bassist Jeordie Born in New Orleans 89 in emulation of Domino’s
years ago and famous for a style, and John Lennon and
White, aka Twiggy
two-fisted style of boogie- Cheap Trick are among
Ramirez, from his
band following claims woogie piano, Antoine those who covered his
from Jack Off Jill Dominique Domino Jr 1955 hit Ain’t That A Shame.
vocalist Jessicka – better known as Fats – During a 1965 press
became one of the most conference at which both
Addams that she was
raped by White 20 influential performers were present, Presley
years ago while they in popular music, selling corrected a journalist who
were in a relationship. more than 65 million records, a record referred to Fats as “The King”, nodding at
The incident was not unsurpassed by every 1950s rock’n’roll Domino and stating: “No, that’s the real
reported to the act except Elvis Presley. He died of natural king of rock’n’roll.”
police at the time. In causes, according to reports. Domino was among the first artists to be
a statement, Ramirez Issued in 1949, the singer’s million- inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of
said: “I do not condone selling debut single, The Fat Man, is Fame, in 1986. “Fats could make a piano
non-consensual sex sometimes credited as the first ever talk,” Little Richard told Rolling Stone.
rock’n’roll record. Paul McCartney is said “He could play anything. He wasn’t just a
GETTY x2
of any kind. If I have
caused anyone pain to have written The Beatles’ Lady Madonna banger. He could really play for real.” DL
I apologise and
truly regret it.”
 Reef, The Wildhearts
and Terrorvision are
to co-headline five
dates billed as Britrock
Must Be Destroyed!
Each band will take
turns to headline. The
dates are: Manchester
Academy May 4,
Ozzy: eyeing Birmingham Digbeth
a long goodbye. Arena 5, London
Hammersmith Apollo
Ozzy for Download 6, Glasgow Academy
19 Newcastle Drinking to their
Academy 20. return: Clive Bayley
and farewell tour (left) and Bob Hagger.
The Temperance
GN’R and Avenged Sevenfold Movement release
the other DL headliners. their third album,
A Deeper Cut, on

Ozzy Osbourne is to co-headline next

year’s Download Festival as part of a two-
February 16 via
Earache. Once again
co-produced by the
Mabel Greer’s
year farewell tour that will commence in
Mexico on May 5. For the first time since
2009, Ozzy will team up with guitarist
band and Sam Miller,
it’s their first with
guitarist Matt White,
Toyshop
Zakk Wylde, with a band completed by
bassist Blasko, drummer Tommy Clufetos
who replaced Luke
Potashnick in 2016.
The band that once included most of the founders of
and keyboard player Adam Wakeman, to Yes but called it a day in ’68 set out their stall again.
close the festival on Sunday night. More than 60 people
The other Download 2018 headliners will are reported to have
be Guns N’ Roses (Saturday night) and been ejected from In 1966, guitarist/vocalist Clive different. We did lots of gigs – the UFO
Avenged Sevenfold (Friday). As usual the a recent show by Bayley and drummer Bob Hagger formed club, Electric Garden, the Marquee. Bob
event takes place at Donington Park Racetrack A Perfect Circle in psychedelic explorers Mabel Greer's and I were into left-field stuff, psychedelia
in Leicestershire, this year on June 8-10. Reading, Pennsylvania, Toyshop in London, whose line-up would and ad-libbing, Jon was more
More info at downloadfestival.co.uk for using their mobile include bassist Chris Squire, guitarist mainstream, more into pop. But they
Back in February, Ozzy helped to bring phones during the Peter Banks, keyboard player Tony Kaye were all brilliant musicians. Good times.
down the curtain on Black Sabbath’s career band’s set. and Jon Anderson. While these four went
at Birmingham’s Genting Arena, but the on to form prog giants Yes, Bayley and And what brings you back?
singer has no plans to bring down the one Hagger ditched the band and the music After Peter Banks died [in 2013], Bob
on his own career just yet. business completely in ’68. But now called me. We hadn’t seen each other for
“They’ve [Sabbath] retired but I haven’t,” they’ve resurrected Mabel and recorded forty-five years, but we had dinner and
he said recently. “People forget I’ve done my a new album, The Secret, and, as Bayley caught up, and we’re still the same people.
own thing for a lot longer than [being] with reveals, they’re keen to We laughed ourselves
Sabbath. I love what Sabbath did for me and make up for lost time. silly, decided to go
I love what I did for Sabbath, but it’s not the back into the studio
be-all, end-all of my own whole career.”
He added: “People around my age go: ‘I’m
Fifty years is a hell of
a hiatus. What have
“The lyrics are and made A New Way
Of Life in 2015, with
sixty-five now. I’m retired.’ Then they you been up to? mystical. The [ex-Yes guitarist] Billy
fucking die. My father got a bit of cash from Saxon’s 22nd studio Yes, we’ve had a slight Sherwood producing.
the job he had, did the garden and died.” album, Thunderbolt, is absence! I’ve had music is melodic, We got a lot of press,
Asked to define ‘retirement’ in such released on February 2 nightclubs, fashion sold a few thousand
a context, Ozzy says: “This will be my final via their own Militia companies, design progressive…” copies, but we couldn’t
world tour, but I can’t say I won’t [still] do Guard label. Singer Biff companies. I invented tour because of our
some [one-off] shows here and there.” Byford (pictured) calls the screwball glass. I now have a chain of business commitments.
Wylde joins Ozzy’s tour off the back of it “a storming, mobile phone stores, fonehouse. Bob’s
his own commitments with his band Black smashing, thundering been a CEO of a software company in You’ve called your sound “psychedelic
Label Society, who play 23 dates throughout collection of tracks.” Boston. Our creativity went into business, fusion”. Is that how you’d describe the
March and April in support of their new The band play Cardiff not music. music on The Secret?
Grimmest Hits album, which includes an University February It’s more than that. The lyrics are, dare
appearance at London’s Royal Albert Hall 23, Cambridge Corn Why did you give it all up in 1968? I say it, mystical. The music is melodic,
on April 5. Exchange 24 and I like paddling my own canoe, and I didn’t progressive, classical. Peter is on the title
“In between my nail appointments and Hull City Hall 25, like what was happening in the music track, we worked a clip of his guitar into
the shaving of my legs, we’ve actually made with more dates to business. With my own business I could the middle eight. He always thought I was
another Black Label album,” Wylde reveals. follow. Support comes do my own thing. But I really missed the a crap guitarist, which I was, compared to
“So that’ll be coming out in the new year.” from Magnum, music. Every time I saw Yes play I thought: him. But here we’re playing a duet, and it
GN’R have played more than 100 shows Diamond Head and “I really want to be doing that.” works very well. It’s all still very Mabel.
around the world since 2016 when Rock Goddess.
frontman Axl Rose reunited with guitarist Did you keep in touch with them? Will you tour this record?
Slash and bassist Duff McKagan (the Seattle band Walking We’re always friendly, but I can’t say that We want to get some dates sorted for the
current line-up is completed by keyboard Papers – bassist Duff we’re close. The last time I saw Yes was at fifty years of Yes’s celebrations next year.
player Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus, McKagan, drummer a concert about eight years ago. If we could do a few gigs in the States,
OZZY OSBOURNE: KEVIN NIXON

drummer Frank Ferrer and synth player
Melissa Reese).
Californian heavy metal band Avenged
Sevenfold, who released their seventh
album, The Stage, in October 2016, first
co-headlined Download in 2014. DL
16 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Barrett Martin, vocalist/ a few in Europe, even as a support, that
guitarist Jefferson Mabel lasted only three years, but would be great. We love music and we just
Angell and keyboard what an amazing musical pedigree. want to get back out and play. GM
player Benjamin In sixty-six, London was all about
Anderson – release psychedelic music and flower power, The Secret is released on December 15
their second album, everybody was doing something via HBM.
WP2, on January 19 via
Loud & Proud Records.
 “We have this classic
rock feel but with a
hint of punk and blues
in there as well.”

Palaye Royale
Sin City’s band of brothers are flying the flash- Another thing that clearly shouldn’t work is having a band comprised
solely of siblings, but somehow that does too.
bang flag for style and rock’n’roll substance. “There are days when we fucking hate each other,” Remington admits.
“We can get into a fist-fight and punch each other in the face, and then two
“I’ve dressed this way ever since I was ten,” says Palaye Royale’s frontman, minutes later get on stage and everything is fine.”
Remington Leith. “People think we have stage clothes and costumes. No, if you Whether it’s their brotherly chemistry, uber-cool style or just the quality
see me in the morning, that is how I will be dressed. Okay, maybe I don’t have music, something seems to be working for Palaye Royale. The band have
the feather boa while I eat my cereal, but I don’t look too normal.” developed a sizeable following since forming in 2012, with their video for
We should perhaps expect nothing less than outlandish attire Morning Light racking up a staggering 20 million views on YouTube.
from a band that describe themselves as “art fashion rock”. But, to FOR FANS OF… With a year on the road in support of their album Boom Boom Room
be fair to Remington and his bandmates – elder brother Sebastian on the way, you can bank on plenty more devotees getting on
Danzig and younger sibling Emerson Barrett complete the line-up board in the coming months.
– growing up under the neon lights of Las Vegas was always likely Remington thinks he has an idea why the band is connecting
to leave the trio with a certain eye for flair. “It was crazy growing up with so many people: “We miss the days where Mick Jagger would
in this city of theatrics. That was a big part of why we look the way wear the craziest outfits on stage. Why don’t bands dress like this
that we do and why we want to put on such a show.” any more? We always wanted to be that band where people would
If you want theatrics, these boys deliver in spades – and not just Remington draws see you walking down the street and would say: ‘Wow! Now that is
comparisons with The
in their headline-grabbing threads and eye-popping live show. Killers and Seattle a band right there.’ The music helps us, we have this bigger-than-
Tracks like Morning Light, Mr Doctor Man and Don’t Feel Quite Right survivors Pearl Jam, but life sound. The last band to do this was My Chemical Romance.
demonstrate a reckless abandon when it comes to dynamics, as the it’s the louche swagger They had this great aesthetic and it made everything so cohesive
band crash from My Chemical Romance-influenced rock to New of the Rolling Stones that between their music and their style. We always wondered why
really shines through
York Dolls-ish punk via dashes of Stones-y blues. Palaye Royale’s music. bands didn’t do that. We knew that we wanted to be that band.” RC
“We have this classic-rock feel but with a hint of punk and blues Ultimately, as he says,
in there as well,” the frontman explains. “It sounds like it shouldn’t it’s bands “that push Boom Boom Room (Side A) is released in the U K on
the envelope” who
work together but, weirdly, it does.” inspire them. “The November 24 via Sumerian Records.
theatrical side is missing
from a lot of bands…
That’s what we aim for.” CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 17
 Robert Plant has
described some of his
early singing with Led
Zeppelin as “horrific”.
Talking to The
Guardian, the 69-year-
old referenced Babe I’m
Gonna Leave You, on
the band’s self-titled
debut from 1969,
saying: “I really should
have shut the fuck up!”
Plant is to receive a
Lifetime Achievement
Award at the third
annual UK Americana
Riches from the Awards at London’s
Hackney Empire
rock underground on February 1.

PLUTO
Pluto, Dawn, UK, 1971. £400.
After forming in
1970, the following
year the London-
based Pluto
released this, their
debut, a solid
album of
progressive blues
and hard rock,
which is now arguably the rarest record
on PYE subsidiary Dawn Records.
Although lacking any all-out monster/
killer cuts, it’s well executed and features
appealing bursts of fuzz guitar alongside
some wild soloing, and thankfully none
of the tracks are particularly drawn out
and it’s a relatively jam-free zone. The
repetitive groove and simplistic riffing of
Down And Out is actually one of its more
memorable moments, but it’s tougher
rockers such as Stealing My Thunder,
Crossfire and the garage-vibed Road To
Glory where Pluto sound strongest.
Apparently it was commercial
producer/songwriter John Macleod’s
first experience of producing a hard rock
‘A solid album of
progressive blues and
hard rock.’
band, and he attempted to clean up and
polish the band’s natural sound. This is
perhaps evident on Rag A Bone Joe, which
has backing vocals from the Brotherhood
Of Man. A poppier track, (obviously
aimed at radio), at odds with most of the
album, it was released as a single and
flopped. It makes you wonder why big
labels signed bands like this, as they
clearly didn’t know how to market them
and had little faith in their creative worth.
Hawkwind are to
perform a special
one-off orchestral
Warrior Soul
show, In Search Of
Utopia – Infinity And
Mighty motormouth Kory Clarke returns with a new
Beyond, at the London album – his ego, if not his liver, very much intact.
Palladium on
November 4, 2018.
When they first came along in 1990, happens. I basically shag the missus, go out
Robyn Hitchcock Warrior Soul stood out for two reasons. to the pub, chill out some and spend the
and his band the LA One, Last Decade Dead Century, their debut rest of the day figuring out how to get
Squires will play two album, was brilliant, as bleak and myself enough money so that I can go back
UK shows – his first unforgiving as a landscape of urban to the bar. I rock, dude. I live a rock’n’roll
with a full live group concrete but also home to such sweeping lifestyle. Does that sound bizarre? There’s
since 2014 – in the epics as The Losers, Lullaby and In a few of us left, but not many.
spring. They play Conclusion. Two, there was frontman and
Manchester Academy leader Kory Clarke; a peacocking motor- Where does Back On The Lash stand in
May 11 and London mouth who simply would not be ignored. the Warrior Soul scheme of things?
ULU the following day. Except that for the most part he was. It was about time that Warrior Soul said:
Some solo acoustic Despite a clutch of rave reviews and “We’re gonna rock no matter what
shows in the UK are a high-profile tour with Metallica, Last anyone else does.” This album stands out
also to be announced. Decade Dead Century against the field of
sank almost without re-tread, moron,
trace. Clarke ploughed horror show that is the
on, and made two “I live a rock and rest of music these
further excellent, days. With Warrior
insurrectionist- roll lifestyle. Soul, every album we
minded records do sounds different.
– 1991’s Drugs, God Does that Basically, what I want
And The New Republic to do right now is kick
and the following sound bizarre?” some ass.
year’s Salutations From
The Ghetto Nation – and then a couple more With Trump in the White House,
Judas Priest have that were not nearly so good. He changed those railing, apocalyptic prophecies
announced that the band line-ups as often, but in 1996 gave up on Drugs, God And The New Republic
follow-up to 2014’s the fight and retired the band. and Salutations From The Ghetto Nation
Redeemer Of Souls will Ten years later, Clarke revived Warrior now appear all too prescient?
be titled Firepower Soul and has toured and made records It’s always been obvious to me where
– the band’s second
studio album with
under that banner ever since. His latest
and eighth is Back On The Lash. Described
things are going wrong. When you have
a corporate government running
Richie Faulkner, the by Clarke as “hard, catchy rock’n’roll”, everyone’s lives, what more can I say?
guitarist who replaced across nine relentless tracks it suggests Listen to the records. If you’re not
KK Downing following strongly that he exists in a near- a billionaire you’re a fucking loser in this
his retirement in 2011. permanent state of inebriation. culture. I tried to expose this, or to
“Richie’s playing is It also sounds like that when he picks enlighten people to what was going on,
fucking unbelievable up the phone call from Classic Rock at six but unfortunately I wasn’t hip enough to
on this album,” vocalist in the evening his time. He’s in Greece, move to Seattle and drink coffee.
Rob Halford (pictured) but refuses to say where or why exactly.
enthuses. “As the What do you think the general
writing team of Richie, On I Get Fucked Up on the new record, perception of Warrior Soul is today?
Glenn Tipton and you proclaim: ‘Call me a first-rate I have no idea. Judging from my fan base,
myself, this is some of alcoholic. Call me a crack-head junkie people still like to hear The Losers and also
our best work.” too.’ How autobiographical is that? In Conclusion, one of the greatest songs
ROB HALFORD: KEVIN NIXON

Pluto released one further single the
following year, titled I Really Want It,
which was arguably their finest moment.
Apparently the band split in 1973 due to
various frustrations. LD
18 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Oh, it’s totally autobiographical. I assume ever written by human beings – and
Rick Springfield that you’ve actually heard the record, and written by me. Excuse me for my ego. PR
releases The Snake that you understand what for me would
King, his first ever be a typical day. I’m really glad that I wake Back On The Lash is out now via
blues-influenced up – sometimes, anyway. Then shit Livewire/Cargo.
album, on January 26
via Frontiers Records.
Technical ecstasies
Looking for the ultimate aural experience? Try these.
These days it’s likely that the majority of
music fans enjoy their music in one digital
format or another, especially when on
the move. With their favourite tracks and
albums most commonly stored in a low-
res AAC or mp3 format, many people will
happily head-nod along to Back In Black
or whatever using the somewhat ropey
earphones that came with the player/
phone/whatever and not be any the wiser.
The nuances of the hi-fi world are all but
impenetrable for newbies, but one of the
cornerstones is that the huge cost of the
relevant kit is secondary to the exhilaration
of the perfect aural experience. According
to What HiFi, a high-end system’s power
amp can cost as much as £500,000 and
a pair of speakers £300,000. If you’re a vinyl
connoisseur, the price of the Clearaudio
Statement v2 turntable, a mere £92,000,
includes the services of a technician who
will come round and help you set it up.
The mind-boggling technology utilised
in products such as these is also applicable
to earphones. Take these Ra C-CU units
from Taiwanese company oBravo, which
include: “…a coaxial two-way IEM design,
using an Air Motion Transformer II tweeter
and Neodymium Dynamic Driver to deliver
a rich soundstage”. Sounds cool, huh? And
so does the music that comes out of them.
A pair cost a staggering £8,999, but it
doesn’t end there; you’ll need to seek out
one of the increasing number of retailers
that provide music in hi-res formats
such as FLAC or WAV to make buying
these earphones worthwhile. You’ll need
a dedicated player, too, of course, which can
cost anything from £199 upwards.
We’ve been fortunate to hear music
through a high-end hi-fi system, and
it’s a truly wondrous experience. The
ridiculous prices of the associated
equipment are bound to exclude all but
squillionaires from similar epiphanies, but
if you get the chance, take it.
More information from Audio
Sanctuary: 0208 942 9124
Simon Bradley
REX
SONGS FOR THE DEAF?
If you like things loud, hearing loss is a serious
risk.
Deafness is often treated lightly by us rock
and metal fans.
At gigs, how often have we shouted “No!”
to a band’s enquiry
as to whether the volume the is loud enou
gh? Or agreed with
the phrase: ‘If it’s too loud you’re too old?’
Many musicians have struggled with heari
ng problems due
to years of playing loud on stage. Neil Youn
g, Pete Townshend
and Eric Clapton have all battled with tinnit
us, and Mr. Big
guitarist Paul Gilbert (pictured) has taken
to wearing a pair of
Direct Sound EX-29 Extreme Isolation head
phones on stage
to protect what’s left of his hearing.
“The most difficult thing for me to hear
is speech,” he told
MusicRadar.com. “And I have to be caref
ul about mixing
high-frequency instruments like shakers
or hi-hats too; I just
can’t hear them any more.”
His words, and those of many other musi
cians whose
hearing is shot, are a sombre warning for
all of us.
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 19

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20 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Alice Cooper, John
Mellencamp, Chrissie
Hynde, the Isley
Brothers and Tom
Waits are among
those nominated for
the Songwriters Hall
Of Fame in 2018.
Eligibility is open to
published writers for
a minimum of 20
years who have
a notable catalogue of
hits. Six artists will be
selected, and the
winners inducted at
a ceremony in New
York on June 14.
Former Journey
drummer Deen
Castronovo has joined
the Dead Daisies. He
Peter Hammill
replaces Brian Tichy,
who is to “pursue
It’s not farewell from the Van der Graaf man, but a time
other projects”. The for gentle reflection - well, as gentle as he gets.
group are currently
recording a new album
in Nashville. Peter Hammill was called “the to see that the looming finger of
Hendrix of the voice” in the 60s, but Catholicism didn’t tap me on the shoulder
Thunder release had deliberately retreated from the and beckon me back into the fold. No,
their new festive song limelight by the end of the 70s. A near- I think the lights go out.
Christmas Day on fatal heart attack in 2003 failed to derail
December 1 via Ear the reunion of his ornery, punk-favoured Does all the work you’ll have left
Music. The seven-inch proggers Van der Graaf Generator, or behind matter to you?
blue vinyl edition adds prolific solo and band releases since. His Well, I think I will have left it behind,
a new 2017 latest solo record, From The Trees, is one and it will have been left behind as well.
re-recording of debut- of his strongest and most simply The fact is, it’s extremely unlikely that
album song Love arranged sets of songs. It confronts there’s going to be a Las Vegas show of
Walked In, while the themes of artistic crack-ups, ageing and The Songs Of Hammill – unless there’s
CD and 10-inch blue death which are ever more relevant to a dramatic turnaround in the next ten
vinyl editions have the 69-year-old’s minutes! They’ll still
that plus live acoustic rock generation. exist in recorded form,
renditions of Low Life but they’ll be gone in
In High Places and The songs on From “It’s extremely terms of having life
Heartbreak Hurricane. The Trees give to our breathed into them.
inevitable decline unlikely that They won’t continue.
a nobility that is I’m still touring,
unusual for you. there’s going to be but not that much,
Your gaze is usually because I don’t want to
more withering. a Las Vegas show be stricken by all the
It’s not wanting to
whinge, I suppose.
of The Songs Of tiredness. But while
I’m still playing, it is
I guess I’m trying to
be more generous of
Hammill.” partly from this sense
of responsibility to the
spirit, while also not songs, which have
averting the gaze. The thing is, we’re all been friends to me. So I’m carrying on in
Joe Satriani (pictured) of a certain age, so it’s time to take stock. the knowledge that if I stop playing, then
releases his sixteenth And so I’m not trying to write the farewell they won’t have the life breathed into
solo album, What song, and I’m not thinking every time I go them. It’s a responsibility that I’ve
Happens Next, on into one that this might be the last. But inherited. I owe the songs a lot.
January 12. He has there is that consciousness that there
invited Dream Theater physically can’t be many more songs, and What have the songs you’ve written
guitarist John Petrucci I ought to take extra care with them. over the decades given you?
and former Scorpions I get to inhabit their characters in the
guitarist Uli Jon Roth The song Torpor is a continuation of performance, and it’s as though I haven’t
to join his next G3 2012’s All The Tiredness. Is it coming written them myself. It’s as though I’m
tour, which reaches from a person who is more tired now? encountering them in the moment. That’s
the UK on April 24. Over the last couple of years there have a joyful and interesting thing.
been times when I’ve been extremely tired.
U2 have confirmed But at the moment I’m in a comparative Are there and plans for Van der Graaf
that they will play first flush of youth [laughs]. Generator in 2018?
shows in Ireland and Yeah. We’d be hoping for something in
the UK next summer In Torpor you sing: ‘There’s no knowing live form towards the end of next year.
to promote their where this ends.’ Are you sure that with But we haven’t booked the bus yet. NH
fourteenth studio death the lights go out and that’s it?
album, Songs Of I am, yes. Even going back to when I had From The Trees is out now via
Experience, released my heart attack in 2003, I was interested Fie! Records.
on December 1.
 “We love sixties psych rock’n’roll.
It was kinda out there and weird.”

The Texas Gentlemen

After years as an in-demand backing collective, Joe Cocker, the Stones… We really feel now that we’re a part of that legacy, and
of that continuing story.”
they’re now paddling their own canoe. The Gentlemen may be a core of five, but they have a musical collective
of nearly 20, with various songwriters involved and members swapping
A lot can be said for standing back and taking notes. The five core musicians instruments in the studio, sharing vocals and joining in whenever they felt
of southern rock collective the Texas Gentleman have been playing together inspired, “like musical chairs” Bedford says, laughing.
for nearly 10 years, but as a backing band for singer-songwriters including “We’re so used to getting into the studio and working for somebody else’s
Leon Bridges and Nikki Lane. During that time the Gentlemen learned on the vision and making it work for them, that I just wanted us to enjoy ourselves.
job, discovering how to make records and uncovering the sounds Somebody would play a song, we’d say: ‘That’s great, let’s record
that would inspire them to create their very own album. FOR FANS OF… it’, and everybody would find a position to work. It happened
“We discovered all this great music together: Willie Nelson, so naturally. It was wonderful. We weren’t even thinking about
Gram Parsons, The Byrds, music ingrained in American culture making a great record, but when we played back the mixes it was
that defines the human narrative,” explains bandleader Beau apparent that we had something special.”
Bedford, who also works as a music producer in Dallas. And special it certainly is. There’s southern rock boogie like
Having worked alongside many musicians, the Gentlemen picked opening jam Habbie Doobie, the wistful Crosby, Stills & Nash-style
up tips, particularly from Leon Bridges and Kris Kristofferson. folk rock of Bondurant Woman, and songs that sound as though
“Leon and Kris have such a similar spirit; they just organically “There are so many they were transported from another era, like the crooning country
genres of music that Leon
have it inside of them,” Bedford explains. “They’re not trying to Russell takes you through ballad My Way or the psychedelic 60s wig-out Shakin’ All Over.
be anything for anybody. They have a gift, and they’re sharing it. on Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs “We love sixties psych rock’n’roll when all the boundaries were
There’s some real truth and potency that comes along with that.” And Englishmen album, being crushed for the first time,” Bedford says. “It was kinda out there
The Gentlemen recorded their debut album, TX Jelly, at FAME and when you add a ton of and weird, and that’s what rock meant – not a defined genre, not
Leon’s session musicians
Studios in Muscle Shoals, which added extra magic to the to play live show with a group of guys making music to try and sell records, but making
experience. “Muscle Shoals is phenomenal,” says Bedford. “We Joe’s voice, then you’ve music because they have a voice and something to say.” HMK
CAL QUINN/PRESS

met a bunch of guys who were in the Swampers, guys who were got fire and magic. They
do music because they
deeply involved but have no ego. We heard stories about Bob Dylan, love it. They love feeling it. TX Jelly is out now via New West Records.
And that feeling is all over
that album. Like it’s all
over the Gents’ album.” CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 21
 THE
STO
RIES
BEH
IND
THE
SON
GS
The Byrds
So You Want To Be A Rock’n’Roll Star
A light-hearted pop at the superficial workings of the pop industry in the 60s, it remains a minor
classic. And if you saw the band live in Bournemouth in 1965, you might actually be on it!
E
Words: Rob Hughes ighteen months can be a long time
in show business. In the spring of
1965, The Byrds exploded into the
public consciousness with their
chiming cover of Bob Dylan’s Mr.
Tambourine Man, topping the charts on
both sides of the Atlantic. Fêted as avatars
of folk rock, the band suddenly found
themselves on Top 40 stations across
America and Europe, appearing on TV and
staring out of teen magazines.
By late ’66, however, all that had
changed. After a run of successes, and
having experienced the full mania of the
record industry, The Byrds were no longer
guaranteed hit makers. “We’d watched [The
Beatles film] A Hard Day’s Night just as we
were starting out and were so enamoured
of it,” explains bassist Chris Hillman. “Then
it all did happen. We started doing shows
and girls were running after us and
jumping on the car. But within a matter of
two years, all of a sudden we were like jaded
old men who’d been around the block
COVER STAR a few times. It was sort of comical.”
So You Want To Be
A Rock‘n’Roll Star
Hillman and lead guitarist Roger
McGuinn poured their cynicism into So
might not have set the
charts alight upon its You Want To Be A Rock’n’Roll Star. The song
release 50 years ago, served as a two-minute manual for
but it has since become
one of The Byrds’ most overnight fame, a potted guide to pop
enduring songs. stardom with an essential checklist:
Oddly, the first electric guitars, the right hair, tight pants,
group to cover it was
The Royal Guardsmen, money-worshipping agents. “We’d had
followed by The Move, such a quick rise to fame and it went to
Hookfoot, Nazareth our heads a little,” McGuinn admits. “But
and, in 1979, Patti
Smith. The latter’s by late sixty-six/early sixty-seven we were
version was altogether going out of business. We were up at
more caustic than the Chris’s house and going through the pages
original, with Smith
explaining that “it of some teen magazine, cracking up at all
relates specifically to these one-hit wonders who would be
the violent attack by an gone by the next week.”
emotionally torn Sid So You Want To Be A Rock’n’Roll Star was
Vicious on my brother,
Todd, with a broken released on January 9, 1967, on the same
bottle in a New York day as The Monkees’ second LP, More Of
nightclub. Both of them The Monkees. This may have been purely
are now deceased, but
they are embedded, like coincidental, but there seemed to be no
strange brothers, within more fitting target for The Byrds’ dry
our performance.” critique of manufactured pop than the
Others who have
tackled the song band often derided as the Prefab Four. The
include Tom Petty, Monkees were by then starring in their
Pearl Jam, Black Oak own hugely popular TV show and riding
Arkansas, Ronnie
Wood and R.E.M. high on a series of massive hit singles that
were mostly the work of session players.
22 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
“The song was a slight jab – not at The
Monkees as individuals, they actually had
a very good gig making money, but at
how contrived it was,” says Hillman.
“Roger and I weren’t blatantly writing
about The Monkees. To me, it was more
like we were jabbing at Hollywood’s
smarmy, controlled process of that. It
strips away all the soul and depth of the
experience of a rock band. It makes it so
vanilla, too clean and pretty. Since the late
fifties, with songs like Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie
Yellow Polkadot Bikini, manufactured pop
music had been there. It all comes down
to square one: profit.”
“Some people think [Rock’n’Roll Star] is
about The Monkees, but I never felt that,”
McGuinn concurs. “I was friends with
them – I knew Peter Tork and Mike
Nesmith, we used to hang out together
– so I wasn’t trying to put The Monkees
down. The whole
song was kind of
tongue-in-cheek.
It wasn’t a bitter “The whole song was kind of
condemnation of the
music business. We
tongue-in-cheek. It wasn’t a bitter
found it funny; it condemnation of the music
was a superficial
Beatles thing.”
business. We found it funny.”
On a musical level,
the song is motored by Hillman’s driving
bass motif, lush harmonies and the
distinctive peal of McGuinn’s 12-string
Rickenbacker guitar. Also aboard is South
African musician Hugh Masekela, whose
surging trumpet blasts add to the sense of
growing hysteria. Hillman, previously
a minor creative presence in The Byrds,
had been inspired to write more after
playing on a recent Masekela session.
“What we’d been doing with Hugh was
sort of light jazz,” he explains. “It was
great, they were all South African players.
When I came home it opened the
floodgates and I wrote Time Between. Then
I had this idea and it was the Rock’n’Roll Star
riff. You could say that was a major
inspiration from working with Masekela.”
Meanwhile, another South African icon
had rubbed off on McGuinn. In his pre-
Byrds days he’d toured with singer Miriam
Makeba as a member of the Chad Mitchell
Trio. “I showed Chris this lick that I’d
learned from Miriam Makeba’s guitar
player, Millard Thomas, which was a really
cool South African riff,” he remembers.
“Chris and I both liked it and we decided
to use it as a musical basis for the song.”
His appropriation of Thomas continues
through the bridge, which ends with the
arrival of a horde of shrieking teenagers.
McGuinn had instructed publicist Derek
Taylor to record The Byrds’ fans at
selected gigs during their UK tour in
August 1965. The sample on So You Want
To Be A Rock’n’Roll Star was taken from
Bournemouth Gaumont.
“I just thought that the screaming fans
from one of those shows would be
interesting to incorporate into it,”
McGuinn says. “While we were recording
the song it occurred to me that we could
use it after the line: ‘The girls’ll tear you apart.’
Those teenage kids could be kind of wild,
they’d tackle you or try to rip something
off as a souvenir. It could be downright
frightening at times. One time, they stole
my little square glasses that I used to wear,
right off my face.”
Alas, the sound of the yelling masses
proved to be an ever-fading echo for The
Byrds. Despite a concerted promotional
campaign that took in Italy, Germany,
Sweden and the UK (including an
appearance on Top Of The Pops in March
’67), So You Want To Be A Rock’n’Roll Star
failed to register on the charts. It fared
better back home in the US, creeping
just inside the Billboard Top 30, though
its success was hardly spectacular.
More than half a century after it was
written, So You Want To Be A Rock’n’Roll
Star remains a satirical minor classic.
“I’ve always loved that track,” Hillman
GETTY
concludes. “We really nailed it.”
The Byrds fly in to London
in February 1967: (l-r)
David Crosby, Chris Hillman,
Michael Clark, Roger McGuinn.

THE FACTS
RELEASE DATE
January 9, 1967
HIGHEST
CHART
POSITION
US No.29, did
not chart in UK
PERSONNEL
Roger McGuinn
Lead guitar, vocals
Chris Hillman
Bass, vocals
David Crosby
Rhythm guitar,
vocals
Michael Clarke
Drums
Hugh Masekela
Trumpet
WRITTEN BY
Roger McGuinn
and Chris
Hillman
PRODUCER
Gary Usher
LABEL
Columbia
 Bill Bailey
The rock-savvy comedian talks punk, hens, having a good
work ethic and playing Light My Fire at a cremation.
Words: Polly Glass
E normous antique bird cages stand empty in Bill Bailey’s
Hammersmith office – the friendly, buzzing nerve
centre of the comedian/musician/national treasure’s
empire. In his home nearby the theme continues
with cockatoos, starlings, pigeons. “We’ve got some
fine-looking exotic parrots but also some very non-
exotic chickens, which actually I really like,” Bailey muses fondly.
“Occasionally I’ll be working at the desk and one of the hens will
fly up and perch on my head. A lot of people have rather unkindly
pointed out that she might think she’s trying to hatch me out.”
Indeed the Somerset-born Bailey is recognisable for his bald
‘skullet’ look and, of course, his deft deconstruction of popular
music (ABBA in the style of Rammstein, The Hokey Cokey à la
Kraftwerk, bassoons playing the Bee Gees…). We catch up with him
in the run-up to his new mega-tour, titled Larks In Transit.
On your new tour you’re fashioning a symphony from
a ringtone, among other things. Are you an ‘embrace the rise
of technology’ kind of guy?
I guess so. You can’t avoid it, really. I like to embrace new technology.
I like it when it works and it’s at our service. I think we’re in more of
a grey area when it leads us to places where we can’t really deal with
it, morally or legally, and we can’t cope with it.
You’ve capitalised on the funny side of so much music. Is there
any that you wouldn’t go near?
I think all music’s up for grabs in terms of putting grist to the comedy
mill. I try to pick sounds that aren’t common currency; that maybe
aren’t heard so much on the radio. Because what I’ve discovered over
the years is that music works best in a comedy context when you find
things that people don’t realise they’re familiar with. You highlight
something, deconstruct it, and they realise they actually do know this
piece of, say, classical music. You get people laughing, but actually it
sharpens up their ability to recognise music.
You’ve had fun with a lot of metal in your shows, and you
performed at Sonisphere. What’s the heaviest music that you
actually enjoy?
Probably Behemoth’s The Satanist. It’s a really intense album, and the
music is so orchestral almost, the guitars layered on and this sort of
tornado of drums… It’s epic. I listen to it when I’m cycling.
People often associate you with prog rock (Bailey presented
an award to Peter Gabriel at the 2014 Prog Awards), but punk
was really your era, wasn’t it?
It was, definitely. The Undertones, The Stranglers, Siouxsie And The
Banshees, The Cure… All these bands played in the West Country
when I was growing up and I went to see them all. That was my
era, that was my music, really. But at the same time there was that
American almost ‘art rock’, like Talking Heads, and I was drawn to
that as well. You didn’t quite understand what it was all about, but
you felt a bit more sophisticated listening to it. But yeah, when I hear
punk songs now, I’m taken straight back to my youth, fourteen or
24 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
fifteen, in a nightclub somewhere in Bath listening to The Stranglers
or Siouxsie or the Sex Pistols.
And that led you to start a punk covers band, Beergut 100.
Yes. Me and a bunch of mates got a band together for fun. I was the
guitarist and we played the Only Ones, Dead Kennedys, all that stuff,
and Too Drunk To Fuck – which is a very difficult riff to play, I have to
say, very, very fast. You cannot play it even if you’ve had half a lager.
Rock lost a lot of heroes this year. Which hit you the hardest?
Chester Bennington was a real shock. Partly because he was so young
and partly because it really brings it home to you what a terrible and
pernicious thing depression can be, and how it strikes anyone. Every
time I hear things like that I think how awful, what a terrible state
they must have been in.
Have you ever been to a therapist?
I’ve always been lucky enough to have very good friends and a very
understanding wife. We talk through things. I don’t go too mad, but
that means I don’t get too down, I just kind of bumble along.
Your packed bio – comedian, actor, musician, author, charity
patron, documentary presenter… – doesn’t suggest much
‘bumbling’. How do you do so much and keep it all together?
I don’t like to be idle. I like to be busy. I get very bored very easily,
so I have to have a project to work on. My grandfather was a stone
mason and he had a real strong work ethic. He said: “You have to
have a trade, a craft.” Because that’s what sustained him his whole
life. I think it must have had a profound effect on me, because I’ve
really taken that on board as a life mission.
As well as being a classically trained musician you’re an
honorary member of the Society Of Crematorium Organists.
When was the last time you were directly involved?
[Laughs] I think it’s more of an honorary title. If I was at a funeral
and the organist was called away sick, I don’t think I could elbow my
way through, going: “Let me through! I’ve got this!” [laughs] I’d start
playing Light My Fire maybe.
Nice song choice.
That’s how I’d wanna go.
Still, even without crematorium gigs you’ve done some
unusual shows.
Performing in rural, post-Soviet-era Estonia was a real treat. I had
no idea what to expect, certainly not the huge crowd that turned
up. They were standing on their feet shouting and cheering, from
being utterly quiet. It was the most amazing turnaround. It’s made
me really want to go back and perform in these sorts of places that
comedy hasn’t been to for many, many years.
Bill Bailey Larks In Transit is touring until June 2017. Tickets
and details at www.BillBailey.co.uk
 Bill Bailey: comedian, musician
and Beergut 100 guitarist.

“When I hear
now, I’m take punk songs
back to my yon straight
ANDY HOLLINGWORTH/PRESS

uth.”
It’s been another fantastic 12 months for rock’n’roll.
There have been brilliant albums, awesome songs,
amazing shows and more. Please join us as we
celebrate the year in rock in the company of
some of those who made it great.
 2017 delivered plenty of new albums to get excited about, from both big names and
newcomers. Here, then, is the Classic Rock critics’ choice of the best 50.

Words: Dave Everley, Fraser Lewry, Paul Lester, Malcolm Dome, Rob Hughes, Henry Yates, Nick Hasted, Johnny Sharp, Polly Glass, Ian Fortnam, Philip Wilding

50 STYX The Mission UM

This is the album that
Taylor’s intuitive grasp of southern idioms,
allied to a deep recognition of his spiritual
forebears (Neil Young, The Band, Tom Petty
45 BITERSThe Future Ain’t
What It Used To Be EARACHE
proves the US veterans etc) has enabled him to fashion an Biters are firm believers
Styx are still masters of understated minor classic. RH in the old adage that
pomp. Here they’ve Killer track: Domino (Time Will Tell) talent borrows and
drawn from past glories genius steals. The Atlanta
such as The Grand Illusion
and Paradise Theater, using these reference
points to create something textured and
47 PROCOL HARUM
Novum EAGLE
In the 14 years since
band’s second album
reads like A Brief History
Of Rock’N’Roll, from Stone Cold Love’s blatant
focused for modern times, and Gone Gone Procol’s apparent T.Rex knock-off to the ZZ Top heartbeat of
Gone and Radio Silence stand up against any swansong The Well’s On Vulture City. That they get away with it is
of the band’s acknowledged classics. MD Fire, ageless prog-soul testament to their sheer chutzpah. Brilliantly
Killer track: Gone Gone Gone singer Gary Brooker shameless, shamelessly brilliant. DE
somehow misplaced the Killer track: Stone Cold Love

49 ERIC GALES
Middle Of The Road MASCOT
Memphis-born guitar
veteran band’s other constant, lyricist Keith
Reid. Reid’s replacement, Pete Brown, learnt
on the job writing for Cream, and for this 44 WALTER TROUT
We’re All In This Together
prodigy Eric Gales record gave Brooker meaty new tales tinged MASCOT/PROVOGUE
looked set for big things with 60s sentiments. On key song Sunday With Trout pulling in
in the early 90s, then lost Morning, Brooker draws on classical sources, a dazzling array of blues
decades of his life to as he did for their 60s classic A Whiter Shade luminaries, you need
drugs and trouble with Of Pale, and a baroque little beauty about sunglasses to read the
the law. If Middle Of The Road is anything to life’s daily grind sits alongside some credits of We’re All In This
go by, then he isn’t struggling to make up surprisingly earthy AOR. NH Together, but it’s the original
for it. Swishing between funked-up blues, Killer track: Businessman tunes that make this more than an exercise
soul, high-velocity reggae on Change In Me in star-fucking. Whether duelling with JoBo,
and stellar guitar playing everywhere, it’s
a smooth, classy record. PG
Killer track: Carry Yourself
46 SÓLSTAFIR
Berdreyminn SEASON OF MIST
Like its national football
cutting heads with Kenny Wayne Shepherd
or goading slide maestro Sonny Landreth
to a personal best on Ain’t Goin’ Back,
team, Iceland’s music camaraderie sploshes from the speakers. HY

48 HISS GOLDEN
MESSENGER
scene punches above its
weight these days.
Killer track: Gonna Hurt Like Hell

Hallelujah Anyhow MERGE

North Carolina-based
MC Taylor has been
Sólstafir embody its
more esoteric wing. All
glacial heaviness, chilly atmospheres and
43 AMPLIFIER
ROCKOSMOS
Trippin’ With Dr Faustus

crafting guileful pained vocals, Berdreyminn (it roughly Amplifier continued

Americana for some Biters: translates as ‘Dreamer’) is a work of their battle against the
years now, first with The brilliantly widescreen beauty, sometimes bleak but slings and arrows of
Court & Spark and, for shameless, never impenetrable. If Iceland was music, outrageous misfortune
KEVIN NIXON

the past decade, as the lynchpin of Hiss shamelessly this is what it would sound like. DE with the only album of
brilliant.
Golden Messenger. With Hallelujah Anyhow, Killer track: Silfur Refur 2017 that referenced
28 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
 both Silvio Berlusconi and Frank Sinatra.
It’s quite the collection, taking 80s alt.rock
and twisting it into a psychedelic beast
constructed of riffs and thunder. Brilliantly
recorded, it’s both savage and pretty, and
– perhaps best of all – features a singer
named Beth Zeppelin. FL
Killer track: Old Blue Eyes

42 GUN Favourite Pleasures

CAROLINE IN TERNATIONAL
Nearly 30 years after
their excellent debut
album, Gun have proved
that they’re still more
than capable of
springing a surprise.
Favourite Pleasures gets right in your face,
thanks in part to new guitarist Tommy
Gentry. The melodic swagger is still there, as
evidenced by Silent Lovers, and the stomp of
She Knows and the emotion of Tragic Heroes is
real proof of a band reborn. MD Chris Robinson Brotherhood:
Killer track: Favourire Pleasures California soul and sun-
dipped psychedelia.

41 MASTODON
Emperor Of Sand REPR ISE
The band’s seventh 38 ALICE COOPER
Paranormal EARMUSIC
Alice Cooper:
a bruising batch of
of cosmic American folk and what he calls
“hippie baroque”. His ensemble’s fifth
riff-centric tales.
record may be a concept Reunited with producer album in as many years offers fried country
album, but it follows the Bob Ezrin, Alice roped in rock, California soul and sun-dipped
musical template of its some heavy-hitting allies psychedelia, all rolled into a blissful jam-
predecessor: fantastical – Billy Gibbons, Larry band aesthetic. Balm for troubled times. RH
imagery pinned to Mullen Jr, Roger Glover Killer track: Blonde Light Of Morning
precise rhythms and finely tuned melodies. – for his first album in six
Guitarist Bill Kelliher lost his mother to
cancer during the recording, so the album
takes on the greater questions of mortality
years, although the biggest thrill was the
partial return of original bandmates Michael
Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith.
36 DAVID CROSBY
Sky Trails BMG
Charmingly cherubic
with a musical dexterity that sings, but also Cue a bruising batch of riff-centric tales that septuagenarian and
hits like hammer. Dazzling. PW found AC encountering ghouls, demons, former Byrd David
Killer track: Steambreather transsexuals and the apocalypse. RH Crosby delivered this
Killer track: Genuine American Girl album, the dazzling

40 HAWKWINDInto The Woods CHERRY RED

You could be forgiven for
thinking that by now, 47
years after releasing their
debut album, Hawkwind
would be resting on their
reputation as space-rock
pioneers. Not a bit of it. On Into The Woods
Dave Brock and co show real imagination as
ALICE COOPER: ROB FENN/PRESS; CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD: JAY BLAKESBERG/PRESS; KING KING: ROB BLACKHAM
37 CHRIS ROBINSON
BROTHERHOOD
third instalment of his
muse-revitalising post-CSNY solo career,
and recaptured a deliciously laconic Laurel
Barefoot In The Head SILVER ARROW Canyon vibe along the way. Strident BS&T
While brother Rich was parps punctuate slick Steely Dan ensemble
getting it together as The interplay, while there’s a typically sharp
Magpie Salute, singer lyrical response to America’s contemporary
Chris Robinson political mire. With elder statesmen like
distanced himself further Crosby still peaking, rock’s advancing years
from their old band the only seem irrelevant. IF

they conjure up visions of nature in all its Black Crowes by continuing his exploration Killer track: She’s Got To Be Somewhere
glory, mystery and terror. Nobody sounds
quite like Hawkwind. MD
Killer track: Have You Seen Them
1 KING
KING 2 GHALIA &
MAMA’S BOYS
39 EUROPEWalk The Earth HELL AND BACK Words: Henry Yates
Exile & Grace
IMANHATON
Let The Demons Out RUF

In a year when we were

all bored shitless by
Brexit, it’s ironic that we
They threw
more rocking
shapes on album number
3 KENNY WAYNE
SHEPHERD
Lay It On Down
couldn’t wait for the four, with the influence MASCOT/PROVOGUE
return of Europe. On of Thunder and Bad
Walk The Earth, Joey
Tempest peppers his lyrics with an
examination of democracy – as evidenced
Company writ large on
songs like Tear It All Up
and (She Don’t) Gimme No
4 OTIS TAYLOR
Fantasizing About
Being Black INASKUSTIK
by The Siege’s proggy bombast and groove- Lovin’, but they’ll always
laden lead-off single Election Day – but never
loses sight of the fact that ‘we are entertainers’.
And how. HY
have a broken-hearted
blues edge in their
palette. Another step up.
5 CHRIS REA
Road Songs For Lovers
BMG/JAZZEE BLUE
Killer track: Turn To Dust
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 29
 35 THE WAR ON
DRUGS
A Deeper Understanding
ATLAN TIC
America’s guitar-rock
underground went
overground this year, as The
War On Drugs’ major-label
debut hit the transatlantic Top
10. It didn’t hurt that Adam Granduciel’s influences included
some of the grandest chart rock of the Reagan era. The
pop nous and gloss of 80s Fleetwood Mac crept in among
the widescreen yearnings of this new Philly Springsteen;
if anyone’s built for a Stevie Nicks duet, it’s Granduciel.
It was the way his solos slashed and drilled through his
production’s highway glide, though, that confirmed his
classic rock credentials. NH
Killer track: In Chains

30 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
 With his latest album A Deeper Understanding, Adam Granduciel has borrowed from some of the
greats of the 80s and fashioned a record filled with bittersweet melodies and enveloping drama.
Words: Paul Rees
T
he music that Adam Granduciel makes has grown
more extravagant with each record he has made as
The War On Drugs. For 2008’s debut, Wagonwheel
Blues, he was channelling Bob Dylan gone ambient.
Neil Young and Krautrock entered the landscape of
the follow-up, Slave Ambient in 2011. On this year’s fourth, A Deeper
Understanding, Granduciel picks up the gauntlet he laid down for
himself on the much-acclaimed Lost In The Dream in 2014 and runs
with it to a far-flung horizon where the 80s haven’t ended.
Overall, sonically A Deeper Understanding follows in the footprints
made all through that decade by artists such as Bob Dylan, Bruce
Springsteen, Tom Petty, Don Henley, Fleetwood Mac, Roxy Music,
Dire Straits and Kate Bush, from whose 1989 song Granduciel took
his album’s title. It contains great tidal washes of synths, pulsating
bass lines, booming drums and guitar solos that soar above the
whole like the fighter planes of Top Gun. Like over-inflated
balloons, Granduciel fills and stretches out his songs almost to
their bursting point, but never quite. It’s a precarious high-wire
act. And yet for all the sheer bigness of its structural engineering,
A Deeper Understanding is an intimate, immersive experience.
Running through it, Granduciel establishes a singular mood
of rueful regret. His bittersweet melodies rise up and
tug at the listener like lost souls. In that regard, it
brings to mind Dylan’s late-80s masterpiece Oh “I think I’ve only
Mercy, and most of all Petty’s Long After Dark from
1982. As with each of those finely crafted records, just scratched at the
just beneath their pristine surface are darker
undercurrents and a surging sense of drama.
surface of what
“For sure, Long After Dark is a touchstone record for might be possible.”
me,” Granduciel offers. “I remember a time, not even
that long ago, when that period of music was
reviled,” he continues, warming to his theme. “Yet the number of
people that are now referencing eighties Dylan is pretty
remarkable. It wasn’t intentional, but we might have had that haze
floating over things. I didn’t discover all of that stuff until nine, ten
years ago and when I got out of my comfort zone and started to
dig a little. It was like cracking a code.”
B
orn thirty-eight years ago in New England town of Dover,
Massachusetts, Granduciel first went west at the start of this
century, taking with him his guitar and an eight-track
recorder and settling in Oakland, California. He worked on his
music by day and waited tables at night, but didn’t cop a break and
eventually moved back east again to Philadelphia. There he met
a fellow Dylan obsessive, Kurt Vile. Granduciel played in Vile’s
band The Violators, and Vile initially joined up with the War On
Drugs when Granduciel began operating under that name in 2005.
Progress was slow but steady. Their 2008 album Wagonwheel Blues
got them noticed, but Vile left soon after its release to concentrate
on his own path. Granduciel insisted all along that he made solo
records with help, and around him other musicians came and went.
He had, though, established a more settled line-up by the time he
knuckled down to make Lost In The Dream. Bassist Dave Hartley and
drummer Charlie Hall in particular underpinned these more
rounded and better realised songs of Granduciel’s, which by his
own admission he wrote in a depressed, agitated state. Nevertheless,
he had them wind up to euphoric crescendos. It was a watershed
album, garnering ecstatic reviews and vaulting into the upper
reaches of the US Billboard chart and going gold in the UK.
“I went into Lost In The Dream maybe not knowing that I would
be doing this for the rest of my life,” Granduciel reflects now. “I had
just kind of fallen on to the hamster wheel of making records, but
had no certainties. I love making music, and it’s important to me,
but it wasn’t until that record that everything expanded and I got to
be more comfortable in the role of being at the centre of this
operation and running it like a small family.”
After the better part of two years touring Lost In The Dream,
Granduciel came off the road and went straight to work on
A Deeper Understanding. He had relocated to LA by then, and in
down-time from the tour had already begun to write new songs.
The sessions continued all through last year in LA and then at
various studios in New York, since Granduciel was “determined to
put some East Coast in there.”
The sense of dislocation he felt from being in California informs
his lyrics for the album. Musically, he has arrived at the point of
fashioning all of his abundant raw materials into something that is
evocative but also distinctive. In the drift and swell of
standout tracks In Chains and the 11-minute-plus
Thinking Of A Place, there’s an overhanging
atmosphere and stridency that is very much of
Granduciel and War On Drugs’ own making.
“There is a sound in my mind that I haven’t got
to yet,” Granduciel insists. “I know it’s there, and that
I have to keep on chipping away to find it. On this
record, some of the jam stuff was more composed.
They were actual sets of notes, rather than just fuzz-
pedal time. Like on Thinking Of A Place we went on moving and
rearranging things to fit within a framework. For my solo on that
song I pictured driving into a bank of fog and wanted to recreate
mist enveloping the guitar.”
The War On Drugs hit the road a couple of months ago,
beginning with a US tour, and arrived in the UK in November for
a six-date run. Granduciel fleshing out their sets to two and a half
hours and more. Perhaps somewhere in the ebb and flow of these
marathon workouts he will locate his ultimate sound.
“It’s not possible to have the exact same timeline as someone
else, but I can’t help think to myself: ‘So, what was Bruce doing at
thirty-eight?’” he concludes. “He was making Tunnel Of Love. By that
age Dylan had already done Street Legal. I’m not there yet.
“When I started out on this record, it was right when Bruce had
put out The River box set. I have Sirius Radio in my car and would
drive around listening to E Street Radio, which is all-Bruce, all the
time. Of course, they were playing a lot of The River stuff, and that
was a big inspiration. Even though he was seven, eight years
younger than me at the time, he found himself at a crossroads,
looking at his own life, and other lives and where they fit into the
grand scheme of things. I took that to heart, but even still, I think
I’ve only just scratched at the surface of what might be possible.”
A Deeper Understanding is available now via Atlantic Records.
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 31
 Lionize: rock’n’roll and
some beautifully
realised soul music.
30 MARILYN
MANSON
Heaven Upside Down
LOMA VISTA
It shouldn’t come as any
surprise that with the
imminent global apocalypse
forming mushroom clouds
of dread on the horizon,
Marilyn Manson found vintage form with Heaven Upside
Down, an album that ranks among his very best. Following
the drone-through-the-letterbox fanfare of lead single
We Know Where You Fucking Live, it customarily substitutes
‘Say10’ for ‘God’, marks the passing of Manson’s father
with the epic Saturnalia and twists Mechanical Animals
through an Antichrist Superstar filter.
Where has rock’s rage gone? Here. IF
Killer track: We Know Where You Fucking Live

34 STEVE HACKETT
The Night Siren INSIDEOU T
In recent times Steve
Hackett has really
embraced the notion of
progressing, and The
Night Siren is a thrilling
representation of this. It’s
experimental in musical nuances and themes,
as he brings into focus a vision of humanity
overcoming prejudice, by bringing in
instrumentation from around the globe.
Proof that the former Genesis man is far
more than a ‘mere’ guitar virtuoso. MD
Killer track: El Nino
32 CATS IN SPACE
Scarecrow HARMONY FACTORY
Cats In Space are an
anomaly. They’re a
group whose combined
music biz experience
rivals that of the Stones,
yet this second album
sounds completely fresh despite apparently
choosing to ignore anything that’s happened
in music since about 1978, when rock’s
most magnificent dinosaurs dominated the
charts. It’s smart and shiny, filled with
seemingly effortlessly composed songs and
harmonies that rival AOR’s finest. FL
Killer track: Felix & The Golden Sun

33 RAY DAVIES
Americana SONY LEGAC Y
Billed as Davies’s first
new songs for a decade,
Americana also reaches
back to unrecorded
Kinks music. Its lyrics
span his bittersweet
history with the USA, from being inspired
by blues and jazz to getting shot by a
mugger, while its best song, Poetry, is another
31 LIONIZE
Nuclear Soul THE END
Lionize are probably
best-known here as
Clutch’s contemporaries, The former Brian Warner talks about his
but their history actually new record, life, death, record company
stretches back more than interference and painting with piss.
a decade. This, their
latest – and best – album is as much Thin Interview: Marcel Anders
Lizzy and Free as it is Solomon Burke and

anthem against the modern world’s fuckery.
With the Jayhawks giving him with his first
proper band since The Kinks, this is in many
ways Davies’s best solo album, built from
a lifetime’s studio and song craft. NH
Killer track: Poetry
Words: Jo Kendall
R&B, all topped off by the smoky and
occasionally raw vocals of vocalist Nate
Bergman filtered over Hammond organ,
a relentless snare drum, rock’n’roll and
some beautifully realised soul music. PW
Killer track: Blindness To Danger
causticity creeping in on tracks such
as Reputation and Milked, balanced with
the vulnerability of staring mortality
straight in the eye.
L
isten to the album, it really grows on you –
“ like herpes.” Marilyn Manson says when we
meet at Soho House in Berlin. We’re here to
talk about his latest album, Heaven Upside
Down – made with producer/instrumental
mastermind Tyler Bates – but a conversation with the self-
styled God Of Fuck is always going to include a few curve-
balls. Conversation veers to from new music to Wal-Mart,
mortality, his collection of razors and… eating leeches. The
man no longer known to anyone as Brian Warner (since his
parents died, his mother in 2014, his father in July this year)
could never be accused of being dull.

1 PETER
HAMMILL
From The Trees THIRD MAN
Tempus fugit for Van
der Graaf’s 69-year-old
mainman, reflected in
ten stripped-back tracks dealing with
life, death and other ‘tales along the way’.
2 ENSLAVED
E NUCLEAR BLAST
The new album is reminiscent of your albums Antichrist…
and Mechanical Animals, but I’d assume you’re not looking
back on purpose.
3 PYE HASTINGS
From The Half House CARAVAN
I think that I wanted to make cinematic albums when I made
those two. And they were both dangerous in different ways.
One was in New Orleans – Antichrist Superstar – where I was
4 KAIRON;IRSE!
Ruination SVART
completely in a state of nihilism and… well, ‘nihilism’ might
not be the right word. I was in a state of wanting to make
LIONIZE: WILL IRELAND

Using guitar, piano and otherworldly
chorale, Hammill presents an almost
avant-folk version of Blackstar,
32 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
things change in the world. For Mechanical Animals I moved to
5 LIFESIGNS
Cardington LIFESIGNS.ME
Los Angeles, and I was pissed off at the fact that they were
going to make me into something I wasn’t, so I wrote a record
about it before it happened. This record is more of me – after
 making Pale Emperor, which still will be one of my favorite records
because it gave me back my swagger as a singer. It gave me back
my confidence as being able to sing and being able to do things
and handle loss and handle things, and not let it affect my music,
in a literal sense. Pale Emperor was the opening act for this record,
I think, in some ways.
One of the strongest lines on it is: ‘I write songs to fight and
songs to fuck to,’ on Jesus Crisis.
‘If you want to fight, I fight you. If you want to fuck, I fuck you.’ I debated
that song, the lyric, at first. I think that I probably
wrote it down as a post-it note and put it on my
refrigerator, just as a ‘to do’ list… [chuckles] That’s
kind of a joke, but essentially I wrote it down, and
it’s a basic manifesto of myself. It’s like my resume:
I write songs to fight and to fuck to.
Well it’s a pretty aggressive yet sexy album, isn’t it?
I wanted it to be both of those things. A lot of
people that I played it for initially thought it has an
implying feel of threat to it, a threatening sexual tension to it. And
I said: “So do I” [laughs].
‘I know where you fucking live’ is a threat, for sure.
Or it is a new Uber commercial? [chuckles.] If it’s ‘I know where you
fucking live,’ then it would be more of a stalker; but ‘We know where you
fucking live’ is just… I was very, very aware, very specific about
pronouns while making this record. I was very conscious of that
for the first time, cos I realised how important it is when you say
words like that. Like in the song Kill 4 Me, the title has ‘me’, so it’s
GETTY
sort of an open-ended statement. It’s not really a commandment,
but I say: ‘Let’s grab our gold switchblade, and make us a blood pact, babe.’
That’s the first time on the record where it becomes romantic. And
it’s strangely a pop song which they want to put on radio, and it’s
going to say ‘kill, kill, kill for me’ [chuckles] on radio. I find it to be
sardonic, in the same way as Bowie and Iggy Pop when they, here
in Berlin, did The Idiot and Low and these things. It has that sense of
sarcasm disguised in a pop song.
And you’re not hiding behind a character or a concept?
No, it’s just me, it’s unafraid to be me. They said to make a radio
clean version of it. I said fuck you. So we made one
that is just: ‘We fuck, where you fucking fuck, fuck, fuck,
“A lot of people think fuck for me…’ We gave it to the record label and said
go fuck yourself. Cos it takes away the whole
[the new album] has beauty of the record. It’s not about profanity, it’s
just about… like: why would you take something
a threatening sexual that’s pure and great and honest… And they said:
tension to it.” [mumbling] “Well, Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart wants
a clean version.” We all know Wal-Mart sells guns,
and I just said: “Listen, if your parents give you
money to buy a record, and you want to go buy a clean version at
Wal-Mart, you should go buy a gun and purchase a clean record
elsewhere with the gun on your own terms. No suggestions
implied here, but I’m just saying…” [chuckles].
Why did you change the original title, Say10?
I think that first of all, you get both: Say10 [the song] is still on the
record. I thought it didn’t define the album as much, and I had not
yet written Heaven Upside Down. I think ‘Heaven Upside Down’
really creates a question mark. More than ‘Say10’. When you see
‘Say10’ it seems more clever than when you just say it, and
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 33
 I thought phonetically – in different
languages, different countries – it wouldn’t be as of 2015’s Traveller with an album of
descriptive of the album as ‘Heaven Upside Down’. Cos when armour-plated songs that expertly
people ask me what ‘Heaven Upside Down’ is, it’s a question that I straddle the divide between country
can’t really answer, because it was inspired partially by reading Words: Rob Hughes classicism and blustery southern rock.
about Carcos and books like Robert Chambers’s The King In Yellow.
And the idea that the Chilean astronomers used to make the
constellations based on the negative space, not the stars. So
‘Heaven Upside Down’ was just something that came to me.
1 CHRIS
STAPLETON
From A Room: Volume 2
2 MARGO PRICEK
All American Made NEW WEST

How was playing Satan’s best friend in the Salem TV series?

Actually, I didn’t really watch the show as much as I should have
DECCA/MERCURY NASHVILLE
Amid a Nashville scene
dominated by lame bro
3 RODNEY CROWELL
Close Ties NEW WEST

[chuckles]. Well, it’s very strange when you’re on a show, you’re

there. Sometimes you’ll watch the playback, but things change. So
when you watch it, it seems a little narcissistic and self-indulgent.
country, it’s bracing to discover that
some crossover artists still dig a little
deeper. With From A Room: Volume 2
4 NIKKI LANE
Highway Queen NEW WEST

But also it wasn’t a show that I found to be the most interesting of

things I want to do. But I completely enjoyed doing it, made a lot of
good friends doing it, and everyone was great to work with.
former Music Row songwriter Chris
Stapleton makes good on the promise 5 THE HANDSOME
FAMILY Unseen LOOSE

The role of [barber/surgeon] Thomas Dinley seems tailor made for What’s happening with your painting? Your last exhibition was in
you, doesn’t it? 2014. Are you planning on having any more?
It was fun, yeah. I enjoyed it. And I told Johnny [Depp]: “So, you Yeah, I haven’t done one in such a long time, and it’s my own fault.
were in Sweeney Todd?” And I told him about the But I did not stop painting. I have about sixty-five
role, and he asked me if I wanted to borrow his paintings that no one’s seen. Half of them are all-
Sweeney Todd razor, and I’m like: “I don’t think that “I don’t want to waste black tattoo ink that I used, and I think I mixed
that will be historically accurate to this show, but I some of those with vodka or urine. Not to be
appreciate the offer.” But it’s strange, because I do my time fighting, arguing controversial, just because it was the only fluid
collect straight razors. I have a collection of them, available. Cos I’m drinking, painting, run out of
unrelated to the show.
or doing things water, I got piss or vodka – pick one or the other.
I don’t want to do.” The other ones are very pale and pastel. So they’re
Rumour has it that Dinley’s ‘treatment room’ looks beautifully contrasting.
just like your living room. Is that true?
Well, my living room is not that dirty, and I don’t have much of You’ve been portraying the ugly American for so long now, and
things in jars, exactly. But there were a lot of medical instruments, you’ve got Trump, who represents just that: the ugly, arrogant,
and they did give me this sign as a gift, which said something angry American…
like ‘Shaves/Teeth pulling/Enemas’. Which is an odd Makes my job easier!
assortment of things.
Does it? Or does it make Marilyn Manson redundant, in a way?
Did you actually eat leeches while you were shooting the TV It makes it no different than before, I don’t think. Whenever there’s
series on location? politics that are so overwhelmingly consuming in everyone’s
They wouldn’t let me eat the entire leech, I had to spit it out. everyday life, people will say to me: “Hey, did you see what
There was a “leech wrangler” – someone who defended the happened today in politics?” No. I was asleep. I don’t want to talk
rights of a what I believe to be a spineless creature. When I about that, it’s redundant – everyone else is talking about that. So
was a kid I used to put salt on leeches all the time. They would I’d rather talk about something else. So people perceive things on
just shrivel up. That was enjoyable for me, but that’s also the record as being commentaries on politics, and that’s
probably portraying one of my early psychopathic one way of looking it. I’m sure that’s part of my
behavior characteristics [chuckles]. And they unconscious, but not more so than before;
wouldn’t let me swallow it. I think less than before. This time my main
focus was making beats that were
Do you take acting seriously, or is it just a fun appealing to people, and then putting
thing for you? beautiful orchestration around my lyrics
I’m going to take it more seriously. I mean, so that it was cinematic.
I’ve always taken it seriously, I just want to
do more of it. I have a couple of things Have you thought about turning
that I plan on doing at the beginning of fifty? And if you have is that a scary
the year. Odd things involving friends thought for you?
of mine who are actors and directors. No, no, no. With the loss of my dad
And challenging roles. Very and my mom and things of that
challenging. I’m really stepping out of nature, which don’t need to be
my safe zone. But it’s my own morbid, I don’t think it gave me
version of Halloween. I can’t do a sense of mortality, it gave me
anything on Halloween, so I’m a sense that time is relevant, that
fucked on Halloween. So instead I don’t want to waste my time
I get to act [chuckles]. fighting, arguing or doing things
I don’t want to do. I just want to
So far your acting roles have almost all spend my time doing great things.
been villains. Is that your niche? Because who knows what’s going to
Not necessarily. I think that I’m going to be happen next?
a very sympathetic hero in one film that I want
to do. And I think in another one I’m going to Marilyn Manson plays U K dates from
play a woman [chuckles]. Not a man as a woman, December 4 to 9. Heaven Upside Down is out
GETTY

but just a woman. now via Loma Vista.

34 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
 Cadillac Three:
if it ain’t broke…
23 VON
HERTZEN
BROTHERS
War Is Over MASCOT
On something of a roll after
previous albums Nine Lives and
the thunderous New Day Rising,
with War Is Over, the Von
Hertzen Brothers embraced
both their prog roots (e.g. the thrilling 12-minute title track)
and slick rock/pop with tracks like The Arsonist and Frozen
Butterflies – think the Foo Fighters if Dave Grohl had grown
up in Helsinki. Pop, prog and pomp all in one album is
a good trick if you can manage it – ask the Brothers. PW
Killer track: War Is Over

29 SPARKS Hippopotamus BMG

With their 23rd studio
26 THE CADILLAC THREE
Legacy BIG MACHINE
Following 2016’s
album, pop’s finest expansive, Springsteen-
purveyors of surrealist, esque Bury Me In My
baroque’n’roll found Boots, Legacy sees the
themselves back in the Nashville trio mix some
UK Top 10 for the first of those tendencies with
time since 1974’s Propaganda. Hippopotamus is their familiar country-fuzz tales of liquor,
a sublimely silly showcase for Russell Mael’s girls and Tennessee. It’s hardly a departure
wry falsetto and brother Ron’s straight-faced from what TC3 already know, but when
but askew musings on sexual positions, they do it this well who’s complaining?
excitable populaces and fear of dementia, Especially when the shit-kicking likes of
and Sparks’ strongest record for years. PL Cadillacin’ are offset by sweetly stirring tracks
Killer track: Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me) such as Hank And Jesus. Good times. PG
Killer track: Cadillacin’

28 LINDSEY
BUCKINGHAM/
CHRISTINE McVIE 25 ROYAL BLOOD
How Did We Get So Dark? WARNER After being close to calling it a day, working
Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie They were the rock on latest album War Is Over convinced them
ATLAN TIC scene’s toast of 2014, but that they still had something to say.
As a way of easing McVie could the Brighton pair
back into songwriting, repeat the trick? This Interview: Philip Wilding
this album worked follow-up is emphatic

a treat, her signature
breezy melodies neatly
counterpointing
Buckingham’s intricate guitar finger-picking.
It may have been recorded at the same studio
as Tusk, but this is strictly about songs, not
sonic exploration. With contributions from
Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, it’s a Mac
album in all but name. PL
Killer track: In My World
proof that you don’t
need to evolve when you can bring the
hooks and shake the rafters. And while the
duo were on familiar ground with seismic
gems like Lights Out and I Only Lie When I
Love You, complaining about a faint whiff of
repetition is like saying you’re bored of
visceral brilliance. HY
Killer track: Lights Out
I
t’s been a tumultuous 12 months or so for Von Hertzen
Brothers. Since 2015’s New Day Rising album the band
have ditched their label, changed management, lost
band members and even contemplated the end of VBH.
They took a sabbatical, took stock, and asked questions
about the potency and point of the songs they write. Put
simply: they had something of an existential crisis. Thankfully
the soul searching has paid off with the wondrous War Is Over,
arguably their best album yet. Mikko Von Hertzen looks back
over those troubled times and talks about the new album.

27 RYAN ADAMS
Prisoner PAX-AM/BLUE NOTE
24 KOYO Koyo 88 WAT T
Young Leeds band Koyo
It sounds like the band was in a state of flux following New
Day Rising, which is surprising given how strong the record is.
On his sixteenth solo have managed the We were. The album did well, but at the same time all the
album Ryan Adams enviable feat of blending people around us – management, the label – lacked any real
returns to a world of prog, psychedelia and enthusiasm. It was almost like they didn’t know what to do
heartache – in the best shoegazing noisescapes with us. It was such a pity, as we put a lot of effort and time and
possible way. Written into the same money into that album, but somehow we felt like an end of an
after his split from his intoxicating sonic package, and this debut era was looming. The guys that used to be with us started
wife, Prisoner sees Adams draw again on album suggests it’s just the start. The epic looking for other bands to play with and it was all very
themes of loss and love, his voice sounding vistas of Strange Bird In The Sky open the confusing. We didn’t know what to do next. It was like the
Dylan-esque in places. From the epic Do You record in breathtaking style, there are house of cards that we’d built for all these years had suddenly
Still Love Me? through the alt.country likes of echoes of Dark Side-era Floyd and The Verve, started coming down. It was a rough time for us.
To Be Without You and 80s power-balladry of and they also make inventive use of samples
Doomsday, it’s an expert blend of arena-ready and veer into math-rock territory. A band Is that why you took the sabbatical? Was there a point where
triumph and rootsy pain. PG for whom anything seems possible. JS you sat down and had to decide where to go with the band?
Killer track: Do You Still Love Me? Killer track: Strange Bird In The Sky We did a ten-year anniversary tour in Finland last year for the
36 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Approach album, and after that we took a break, you know, “No one
talk about the band. Let’s take a few months off and then we sit
down and start discussing what we might do in the future.” And
that’s what we did, and we said everybody write their own songs,
and if it so happens that we feel there’s something in the songs, that
the light that’s been smothered is still in there somewhere, if that
starts to burn and we feel that we need to do those songs, then we
do it, but only then.
And if those songs hadn’t sparked do you think it would have been
the end of the band?
Yeah, we were talking about that. The thing is, we did have quite
high expectations for New Day Rising, and there was
bound to be some disappointment. We kind of
thought this album is so good that it has to take us “War Is Over is a such
to the next level, and when it didn’t do that it was
kind of like, “Uh… what shall we do now?” I think a warm record. It’s the
we were looking at it as the album to galvanise us
and the people around us, and it fell far short of that.
sound of a band being
true to themselves.”
So the War Is Over sessions brought the band back
to life?
That space, the being apart, made us realise that we still had
something to say. We were sending songs back and forth and they
were good songs. That was like a reboot for the band.
You wrote and recorded a lot of the record at your grandfather’s old
cottage outside Helsinki.
It’s a beautiful place, two hours outside of the city; he bought it
without even seeing the place. One of his friends went out with
Defences are
a boat and looked at it from the sea; there were no roads leading down: brothers
to that place. This was forty or fifty years ago. Now it’s this Kie, Mikko
incredible spot where we go to write. There are no neighbours, it’s and Jonne.
in the middle of the forest and you can dip yourself in the sea. We
did the pre-production there and all my vocals. We built this
mobile booth with mattresses everywhere to deaden the sound.
It’s a less regimented album than New Day Rising.
Definitely, because Garth Richardson, who produced NDR, is from
that school of thinking that everything has to be rigidly organised
and very tightly arranged. He took that to an extreme level, and
that’s not familiar territory to us. Whereas with this, because we
produced it ourselves, it was more like, let’s have a fucking guitar
solo on every song! And it was fun to do it like that. Some of the
takes that ended up on the album were live takes. I think we were
reacting to how we did the last record.
The album title reflects its themes: a plea for
understanding and peace.
The world we live in now is such a different place
from even five years ago, and that’s seeping into the
music, even if I don’t write about politics in my
songs. But you can’t avoid letting these things affect
you, so you need to say something about how we
treat each other. I want to take a stand, and we have
to be patient that this will end and that we are going to find peace;
that we don’t have to be engulfed by this fear and insecurity.
War Is Over is still relatively fresh, but how does the album sound
to you now?
I think we really succeeded on this album. Everything is so
processed now and I hate that, so it was important that we capture
the human behind the instrument on this record. I don’t want to
dismiss our previous albums, and it may be narcissistic to say this,
but I think this our best album of our career, I really do. It’s such
a warm record. It’s the sound of a band being true to themselves.
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 37
 22 BENJAMIN BOOKER
Witness ROUGH TRADE
Righteous ire is a rare
commodity in modern
rock, so it’s refreshing to
see this New Orleans
songwriter add a little
topical spice to his
southern gumbo of blues, soul, and gospel-
tinged rock’n’roll. On the title track soul
legend Mavis Staples helps sing a powerful
treatise on police violence against young
black men, and the dilemma anyone with
a conscience has when deciding whether to
be a passive bystander or join the resistance.
Believe ploughs a similarly spiritual vein, but if
that suggests the punk vigour of Booker’s
debut had mellowed, the stomping Right On
You shows otherwise in thrilling style. JS
Killer track: Right On You

21 TYLER BRYANT
& THE SHAKEDOWN
Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown SNAKEFARM
Tyler Bryant’s journey
from teen Texan blues
prodigy to 20-something
modern rock’n’roll flag-
bearer is a welcome
transformation. On his
and The Shakedown’s second album, all the
lessons he learned from supporting AC/DC
and Guns N’Roses have been put to good
use; Heartland, Don’t Mind The Blood and They’re rapidly gaining momentum and fans in the US for the live shows, and
Jealous Me are unswerving in their dedication
to the cause, powered by the unrelenting
Elton John doesn’t phone just any band to tell them he digs their new album.
energy that only youth can bring. DE Interview: Johnny Sharp
Killer track: Don’t Mind The Blood

P
ianos don’t tend to feature that prominently who our favourite rock’n’roll piano players are, all

20
COLUMBIA
ROGER WATERS
Is This The Life We Really Want?
in these pages compared to guitars. But if
anyone has proved this year that it can still
take centre stage in a great rock’n’roll show, it’s
sorts of stuff.

Is Elton an influence on you?

No one does ‘furious old
dude’ like Roger Waters.
The former Floyd man’s
first rock album in 27
years is a seething
broadside that takes aim
at the stupidity of government, society and,
ultimately, people. Credit to producer Nigel
Godrich for giving it a warmth that pulls
everything back from the brink of total
despair. Still, it’s the sharpest protest album
of the Trump era so far. The disappointment
is that more people aren’t taking up cudgels
and joining Waters on the front line. DE
Killer track: The Last Refugee
Philadelphia five-piece Low Cut Connie. Their first
UK release, Dirty Pictures (Part One) showed they can
make a righteous racket on record too, with ivory-
hammering anthems, louche boogies and the odd
tender ballad thrown into the mix. As they embark
on their first ever UK tour, we talk to stool-climbing,
rabble-rousing singer Adam Weiner about why it’s
a great way to end the year.
How has 2017 been for Low Cut Connie?
We’re the busiest we’ve ever been. We’ve played
eighty shows this year, and the tent keeps expanding
and we get new fans every day. We just played a big
homecoming show in Philly about a month ago.
There’s a huge venue that opened the same year we
started as a band [Union Transfer], and I remember
Of course! I learned from him to just have no fear, and
when you go on stage light a fire. He got that from
Little Richard and Jerry Lee, and he carried the torch
for that and I’m trying to do the same.
Any low points this year?
I lost a dear friend this year, Jessi from a great Nashville
rock’n’roll band called Those Darlings. In our song
Revolution Rock’n’roll, I question this rock’n’roll life that
I lead, and then eventually rededicate it. So when we
played in Nashville I dedicated that song to her, and
I also rededicated myself to carrying on something
that she was trying to do and did so well. If you
think about it there are fewer and fewer rock’n’roll
bands out there; it’s not necessarily the height of the
rock’n’roll era. So it’s all the more important that we

19PROPHETS OF RAGE
Prophets Of Rage CONCORD MUSIC
Last year, guitarist Tom
saying: “Jeez, I wonder if I’ll ever get the chance to play
there, and people will come and fill it.” It’s taken us five
or six years, but we did it.
try to keep it alive.

The video for Revolution Rock’n’roll was shot at

Morello said Prophets Of
Rage were “determined
to confront this
mountain of election-
What other high points were there for you and the
band this year?
Well, Elton John calling my cellphone, that wasn’t
a hometown show you did in Philadelphia, and what
looks like quite a party afterwards. Are a lot of your
shows like that?
Well, I guess you’ll find out when we play in the UK in
LOW CUT CONNIE: MARA ROBINSON/PRESS

year bullshit”. And now
this debut album from RATM alumni
alongside Chuck D and Cypress Hill’s
B-Real sounds no less relevant, and when
they really turn on the turbo drive, on tracks
such as the lurching Hail To The Chief and the
thunderfunk groover Take Me Higher, they’re
bad! Elton has a radio show called Rocket Hour, and he
played our song Dirty Water and said some very lovely
things about our band. I wrote a thank you letter and
was able to get it to him, and then his producer called
and said Elton would like to call you and interview
you on the show. So he called me and we just hit it
off, talking about life on the road, naming our pianos,
December, won’t you? This is Low Cut Connie’s first
UK tour, so I can’t fuckin’ wait. You guys are the best.
Nobody loves rock’n’roll more than you guys, and
we’re gonna make the walls shake.
Low Cut Connie tour the U K from December 1 to 10.
For details visit lowcutconnie.com/live

38 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
 like a street-corner ranter who you’d gladly
stand at the barricades with. JS
Killer track: Unfuck The World
18 THE MAGPIE SALUTE
The Magpie Salute (live) EAGLE ROCK
They might be steeped in
a vision of rock’n’soul
that can be carbon-dated
to around 1972, but this
debut from former Black
Crowes guitarist Rich
Robinson’s new collective showcases
a gentler sound. Recorded live in the studio,
this debut has an irresistibly warm, organic
sound, enhancing languid jams through
covers of Faces and Floyd tunes, old Crowes
tracks and jazzy instrumentals. The sole new
song, Omission, also suggests the potential for
a gutsier sound if this proves to be more than
just a busman’s holiday for Robinson. JS
Killer track: Omission
17 CHEAP TRICK
We’re All Alright! BIG MACHINE
Hot on the heels of
2016’s Bang, Zoom,
Crazy… Hello came this,
veterans Cheap Trick’s
18th studio album. The
title might nod to the
band’s 1978 classic hit Surrender, but We’re All
Alright! does more than rehash former
glories. Robin Zander continues to deliver
his throaty rasp, while Anglophile guitarist
Rick Nielsen tosses out power-pop riffs with
aplomb, from the Kinks-ish Long Time
Coming to Nowhere, the latter a piledriving
boogie worthy of the Quo. PL
Killer track: Nowhere
16 STEVEN WILSON
To The Bone
CAROLINE IN TERNATIONAL
With this, his fifth solo
album and debut UK
Top-Three entry, the
prog polymath and 5.1
mixer to the stars finally
achieved the mainstream
penetration he craved. To The Bone matches
prog extrapolation with pop concision. On
Permanating, Wilson manages to contrive the
ELO/ABBA melodic confection of his
boyhood fantasies. Elsewhere there’s the
moody riffing of People Who Eat Darkness and
the Zeppelin-ish grandeur of The Same
Asylum As Before. Overall it’s a richly
JIM JONES & THE RIGHTEOUS MIND: JAMES SHARROCK; STEVEN WILSON: WILL IRELAND
textured, expertly crafted delight. PL
Killer track: Nowhere Now
15 LOW CUT CONNIE
Dirty Pictures (Part 1) CON TENDER
Undisputed pioneers of
the campaign to bring
bonkers piano playing
back into rock’n’roll, this
Philadelphia quintet do
their mission the power
of good on this fourth album. Ivory-
hammering frontman Adam Weiner turns
gutsy R&B grooves such as Revolution
Jim Jones & The Righteous
Mind: a collection of rare
and feral intensity.
Rock’n’Roll and Stonesy struts like Dirty Water
into irresistible anthems by the sheer power
of his rabble-rousing personality. Already
one of the most exciting live bands in
America, this album captures their frenzied,
filthy essence better than ever before. JS
Killer track: Revolution Rock’n’Roll
14JIM JONES & THE
RIGHTEOUS MIND
Super Natural HOUND GAWD!
Stoking the funeral pyre
of the much lamented
Jim Jones Revue into
a raging inferno of
hellacious swampland
ultra-boogie, on this
debut album sonic insurrectionist Jim Jones
sets flame to a collection of rare and feral
intensity. Guitar ferocity perpetually strains
at its leash as a broader approach to
keyboard atmospherics defines The
Righteous Mind’s core post-Revue dynamic.
And Jones? Maturity, smoky shebeens and
hard liquor have sprinkled yet more gravel
into his grave and gutsy hellhound holler. IF
Killer track: Boil Yer Blood
13 BIG BIG TRAIN
Grimspound ENGLISH ELECTR IC/GEP
As English as village
cricket, cream teas and
infuriating delays on
Southern Rail, Big Big
Train seem to be gaining
both traction and
velocity as their career progresses.
Grimspound takes off where its predecessor
Folklore left off, elegantly turning tales of
historical derring-do into a stunning series
of prog-folk masterpieces. It’s ambitious
without being overwrought, and as
beautiful as it is smart. If anyone asks you
about the state of prog rock in 2017, this is
the direction you should point them in. FL
Killer track: A Mead Hall In Winter
12DEEP PURPLE
Infinite EARMUSIC
Purple pulled off quite
a trick with this record,
maintaining their late-
career purple patch by
revisiting the classic 70s
sound. Singer Ian Gillan’s
lyrics might prompt a few sniggers (On Top
Of The World, we’re looking at you) but the
strength of music is undeniable: a prog-
flavoured, neo-classical rave-up whose
ambition never comes at the expense of a
hard rock backbone. With original songs as
strong as Time For Bedlam and Hip Boots,
hopefully that long goodbye they’re currently
waving has a few more years left in it. HY
Killer track: Time For Bedlam
11 THUNDER
Rip It Up EDEL
After their more
conventional comeback
Wonder Days album,
Thunder took a bit of
a left turn on Rip It Up.
With more introspection
– No One Gets Out Alive, In Another Life – and
Beach Boys pop notes in the title track, it’s
the sound of a band finally coming of age:
considered, musically adventurous and
clearly out of their comfort zone, but in the
most compelling way. Late in their career
Steven Wilson: a and against the odds, Thunder have
richly textured, managed to make one of the best and most
expertly crafted complete albums of their career so far. PW
delight.
Killer track: The Enemy Inside
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 39

Royal Thunder: he wasn’t
called the Human torch
for no reason.
10 H.E.A.TInto The Great Unknown EARMUSIC
Let’s not kid ourselves.
Hard rock has been
holding out for a new set
of heroes ever since the
end of the 80s. The last
few decades are littered
with the corpses of bands – invariably
Swedish – whose desire to become the new
Def Leppard or Journey were thwarted by
indifference, lack of talent or both.
Thankfully, five streetwise Hercules have
arrived to awake the giant from its slumber.
Into The Great Unknown, H.e.a.t’s fifth
album, is the sound of a band standing
victorious atop the fallen bodies of everyone
who came before, brandishing the finest
hard rock record since those halcyon
days. It has ambition, tunes and charisma
to burn – Redefined, Eye Of The Storm and
1 LIONHEART
Second Nature AOR HEAVEN
Words: Dave Ling
rare. Referencing Led Zeppelin is almost
inevitable. In this case not for their chest-
beating machismo or bludgeoning blues
template, but for their alchemical invention,
their improvisational hive brain and a
magpie’s eye for raw material, sourced from
across the musical spectrum then realised in
a signature style that is utterly unmistakable.
It’s all too easy to assume that they simply
don’t make rock bands like All Them
Witches any more, that rock this classic
belongs to a lost era. But Sleeping Through The
War is right here, right now. IF
Killer track: Don’t Bring Me Coffee
8 BLACK STAR RIDERS
Heavy Fire NUCLEAR BLAST
Any lingering sense of
Black Star Riders as
a Thin Lizzy fan’s
consolation prize was
blown away by their
third album, Heavy Fire,
which reached a career-best UK No.6 back
in February. On first inspection, little has
changed since 2015’s The Killer Instinct – from
the vintage sleeve art to Nick Raskulinecz’s
whip-cracking production – but something
has plainly clicked in the Riders’ creative
approach, making this the most consistent
record of their five-year run.
Quality is everywhere, from the high-
the blockbusting banger Time On Our Side
crackle with the energy of 10,000 exploding
stars. Suddenly the future for the genre
Black Star Riders:
quality is
everywhere.
velocity title track and the anthemic
When The Night Comes In – hands-down
the catchiest singalong they’ve written –
looks very bright indeed. DE to the glowering Cold War Love. And if there
Killer track: Redefined are nods to the Phil Lynott era on Dancing
With The Wrong Girl – not to mention
9 ALL THEM WITCHES
Sleeping Through The War NEW WEST
Following a three-album
a cheeky half-steal of The Beatles’ riff and
title on Ticket To Ride – the impression is still
of a band with a bullet-belt full of ideas. HY
gestation period of no Killer track: Dancing With The Wrong Girl
little merit, Nashville
band All Them Witches
have realised their full
potential in significant
7 ROYAL THUNDER
WICK SPINEFARM
Royal Thunder are
style with Sleeping Through The War. the best band you’ve
There’s a brooding gravitas to scene- (probably) not heard
setting opener Bulls that immediately snags this year, and this, their
the listener and, via a climactic crescendo third album, is epic in
of spiralling psychedelic telepathy, its sound and painful in
reveals intuitive ensemble interplay and its soul-baring emotion. The Atlanta four-
a towering assurance that is increasingly piece draw on a disparate array of sounds,
from 70s metal to The Doors, from
psychedelia to the music of singer/bassist
It’s the pink
Lionheart. No ugly sisters or
pumpkins necessary.
Mlny Parsonz’s Spanish heritage, and this
neither-fish-nor-flesh approach makes
them a more intriguing proposition than
and furry
rock’n’roll
fairy tale to
2 HEAVEN
& EARTH
Hard To Kill QUARTO VALLEY
so many of their more straight-down-the-
line peers.
The bombastic Tied whips up a whirlwind,
end them all: and plaintive ballad Plans brings it all
obscure UK
pomp-rockers reunite for
a festival after 30 years
3 ECLIPSE
Monumentum FRON TIERS
back down to earth again. Everything on
this record is tied together by Parsonz’s
remarkable voice – a cavernous holler that
away, and enjoy things
so much they decide to
make an album.
4 MR. BIG
Defying Gravity FRON TIERS
can fill a room while breaking your heart at
the same time.
It’s wrong to call Royal Thunder her band
You couldn’t make
it up, but that’s what
actually happened with
5 BOULEVARD
Boulevard IV –
Luminescence MELODIC ROCK
– that does a disservice to guitarist Josh
Weaver – but she’s the one who takes WICK
to another level. DE
Killer track: Plans
 6 BASH & POP
Anything Could Happen
FAT POSSUM
As the final Replacements tour began its
all-too-predictable descent into rancour
and recrimination, one could be forgiven for
assuming that the last thing bassist Tommy
Stinson would do was go and record an
album that sounded like the band at their
brilliant, ramshackle best. But Anything Can Happen is vibrant,
life-affirming proof that anything can happen.
It’s essentially a collection of enormously buoyant songs about
intoxication and heartache, which in less capable hands might
have proved to be a clumsy, ham-fisted mess. But the album
fizzes with energy and proves that true rock’n’roll DNA isn’t
easily misplaced. Unfuck You might just be the most jubilant song
ever to feature swearing in the chorus, while Can’t Be Bothered
sounds like Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg at his
boozy, melancholic best. Joyous. FL
Killer track: Unfuck You

With a tour and an outstanding album that have

brought them many new fans, it’s been a year to
remember for Tommy Stinson and his band.
Interview: Fraser Lewry

A
fter spending 15 years as bassist in The Replacements
and the best part of two decades propping up
Guns N’ Roses, Bash & Pop mainman Tommy
Stinson knows a thing or two about rock’n’roll. “It’s
the only thing I can fall back on,” he admits. “I could
experiment with all kinds of different shit all day
long, and it’ll just sound like someone who’s fooling
around too much. I just wanted to make it fun.
I wanted to make a rock’n’roll album,” he says of
Bash & Pop’s latest record, Anything Can Happen.
It’s a slightly bedraggled, all-in-it-together affair,
written from the point of view that the world is
a half-empty glass but performed like it’s half-full.
Much like Stinson’s original band.
“The thing that stands out to me is the camaraderie
of it all,” says Stinson. “The way I made this record with
these guys was to use the early eighties recording template
I was familiar with; it’s spontaneous, it’s fun and it’s not
too over-thought.”
Classic Rock catches up with Stinson just after Bash
& Pop have just come off a five-week US tour with the
Psychedelic Furs, and seems happy with the progress his
band are making. “It was a good fit,” he says. “We’re a little
bit more traditional rock’n’roll, so it was interesting to see
their crowd take to us so well.”
One of the highlights of Stinson’s year came in June,
when the Bash & Pop tour wound its way to The Garage
GETTY
were joined on stage by the Only Ones’ Peter Perrett
and John Perry for a riotous version of that band’s
classic Another Girl, Another Planet.
“I was fucking crazy about them,” says Stinson.
“I was too young to have seen them play, because
I didn’t catch on until after they’d broken up, but
I was a huge fan and I love that song. Getting to meet
those guys after all these years being a fan was a super fucking
thrill. But to get them up on stage to play with you? It’s special if
you can get that to happen. It meant the world to me.”
And next year will be more of the same for Bash & Pop, says Stinson.
“We’re slowly trying to build on the brand, as they say. I think we’ll
probably record some new stuff at the end of the year and in the new year,
and keep putting stuff out so we can keep rolling and keep touring.”
But that’s not all. All four members of Bash & Pop have
other gigs, and when his bandmates are unavailable
“It’s spontaneous, Stinson fills the time by playing in a fiery acoustic duo
called Cowboys In The Campfire. His partner in this
it’s fun and it’s not venture is Chip Roberts, aka Uncle Chip, who played slide
guitar on Stinson’s 2011 solo album One Man Mutiny. “We
too over-thought.” just go out in our van with our guitars and make about as
Tommy Stinson much racket as two guys can make,” says Stinson. “And

in North London. During a typically buoyant set, the band we have a fucking ball doing it.”
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 41
 Frontman Vincent Cavanagh explains that hard work and preparation were key
in the making of The Optimist, and how attention to detail can prevent regret.
Interview: Fraser Lewry
A
nathema’s The Optimist continues the story
of 2001 release A Fine Day to Exit, tracking a
man who disappeared. The album combines
the band’s lush, orchestrated melodies with skittering
electronica perhaps more successfully than any of their
previous releases. Frontman Vincent Cavanagh feels
“happiness” and “relief”, and reflects on Christmas in
his adopted home country, France.
How have your feelings about The Optimist changed
since its release?
I was happy with it then and I’m happy with it now. I’m
intrigued about playing it
live and the possibilities
for the songs to develop “I’m as happy with The
a little bit. But overall I’m as
happy with it as I was with Optimist as I was with
Weather Systems, which is
about as happy as I get.
Weather Systems, which is
One of the reasons about as happy as I get.”
it’s turned out to be so
complete as a body of
work is how much preparation we put into it. We hired
a studio in London and worked for a few months solid
putting it all together. We were much more prepared
for this record than previous ones, and it shows.
Your albums are always deeply personal, but this story
was told via a surrogate character. Was that liberating?
It allows you to see some of the subject matter as
universal; the story could happen to anybody, and
often does. I don’t know what we’ll do with the
character now, but we could tell the backstory. I’m not
sure there’s a full album in that, though. Possibly an EP.
42 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
What do you feel when you finish an album?
‘Relief’ is the word. The only way you’re ever going to
feel that is if you pay attention to the finer details and
leave very little room for regret. At some point you’ve
just gotta let it go, and if you’re happy at that point,
you’re kinda bulletproof. I’m massively grateful that
the album has done well in end-of-year polls. We put
our hearts and souls into it over many months, but we
don’t need that to justify it being a good record.
How have the live shows been going?
Unbelievable every night, but some shows have stood
out, like The Bataclan in
Paris, for obvious reasons.
We’ve played that venue
a few times, and I used to
live in Paris, so it’s very
close to our hearts. We did
a tribute to the victims [of
the November 2015 attack]
and their families, and it
felt right.
What are you doing for Christmas?
We have a short break over Christmas. I’m going to be
writing music, and I imagine I’ll go to Paris and see my
French family. My missus is from Paris, so we’ll have
the traditional sit-down five-hour meal with lots of
wine. And then we’re off to America. This album’s got
a long way to run.
Anathema play The Cruise To The Edge festival in
February. It sets sail from Tampa on February 3.
See www.cruisetotheedge.com for info.
5 ANATHEMA
The Optimist KSCOPE
One day, if there’s any justice in this cruel
world, Anathema will make an album
that ‘does an Elbow’ and transports the
Liverpool band into arenas and has
them soundtracking swanky dinner
parties. The Optimist might yet be the
one that does it for them.
It’s a record of adventure and crippling
beauty. The stunning Springfield is a
master class in restrained ambition,
beginning with a simple repeated piano
motif before clambering slowly towards
psychedelic transcendence. San
Francisco, with its skittering, acid-driven
loops, sounds like the kind of distant,
mysterious sound you hear at 3am
at Glastonbury but can never quite
locate. It’s all densely atmospheric, with
walls of amplified noise matched by
moments of almost unbearable quiet,
pure pop craft nestling alongside hazy
electronica. An actual masterpiece,
cohesive and easy to love. FL
Killer track: Springfield
4 ROBERT PLANT
Carry Fire NONESUCH/WARNER BROS.
Plant’s solo career has
taken a while to fully
take hold, his 80s/90s
records seemingly
hampered by the
expectations and
baggage surrounding that old band of his.
The past 10 years, however, have seen him
thrive, be it on Raising Sand, his delicious
album with Alison Krauss, or 2014’s
majestic Lullaby And…The Ceaseless Roar.
Carry Fire is no less impressive, Plant is again
backed by the Sensational Space Shifters
on an expert synthesis of desert blues, folk,
world music and thudding rock. The songs
are weighted equally between the political
and the personal, with Plant’s voice carrying
the weight of experience on the deft ballads.
Proof positive that neither age nor time are
barriers to creative endeavour. RH
Killer track: New World…
3 FOO FIGHTERS
Concrete And Gold RCA/ROSWELL
Depressed and writing
alone in the wilderness,
there were reasons to be
fearful for Dave Grohl in
the run-up to Concrete
And Gold (even before his
alarming proclamation that this ninth Foos
album would be “Motörhead’s version of
Sgt. Pepper”). In the event, our review deemed
it “more like AC/DC having a crack at
making their White Album”.
If 2014’s Sonic Highways roamed the tarmac,
this album thumbs the crates of vinyl. T-Shirt
splices vintage soul and FM pop-rock. Sunday
Rain salutes The Beatles. The title track
evokes a choir-bolstered Black Sabbath,
while the scabrous La Dee Da references
Grohl’s hard-core roots.
Before Concrete And Gold, the Foos Fighters
seemed to be a busted flush. Now they
sound capable of anything. HY
Killer track: Run
2 BLACK COUNTRY
COMMUNION
BCCIV MASCOT
The most surprising
thing about BCC’s much
vaunted reunion isn’t
that it happened, it’s that
no one stepped into their
shoes during the five
years they were away. But then their
powerhouse fourth album proves that
they’re giants in a land of pygmies.
Where Glenn Hughes shouldered much of
the songwriting burden in the past, here he
and Joe Bonamassa are pulling in the same
direction. The swaggering Over My Head
floats and stings like a prize fighter, The Last
Song For My Resting Place is stark Celtic blues,
Collide nips at the heels of Zep’s Black Dog.
BBCIV is less of a period piece, more of
a showcase for the kind of timeless hard
rock that no one makes any more. DE
Killer track: Collide
Villains MATADOR
N
ever one to stick
to type, however
successful the formula
might be, Josh Homme travelled
further out than usual for
QOTSA’s seventh album – and
it worked brilliantly.
Villains sees him locate his
inner disco bunny by enlisting
Mark Ronson (best known for
his work with Lady Gaga, Bruno
Mars and Amy Winehouse) as
producer. “I think maybe music
people might not understand the
vast overlap of curves between Ronson and Queens,”
Homme explained to Rolling Stone. “If you listen to
Uptown Funk you hear that tight, kind of vacuous dry
sound, and that’s where I wanted to take this new
Queens record. I wanted it to be like Songs For The Deaf
[2002], but looking at it with goggles on under water –
that kind of clarity.”
In a year when political rock was suddenly back on
the agenda in the US, there’s something refreshingly
perverse about QOTSA’s decision to bypass the
polemic and head straight for the dancefloor instead.
Villains is loaded with chrome-plated grooves, perhaps
best illustrated by Feet Don’t Fail Me. Indebted to at
least two eras of 70s Bowie – the strutting peacock
of Young Americans and the synth-savvy overlord of
Heroes – the song also comes with a fair amount of
autobiography. ‘I was born in the desert, May seventeen in
seventy-three/When the needle hit the groove, I commence to
moving/I was chasing what’s calling me,’ Homme sings, as
if all roads have led to this very point. The same playful
exuberance informs Un-Reborn Again, an unapologetic
piece of glam-boogie with a cast of reprobates, that
echoes T.Rex’s Telegram Sam, Homme indulging in
some Bolanesque imagery: Acid-Faced Jake, Evil Ol’
Scratch et al.
Elsewhere the floor-shaking metal sci-fi of Head Like
A Haunted House (despite its origins circa QOTSA’s
2007 album Era Vulgaris) feels like an outcrop of
Homme’s work with Iggy Pop
on last year’s Post Pop Depression.
There’s a string quartet for
six-minute closer Villains Of
Circumstance, a tune that Homme
first unveiled, in acoustic form,
at Meltdown festival in 2014.
Homme throws himself at it
wholeheartedly, adopting a
Russ Mael-like falsetto for its
orchestral pop flourishes, the
song rising to a midway point
between Queen and ELO.
Villains may be more upbeat
than its predecessor …Like Clockwork, but there’s still a
certain degree of introspection. These are songs that
address mortality, familial and romantic love, and the
impermanence of things. Despite not being present,
Homme has admitted that he was deeply shaken
by the Bataclan attack on his other band, Eagles Of
Death Metal, a couple of years ago. That seems to
have sharpened his focus on the here and now – the
immediacy of Villains a reflection of his desire to
seize the moment. Fortress, written for his 11-year-old
daughter, is as much about resilience as it is the need
for sanctuary: ‘Every fortress falls, it is not the end/It ain’t if
you fall, but how you rise that says who you really are.’
For all their shimmer, Queens Of The Stone Age
haven’t forsaken the heavy riffs that have defined their
progress since they emerged from the Palm Desert
over 20 years ago. The Evil Has Landed slams along to
big beats and even bigger guitars, with Homme, Troy
Van Leeuwen and Dean Fertita delivering a three-
tiered assault. Similarly, Domesticated Animals and the
bludgeoning The Way You Used To Do both tap into the
mighty classicism of previous albums Rated R and
Songs For The Deaf.
From Bowie and Roxy Music to Kraftwerk, the
Stooges and beyond, Villains is a glorious amalgam of
the musical forces that continue to shape Queens Of
The Stone Age’s vision. RH
Killer track: The Evil Has Landed
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 43
 Queens Of The Stone Age are the renegade outsiders who hijacked the mainstream.
As Josh Homme and co. claim our critics’ choice of Album Of The Year for Villains, we look
back on a trail of nudity, narcotics, pyromania and madness. And some great music.
Words: Henry Yates Portrait: Ross Halfin
I
t was October 1995, and Josh Homme wanted out. Eight
years earlier, the guitarist’s teenage band Kyuss had set out
playing generator-powered all-nighters in the Californian
desert, their jams punctuated by knife-fights between
Mexican gangs and cops wheel-spinning over the dunes.
Later, with this fiercely DIY band now trumpeted as leaders of
a tenuous ‘desert-rock’ scene, signed to major label Elektra and
schlepping across urban America, 22-year-old Homme felt success
stick in his craw. “Kyuss was starting to eat itself,” he shrugged in
a post-mortem with LA Weekly. “I was disillusioned. Punk rock had
blown up in my face. What I thought it was, was a total lie.”
With Kyuss put in the ground – for now – the ever-contrary
Homme set about burning his bridges. A solo deal dangled by
Elektra was gleefully sabotaged (“I thought: ‘Well, I’ll sing – that’ll
get me kicked off.’ And it did”). Just as obtuse was Homme’s move
to Seattle to study, his reasoning being that grunge’s epicentre was
now so jaded that there was no risk of him being sucked into
another band. ”
The plan worked – for a year. But by 1996 Homme
had hooked up with a splinter group of grunge “Punk rock had
sidemen including Soundgarden’s Ben Shepherd and
Matt Cameron, and after Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr
blown up in my face.
got him a gig as touring guitarist for the Mark Lanegan- What I thought it
fronted Screaming Trees he stopped resisting the
inevitable. “When I was driving the truck on was, was a total lie.”
Lollapalooza, I had an epiphany, like, ‘What am I doing, Josh Homme on the end of Kyuss
going to school? Who cares if there’s too many bands?
Who cares if no one else likes my music?’”
Having put himself “back in the fire”, Homme
returned to California with pocketfuls of new songs, ample to feed
both the first two volumes of the Desert Sessions series and the self-
titled debut album by Queens Of The Stone Age.
S
elf-financed by Homme and released in 1998, Queens Of The
Stone Age was a left-turn away from the sprawling stoner-rock
of Kyuss, standouts like Regular John and Avon fusing gritty
road-movie guitars with the precision of krautrock and the band
leader’s eerie Roy Orbison-inspired croon. Homme described the
album as “driving music” or “robot rock”, and revelled in its wider
palette. Perhaps the most significant departure was the economy of
the Queens material, with Homme pointedly distancing himself
from the “wanky thirty-minute opuses” that many Kyuss fans had
hoped for to see. “I’ve always been into frustrating some percentage
of the audience,” he admitted. “We can’t be the same band forever.”
In fact, Queens and Kyuss had some DNA in common. Flanking
Homme on that debut album was his desert-era drummer Alfredo
44 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Hernández, and another old face re-entered the frame at that year’s
SXSW festival in Texas.
Performing there to a roomful of horrified A&R people with his
latest venture, Mondo Generator, Nick Oliveri was evidently still the
loosest of cannons. “We walk in,” Homme told Rolling Stone, “and
Nick is completely naked except for a pair of black Converse and
socks. Then Nick lights this piece of paper on fire, puts something in
his mouth and turns around and blows fire right into the audience,
right through all these record people, and they’re like, ‘Ahhh!’ I look
over at Fredo and I’m like: “I’m calling in Nick right now.’”
With Oliveri on the bus, everything Queens touched turned to
controversy, starting with a K-Mart ruckus over the debut album’s
crotch-shot sleeve art. In the end they stocked the record, which
crawled to silver sales. But it was still an unlikely development
when Interscope Records showed an interest. “I think we came to
the label because of their ability to push bands like Primus,” said
Homme. “Not a band I necessarily like, but they’re really bizarre.”
To their credit, Interscope waved through 2000’s
Rated R, an unlikely breakthrough album on which
Queens achieved gold sales while keeping the music
equal parts diverse and perverse. With Homme often
delegating vocals to his crew, it was a schizophrenic
record that mulched, ate and puked genres, morphing
from the wonky Leg Of Lamb, via the pig-squeal punk
of Quick And To The Pointless, to the morose In The Fade.
“It’s still heavy rock music,” Homme said of
instrumentation that now included brass and steel
drums. “A little more melodic, robotic and psychotic.”
Oliveri had a more prosaic take: “We try to take a riff
and pound it into people’s heads by doing it over and over again.”
Even so, Rated R might have sunk among the nu metal scene
were it not for its two standout tracks. The Lost Art Of Keeping
A Secret was dark and propulsive, Homme’s falsetto hook ensuring
its crossover success. “Our record company was like: ‘This is going
to be a hit,”” he told CD Now. “And I’m like: ‘A hit with whom?’ It’s
about fucking. Twenty-one-year-olds and over, maybe. They were
trying to shove it down the throat of thirteen-year-olds.”
Feel Good Hit Of The Summer was a drum-scuttling stop/start affair
that was off-kilter but electrifying, Homme’s vocal simply cycling
through a list of narcotics – nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana,
ecstasy, alcohol, cocaine – supported by a malevolent guest spot
from Judas Prist’s Rob Halford who sang backing vocals.
Released as the second single, Feel Good Hit Of The Summer was an
inevitable red rag to the Wal-Mart chain – which had initially
refused to stock Rated R – and ensured Queens were cast as
hellraisers in a damp post-millennial rock scene. While Homme
 was evasive (“It lists drugs, but it doesn’t say yes or no”), Oliveri
claimed the lyrics were a fair snapshot of their ingestion.
With the band’s principal members running on such heavy fuel,
perhaps it was no surprise that Queens were earning a dangerous
reputation on the road. In 2000 they were a square peg on the
Ozzfest bill, with a sardonic Homme informing the teen-mosher
crowd that “we’re not angry and we don’t rap” and later reflecting
that “Ozzfest was nothing but mullets, Budweiser and free
sunburns for everyone”. (Ozzy’s missus Sharon hit back in 2007
with: “I hope his dick fucking falls off so his mother can eat it”.)
For now, Oliveri’s genitals were the talking point, with the
bassist’s habitual on-stage nudity getting him arrested at 2001’s
Rock In Rio. Another low followed in June, when a notorious set at
Germany’s Rock Am Ring was marred by horrific sound and the
sight of Homme in a foot cast, on painkillers,
butchering a guitar handed to him that was in the
wrong tuning. “I died on an operating
table. I didn’t give a
I
f Queens seemed outwardly chaotic, the band
were prolific writers, and amassed the songs that shit about little things
would give their ascent another kick of speed.
Released in August 2002, Songs For The Deaf would like music any more.”
have garnered column inches in any case, given that it Josh Homme
featured Dave Grohl on pummelling drums (“Aside
from Dave Lombardo of Slayer, he’s the heaviest
drummer ever,” Homme offered, “and we realise what that brings to
our sound”). But the album’s reputation rests on the material;
Homme noted that this third record had “the robotic feel of the first
album and the groove-based song structure of the second”.
Few moments in post-millennial alt.rock thrill like the explosive
start of You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire
(notable as Oliveri’s first sober vocal). The irresistible single No One
Knows rode its jackboot bounce all the way to silver sales, while
Lanegan – by this point a resident member – shucked vocal gravel
over A Song For The Dead and Hangin’ Tree. Do It Again offered a Above: QOTSA in
stomped glam beat and squawked guitar, while Another Love Song
2002 (l-r)
tucked poisonous lyrics beneath its spaghetti-western guitars and Nick Oliveri,
Dave Catching,
pop sensibilities. “I got divorced,” Oliveri said of the latter, “so that Josh Homme,
was a tune that came out. It’s just one of those things about shit Dave Grohl,
that’s going down with you.” Mark Lanegan.
46 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Songs For the Deaf drew listeners even deeper into its frazzled
world with a spoof radio concept, with songs book-ended by the
inane babble of drive-time DJs. “The radio interludes are supposed
to be like the drive from LA to Joshua Tree,” said Homme, “a drive
that makes you feel like you’re letting go.”
“We don’t get played on the radio,” Oliveri added of the
interludes’ thinly veiled snipe at moronic US jocks, “so I figure we
should talk shit about them.”
Oliveri had spoken too soon. The rock media was now dancing
to Queens’ tunes, with Rolling Stone putting them among 10 Most
Important Hard And Heavy Bands Right Now. But their days
seemed numbered. In early 2004, a statement announced that
Oliveri had been fired, citing “a number of incidents occurring
over the last 18 months [that] have led to the decision that the
two can no longer maintain a working partnership
in the band”.
No angel himself, Homme was plainly exhausted
by his wingman’s antics, the final straw coming when
Oliveri pelted beer bottles into the crowd. “Our whole
band is full of hard partiers,” Homme told MTV.
“We’ve put more people in rehab than Mardi Gras.
But when you get drunk, you either get drunk with
class or you get drunk like a slobbering, toothless
fuck. He’s a tornado, and a tornado just destroys and
goes on to the next city. I’m in the tornado clean-up
crew, and all I ever see is his detritus and I’m sick of it.”
Oliveri was just as direct in his statement: “The bad news is that
Queens Of The Stone Age is no more. I heard it’s now called ‘Queens
Lite’. A pure idea has been polluted. It’s funny. A band about an idea?
The concept was simple: a rock band, selfless, mindless, ego-free,
unprotected, about danger, sex, and no bullshit rock ’n’ roll. You
know what happens when a pure and original rock band gets
polluted, poisoned by hunger for power and by control issues?” He
signed off: “My favourite band is dead.”
It was a sentiment echoed across the rock scene, with some
observers questioning whether Queens could ride on without their
CAMERA PRESS/PHIL KNOTT
talismanic troublemaker-in-chief and secondary songwriter. But as
the bandleader hunkered down to make Lullabies To Paralyze, he
sounded characteristically unruffled: “I gotta be honest. I knew the
split was coming, so I wrote everything by myself. And it’s the best

shit I’ve ever written. My tank has been fuelled by people
saying I couldn’t do it, and I’m gonna show them they’re
dead wrong.”
W
ith Lullabies, released in March 2005, Homme
pointedly refused to have it ape Songs For The
Deaf – “You’ve got to shake all that shit away” – and
instead twisted the blueprint of the debut album. Instant highlights
included the Crazy Diamond-esque washes of Everybody Knows That
You Are Insane, the bluesy stabs of Burn The Witch and the woodblock
beat of lead-off single Little Sister. Meanwhile, The Blood Is Love’s
twisted waltz and the abrasive Skin On Skin demonstrated that
Homme wasn not about to make it easy on fair-weather listeners.
“It reminds me of the same trancey emptiness of the first Queens
record,” he explained. “It’s no accident that everything has come full
circle. There’s a lot of repetition with falsetto melodies over the top.
I want people to shake their ass, shut their eyes and trance out.
I want to move people and get the hairs on their arms to stand up.”
Buoyed by the album’s US No.5 success, their highest chart
placing to date, Queens kept pushing. By 2007 they were back with
fifth album Era Vulgaris, inspired by Homme’s
drives through Hollywood, which swept
flavours from synth-driven electronica to “Ozzfest was nothing but
southern rock into their sound. The angular Sick,
Sick, Sick and breakneck garage-thrash of 3’s & 7’s mullets, Budweiser and free
represented Queens at their foot-down best,
countered by Into The Hollow’s creepy music-box
sunburns for everyone.”
vibe and the wistful Make It Wit Chu. And if the Josh Homme
consensus was that Era Vulgaris wasn’t quite a
match for their early catalogue, then Homme
could live with that: “It’s a bit crippled and a bit wheezing… but I
like scars, y’know?”
He was about to have some of his own. In 2010, complications
during routine knee surgery caused Homme’s heart to stop; he
claims to have been clinically dead for several minutes before being
revived by a defibrillator. It would be the start of a lost period for Above, l-r:
him. He melted from the rock scene, spent months bedridden and Homme with
Queens at the 2017
depressed, and considered turning his back on music altogether. Reading Festival;
“I couldn’t get up for four months,” he explained. “When I did, Nick Oliveri going
I hadn’t got a clue what was going on. I didn’t want to play music Brazil nuts with the
any more, because I died on an operating table. I didn’t give a shit band at Rock In
Rio II in ’91;
about little things any more, and music had become a little thing.” Kyuss (Garcia,
Homme dug deep to oversee a reissue of the band’s debut album Bjork, Reeder,
– and tour it – but, as he told Classic Rock’s Marcel Anders, when he Homme) in ’92.
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
returned home he found himself sinking into the mire.
“It was the hardest three years of my life. I was failing
over and over, trying to figure out stuff, feeling a little
insecure. But three years of failure was the best thing that
could ever happen, because you go: ‘Shit, there’s nowhere
to go but up.’ All I really need is insurmountable odds and
I’m happy.”
Over coffee and lengthy pep talks from Trent Reznor of
Nine Inch Nails, the fog in Homme’s head cleared, and his
creative pipeline began flowing again with The Vampyre Of
Time And Memory. Even so, the title of sixth album, …Like
Clockwork, was a fitting gallows-humour choice for
a record that came anything but easy. “I wrote ‘Like
Clockwork’ on a piece of paper that stayed on this table in
my studio,” Homme told Classic Rock. “Something would
go awful and it’d be like, ‘Clockwork!’ Then something
would go great and we’d say the same. The album is like
a microcosm of the last few years. You’ve got to make it out.”
Indeed, for Homme this wasn’t so much an album launch as an
exorcism: “There’s a part of me that’s releasing this record – and
I do mean releasing it, and saying goodbye to it, in a way I never
have before. I’m saying: ‘Thanks for kicking my ass and I’m so glad
to see you go.’”
Given that troubled context, it followed that …Like Clockwork
offered a jet-black world view marked by moments of blazing
brilliance, from the Bowie-esque If I Had A Tail and the garage-band
riffs of My God Is The Sun to the majestic I Appear Missing, an epic,
slow-burn masterpiece that was arguably the best thing on the
album. Musically, Homme had never sounded so questing,
sprinkling electronica, avant-garde rock, strings and synths, and
even toying with cabaret on Smooth Sailing. “I never went to West
Berlin,” he noted, “but I feel like some of this
would have gone over okay there.”
His collaborative instincts had also emerged
intact, as evidenced by the album’s a guest list
that pinballed between the sublime and
ridiculous, from returning lags such as Oliveri,
Grohl and Lanegan, to Jake Shears of Scissor
Sisters and Elton John. “Elton walks in with a big
smile, dressed to the nines, arms wide open,”
Homme recalled in The Guardian. “So you just go:
‘Well, how the hell are you doing, babe?’”
Released in June 2013, …Like Clockwork debuted at No.1 on the
US Billboard chart, setting in motion the rise to the A-list heights
that the band occupy to this day. Right now, on paper, Queens Of
The Stone Age are a paid-up mainstream rock band, topping best-
album polls with Villains and filling Madison Square Garden on the
associated tour. The curious thing is that they still don’t quite feel
like one. Twenty years later, these desert rats are still too difficult,
dark and dangerous to file alongside alt.rock’s defanged elder
statesmen. They remain a travelling circus of rogues, miscreants
and outlaws, led by a man who will never be the establishment,
however many magazine covers he graces. As Homme drawled in
one telling soundbite: “You invited the outsider in – now the
outsider’s gonna fuck things up.”
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 47
 Never give up. Ghosts exist. The 90s weren’t fun… At the end of 2017, the year that Black Sabbath
played their final gig, the heavy metal icon reflects on that and what his eventful life has taught him.
Interview: Dave Ling
H
e’s the proud Brummie who plays songs about the devil but
has guardian angels. He’s had success and fame beyond most
people’s wildest dreams, selling millions of albums and playing
to millions of fans with a band who are one of the founding
father of heavy metal, and setbacks that are the stuff of
nightmares, including being diagnosed with cancer. He is also truly a legend.
ALWAYS BELIEVE IN THE IMPOSSIBLE
I lost the tips of two fingers in an accident on the day that I was due to leave my job
in a sheet metal factory to turn professional. I was only seventeen years old, and
the doctors told me there was no point in trying to continue playing the guitar.
But I wouldn’t give up and eventually I found a way. All through my life I’ve had
that same attitude. If band members left, then I never gave up. You find somebody
else and you carry on. And eventually of course we all came back together.
I’VE NO IDEA WHERE THOSE RIFFS COME FROM
I’m just grateful that they do. They come out of the air; I don’t sit down and work
them out. They just arrive. It’s all very strange. I can sit down and two or three
different riffs will come along in ten minutes.
Some of them will be crap but most are usable.
I’m useless at most other things, but if there’s one
thing I can do in life then it’s write riffs. “I definitely believe in angels,
because three of them saved
THE LAST SABBATH SHOW
WAS WEIRD my life in my late teens.”
The feeling built as we crept towards to the
final gig at the Genting Arena, but it didn’t really sink in till the day of the show.
Looking out at the audience during the last few songs, people were crying.
Those people idolise you and love what you do. In a way it felt like we were
letting them down. It was a shame.
SABBATH’S EARLIEST GIGS WERE CRAP
How we got from those days to what the band eventually became, I’m really
not sure. We would play places where nobody was interested. Or we’d turn up
and people would think that we were playing pop, when of course we weren’t.
I recall a gig at a place called the Toe Bar in Egremont and this bloke shouted out:
“Your singer’s crap.” That was really embarrassing. Of course, we improved as
the years went by, but we certainly had to teach people – and ourselves – about
what we were doing, because it was so different. It was a very steep learning curve.
HAS ANYONE GOT THE BLACK ZEPPELIN TAPE?
We were really good mates with Led Zeppelin, especially Robert Plant and John
Bonham who came from the Midlands. Zeppelin had wanted us to be on their
label, Swan Song, but we couldn’t make it work out. During the recording of the
50 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album [1973], Zeppelin came into the studio for a jam. John
wanted to play Supernaut [from the previous year’s Vol 4] but we jammed instead.
We were in the middle of recording so it fucked up the session. I know that it was
recorded, and I’d love to hear it. The tape must be around somewhere.
LET’S REVIVE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
At school I was caned – a lot. For me it was a mistake to do away with all of that,
because levels of discipline are suffering. If you do wrong, then you should be
punished. It’s how we develop our morals. Now there’s almost no difference
between right and wrong.
GHOSTS EXIST. I KNOW BECAUSE I’VE SEEN SEVERAL
It wasn’t just me, all of us saw the one at Clearwell Castle [in Gloucestershire].
Sabbath had hired the place out so there was nobody else there. We were
rehearsing in the dungeons. Coming up the stairs we saw this figure go into
the armoury. Ozzy and I asked: “Who’s that?” We went into the armoury and
nobody was there. But the room had just one door and no windows. We looked
everywhere, including under the table in case someone was winding us up, but
there was nobody. It was all very peculiar.
I BELIEVE IN GOD – OF SORTS
That statement may be a shock, given the
subject matter of so many of Black Sabbath’s
songs, but I believe in a god – whatever god it
is. I definitely believe in angels, because three
of them saved my life when I was in my late
teens. I’d just passed my driving test and was in my sports car driving on a dual
carriageway. I had just overtaken another car when two tyres blew out. I went
off the road, the MG flipped over and I hit a tree. I passed out, and when I awoke
I smelled petrol but I managed to get out, and as I did so I saw those angels. To
this day I really believe they were there; I wasn’t stoned. It’s been said that they
saved me for a purpose, because I went on to invent heavy metal. And you
know what? I quite like that idea.
THE BODY IS JUST A VESSEL
When I was much, much younger I used to astrally project. I got really into it.
The first time I left my body it was quite frightening. I jumped straight back in
again. The best time to do it was just before you go off to sleep. I used to do it
a lot – hover about my body, looking down at myself. I tried it again some years
later and was quite disappointed to find that I was no longer able.
THE 1990S WERE NOT MUCH FUN FOR ME
At the end of the 1980s, Sabbath made some music that I consider good,
including The Eternal Idol [1987] and Headless Cross [’89], but Forbidden
TONY IOMMI

Sabbath’s Headless Cross

trio: (l-r) Tony Martin,
Cozy Powell and Iommi.

[1995] was really crap. We were pushed into a corner. Somebody at the record
company suggested we work with Ice-T. My reaction was: “Who the hell is he?”
But we met up and he was a nice bloke, and also a big fan of Sabbath. Ernie C [Body
Count guitarist] ended up producing Forbidden, which was a terrible mistake.
Ernie tried to get Cozy Powell to play these hip-hop-style drum parts, which,
quite rightly, offended him. You don’t tell Cozy Powell how to play drums.
In the 1990s there were a lot of line-up changes and it became hard to drive
Sabbath onwards. But I’m very determined – you don’t split up the band just Iommi with Ronnie Dio, who
because somebody leaves. Find a replacement. Get on with it. I still believed in he says he misses “every
the band. day”, in the early 90s.

SOMEDAY I’D LOVE TO RESTORE BORN AGAIN
That was the album we made with Ian Gillan [in 1983]. It sounded great in
the studio, but there was a problem with pressing. It would be great to fix it up.
But you know what? The tapes have disappeared into the Don Arden [former
manager] pit. We’ve found about five tracks, the rest are all missing. Such a shame.
BLACK SABBATH – BY APPOINTMENT
Being a part of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations
[in 2002] was very weird but a wonderful
experience. After Ozzy and I had played, we
were invited to Buckingham Palace for a drink “In my youth I was more
– supposedly for fifteen minutes, but it didn’t intense. Now I don’t think
turn out like that – and Harry and William
complained: “You didn’t play Black Sabbath!” It I have anything left to prove.”
seems they are big fans. And so was [then-Prime
Minister] Tony Blair. While I was talking to him, Ozzy came over to ask me
something and didn’t even acknowledge Blair. When I introduced them, Ozzy
didn’t even say a word. After he’d gone I had to apologise: “Sorry, Tony. Ozzy’s
always like that.”
And it’s true. There are so many examples. My wife and I had lunch with
him and Sharon at the Beverly Hills Hotel. These two blokes came over to
say hello, and one of them was [actor] David Arquette. And at the top of his
voice Ozzy asked: “Who the fuck’s that?”
How embarrassing, and funny [laughs], but
that’s typical Ozzy. You’ll never change him.
I’M PROUD TO BE A BRUMMIE
The place has changed such a lot. Ozzy and
I were honoured by the city’s Walk Of Stars
[in 2008], but when they asked where I wanted
my star to go I didn’t know anywhere.
The places I was familiar with had been
knocked down, it was a bit embarrassing. In
half of Zeppelin. And don’t forget The Move. Maybe it’s something to do with
being industry-based, but it’s the birthplace of a wide variety of sounds.
GET YOURSELF CHECKED OUT
I still miss Ronnie James Dio every day. On tour with Heaven And Hell he
complained of pain. Ronnie said: “I’m bloody sure I’ve got cancer.” And he
left it too late to it looked at by a doctor. To anybody reading this, if in doubt,
do yourself a favour and see a professional
right away.
SINCE MY CANCER SCARE I’M A
DIFFERENT PERSON
When your life threatens to come to an end, it
really, really changes you. I was wondering: “Will
I still be here next year?” We had to work around
my condition when recording and touring but everyone in the band understood.
That’s why touring had to stop. For me it’s always been about the band. I wanted
a little time for myself to see friends and just to do other things. On paper I should
have time on my hands now, but with this [promoting the The End Of The End
concert film] I’m as busy as ever. Offers are pouring in to work with other bands
and do whatever might come next. I’m still going to play.
GOOD FRIENDS ARE
VERY IMPORTANT
I’ve been mates with Brian May for many
years. He came to my house six weeks ago.
He stayed till about midnight. We were still
sitting around and talking. Could we do
a project together? Well, we’ve discussed it
and you never know…
OLD AGE HAS MELLOWED ME
In my youth I was much more intense. I was
IOMMI & DIO: GEORGE CHIN/ICONICPIX; GETTY x2

front of the NIA was the best I could think
of. But I’m very proud that in a musical sense
Sabbath did a lot to put Birmingham on the
map. Many years ago you’d tell people you
came from Birmingham and they’d ask:
“Is that in London?”
I’ve no idea why the place inspires like it
does. Sabbath and Priest are from there, also
headstrong and perhaps I used my fists a bit.
But I was put in the position of running the
band, which I really didn’t want, and it was
a very pressurised situation. Now I’m calm.
I don’t think I have anything left to prove.
The metal king with
the man of Queen, Black Sabbath – The End Of The End is
good friend Brian May. available via Eagle Vision.

52 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
 F. E . A . R .
N O T H I N G
Steve Hogarth looks back over a busy and successful 2017 for Marillion – prog veterans now –
and forward to another year of fearlessly exploring new horizons and also visiting familiar ground.
Words: Paul Lester Portrait: John McMurtrie

M
arillion frontman Steve Guardian five-star review [for F E A R] felt like
Hogarth has just returned from a vindication of the last 25 years’ struggle. It was
the band’s mini-tour of Japan. a pretty fearsome process making F E A R,
He might be approaching his to be honest, I was quite nervous about reactions.
30th year with them, but neither Because it’s a protest record, and I’m having a go in
are showing signs of slowing down. And this no uncertain terms. I thought it might be greeted
despite 2017 seeing them still basking in the with a yawn: “Oh god, get off your bloody soap-
afterglow of their 2016 album Fuck Everyone And box, Hogarth.” So the response was a huge relief.
Run (F E A R), play a prestigious gig at London’s
Royal Albert Hall and run their biannual Marillion Has it been weird having an album out called
Weekend. As for 2018, it looks similarly busy, F E A R, with widespread Brexit dread,
with a Cruise To The Edge followed by tours of the Trump bestriding the globe like an orange
US, UK and Scandinavia, plus talk of a Greek goon, and the nuclear face-off between North
amphitheatre show. Then there’s the next album to Korea and the States?
start. But first there’s an interview with Classic Rock. Yeah, they’re calling me Hogstradamus now! I’ve
“It’s a bit early in the day for rock’n’roll,” Hogarth got a little bit in the habit of being ahead of these
says, laughing. “But let’s press on.” waves. I coined the terms “leavers” and “remainers”
about four years ago, then wrote a song about
How was Japan?
We haven’t been since we played the
Brave album there in ninety-four, so we “MY GUT FEELING IS TO APPROACH
didn’t know what to expect, but the gigs
were sold out. The audiences are very THE NEXT RECORD WITH: ‘OKAY,
interesting. They sit and clap politely for
the first three songs and by the end WE’VE BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT.
they’re up on their feet, cheering. The LET’S REDEFINE WHAT WE ARE.’”
thing I noticed with the Japanese that’s
a bit eccentric is you get a handful who STEVE HOGARTH
come to the hotel and they’ll wait for
you all night, and they’re still there in the morning. them [The Leavers]. Then we turned on the news to
It’s only in Japan where you can get up at four a.m. hear about leavers and remainers. That was a bit
and go down to reception and they’re sitting there. strange. And the song Eldorado is about immigration
and no longer being proud of a country you’re part
Marillion always inspired devotion – well, of. What’s interesting is that, having written it
that and critical dislike – but Fuck Everyone And about this sceptered isle, if I sang it in front of an
Run (F E A R) has made people take Marillion American audience I felt I needed to apologise for it
very seriously. because it felt like a dig at them. And then we’d go
Well, I’ve been taking them seriously all along to Spain and sing The New Kings about economic
[laughs]. I can’t speak for the rest of the band. collapse and where power really lies, and I’d feel
like I’d written that for Spain. I’d have to keep
Have there been any examples of strange explaining these songs everywhere we travelled.
fandom this year?
I did run into a bloke in a hotel in Montreal. I told What gave you the most F E A R in 2017?
him what I did, and he went, “Oh god, not you lot!” Well, it’s a worry having two blokes with strange
Turns out he’d just written a thesis on Marillion’s haircuts facing off against each other on opposite
crowd-funding business model for the final year of sides of the world: Donald with his honey quiff and
his degree in Economics at Oxford. I was just Kim with his radical steampunk job. They’re both
flattered that Oxford University had put us on their egoistic nut-jobs and both seem to have access to
map. That felt like official recognition. That and The pretty fearsome weaponry… That’s probably the
54 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
most unsettling. But to be honest nobody’s telling
us what’s really going on. The news is just press
releases, with a little bit of investigative journalism
sprinkled at the edge. The stuff on TV is bread and
circuses for the masses. Am I sounding paranoid?
Maybe a paranoid is someone in full possession of
the facts. I just sniff the air and get a feeling and
that’s how I’ve always written.
So we’re all doomed in 2018, then?
Hopefully not. The biggest threat to all of us will
remain what we are doing to the planet. I know
that sounds hippie-ish, but there’ll be a tipping
point where the planet can no longer sustain us.
The other thing is an airborne virus like Ebola that
transmits like the common cold. If that should
come along there’ll be a mass culling. It won’t do us
much good, but it will cut us down a bit.
On a happier note, what was the
best gig you went to in 2017?
Ours at the Royal Albert Hall! That was
amazing. I wanted to play there my
whole life. I’ve been nagging the band
ever since we met. It was an extraordinary
night on so many levels. Just to walk out
on stage and gaze at the auditorium. We
really pushed the boat out: a lot of bells
and whistles, lights and lasers. We got
spontaneous ovations after each song. That almost
got embarrassing after about the fifth one. It was
incredible, because it felt like an affirmation of all
we’ve been through. Steven Wilson, Nick Beggs
and Steve Hackett were there – the prog glitterati.
The single [Living In F E A R] was No.1 in the
physical chart at that point. I always thought if we
could play the Albert Hall it would be one of the
things that flashes through my mind when I croak.
What, for you, was the saddest rock death
of 2017?
Tom Petty, I’d say. That made me really low. I didn’t
realise he was as old as he was. I assumed he was
my age, maybe a bit older. He’s written some great
songs. And he was inherently, naturally, cool.
Didn’t you hurt yourself during the Marillion
Weekend in Ouddorp, Holland?
Yeah. I stepped over a light on the rear edge of
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 55
MARILLION

Hogarth looks forward

to reaching out to new
challenges in 2018.

the stage and hit the deck. I was really fortunate Playing the RAH was
there was nothing down there, because if there’d a dream come true
been any horizontal metal work or stage supports and a 2017 highlight.
I might have broken my back, been in a wheelchair.
I was lucky. I just dislocated a rib. I went to a physio
about a fortnight later, and he said, “I’ve just put
one of your ribs back in.” “Oh, cheers! That’s going
to make tying my shoelaces a lot easier.”

How was the Weekend apart from that?

Immense. There’s such a lot of work to prepare for
three completely separate shows. You’re having to
rehearse seven hours of music. We’re not getting
any younger so just retaining that amount of music
in our brains is hard. And we don’t exactly write
three-minute pop tunes… The songs are quite
intense, and it’s not as though any of us can read
music – it’s all in our bonces.

One of the Marillion Weekends was in Chile.

How intense are Chilean Marillion fans?
All Marillion fans are intense. It’s not music you
listen to while hoovering and go: “Oh, that’s nice.”
The ones who get it do so to their bones. It’s like
a soundtrack to their lives, and the atmosphere at
our shows reflects that depth of feeling.
Does the intensity ever get scary?
No, we’ve been really fortunate. Our fans are the
kind of people I’d happily go for a drink with,
almost all of them.
Do they ever turn up at your house and say:
“Let’s go for that drink,
then, shall we?”
[Laughs] I’ve not had
anybody camping outside.
“PLAYING THE ALBERT
Royal performance: bells,
whistles, lasers and lights at
Marillion’s Albert Hall show.
end we pop to Waitrose. I would go to Aldi – I’m
not too snobbish – but there isn’t one locally. This
is a bizarre interview.
How do you intend spending December?
I’m doing my traditional Christmas tour, just me
and a piano, where I turn up and just see what
happens. I’ve been doing
them for the last few years.
I basically sell tickets to see
if anyone is prepared to be
by Kraftwerk. I read from my diaries. I’ve had quite
a curious life.
It’s going to be hard to follow F E A R. What do
you have in mind for the next record?
Well, my gut feeling is to get as far away from it as
possible and approach the next record with: “Okay,
we’ve been there and done that. Let’s redefine what
we are.” Each record is a reaction to the one before.
Maybe a nice country and western record.

I’ve had people come up to HALL WAS INCREDIBLE in a room with me. Have you emailed the others with ideas?
me while I’m shopping, I haven’t had to email them – I’ve been stuck in
going [salt of the earth
BECAUSE IT FELT LIKE How many turn up? a van with them! Every now and then they’ll say:
voice], “Alright, how’s AN AFFIRMATION More than you’d expect! “What about the next record?” and I’ll say: “Leave
it going?” “Fine, mate.” About three-to-four me alone. Don’t even talk to me, otherwise I’ll have
They’re all pretty cool. OF ALL WE’VE hundred. I usually do a nervous breakdown.”
There’s maybe one BEEN THROUGH.” churches and caves. I bring
German girl who’s a bit a Christmas tree and invite Band relations are pretty good these days,
on the edge, but she’s no STEVE HOGARTH everybody to bring aren’t they?
trouble, really. a bauble, and they dress the You’re absolutely right. We’ve had our ups and
tree during the gig. And I hand out tequila shots to downs. At the moment we’re pretty tight.
Isn’t it weird for fans to have this anyone who puts a bauble on the tree. It’s more of There’s a similar atmosphere to the one during
Hogstradamus, prescient soothsayer a goof-out than an evening of music. I do a lot of [1989’s] Season’s End. After all these years, we still
WILL IRELAND & KEVIN NIXON

character in their local supermarket?
Nah. I just tend to flop about in a pair of jammy
bottoms and a jumper when I’m not dressed up,
when I’m off duty. My supermarket of choice is
Tesco, although if we want something a bit high-
covers and take requests: a bit of Leonard Cohen,
a song by Al Stewart called Roads To Moscow, about
the Russian campaign in the Second World War.
I’ll probably do Beatles songs and the odd Crowded
House number. I’ve been known to play The Model
enjoy collaborating, playing live still feels fresh,
the album’s been really well received… We’re in
good shape.
Marillion tour the U K from April 11 to 20.

56 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM

If working through the best albums of 2017 seems a tall order, take a short cut
and check out some of the suitably sorted songs that have talked to us this year.
Words: Henry Yates
LOW CUT CONNIE
Revolution Rock n Roll
It starts with a lugubrious piano in a last-
chance saloon, before Adam Weiner pulls
the trigger on that call-to-arms chorus:
‘Come on children, rip it up!’ Doomed yet
defiant, this is one of those rare songs that
makes critics cream and punters scream.
BITERS
Stone Cold Love
Like T.Rex with bigger teeth, this glitter-
stomp anthem is the most twisted of love
songs, the Georgia rockers saluting a she-
devil who ‘smiles like a reptile’ and ‘sucks all the
blood from my neck’.
STARCRAWLER
Ants
All fuzz-box guitars, sticky beats and itchy
vocals (‘I got ants when I dance, I got ants in
my pants’), Ants is barely two minutes long
– including the spacey treacle-trudge mid-
section – but an insect infestation has never
sounded so compelling.
PALAYE ROYALE
Don’t Feel Quite Right
The Vegas dandies match style with
substance on this piss-and-vinegar classic,
driven by kick-your-teeth-in drums, a vocal
buzzing with paranoia, and a riff stolen so
brazenly from the White Stripes’ Blue Orchid
that you have to applaud its brass neck.
JIM JONES AND THE
RIGHTEOUS MIND
Aldecide
Jim Jones vindicates the meltdown of his
58 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Revue band on this pummelling comeback,
where manic cathouse piano and fur-ball
vocals rage and twist before collapsing into
white-noise and feedback.
STEEL PANTHER
She’s Tight (featuring Robin Zander)
LA’s pre-eminent sniggering mock-rockers
present their “sexified” spin on the Cheap
Trick classic, even roping in CT’s Robin
Zander to lock tonsils with Michael Starr. It
might not advance the art form, but it sure
blows away the cobwebs.
Michael Starr,
MARILYN MANSON
Steel Panther We Know Where You Fucking Live
The verse’s spidery guitar squall and
murmured vocal are sinister enough,
but when Manson hits that shrieked chorus
it’s sufficiently threatening to make you
check behind the door and under the bed.
The bogeyman is back in business.
BODY COUNT
No Lives Matter
As the bodies piled up Stateside, Ice-T’s
white-hot polemic spits frustration into
the face of a trigger-happy police force.
The spoken-word intro is sage, the vocal
hook savage: ‘They can’t fuck with us, once we
realise we’re all on the same side.’
PROPHETS OF RAGE
Unfuck The World
Best heard through a loudhailer at an anti-
Trump rally, the supergroup’s single is
a fist in the air that practically exhorts us to
Tom Morello, storm the Oval Office. ‘If you’re gonna consider
Prophets the world fucked,’ notes Chuck D, ‘somebody’s
Of Rage
gotta figure out how to unfuck it.’
DON BROCO
Pretty
The Bedford alt.rockers skinned their
faces for Pretty’s schlock-horror video,
but the music is darker still. “It’s about
reaching the point of inebriation,” said
Rob Damiani, “where it doesn’t matter that
the person you’re physically attracted to is
a despicable human being.”
THE DUST CODA
Weakness
The Londoners back up their ambition to
revitalise the rock scene with this debut
single, built on stalking bass, raging guitars
and the best scream we’ve heard in ages
from über-intense Australian frontman
John Drake. Consider their card marked.
INGLORIOUS
I Don’t Need Your Loving
Frontman Nathan James resolved to write
bigger choruses after the Ramblin’ Man Fair,
and the one on this one can be seen from
space. An anti-love song and acerbic kiss-off
to a manipulative lover, it’s a song to scream
after being hung out to dry.
CHUCK BERRY
Big Boys
Chuck signed off in vintage style with Big
Boys, a tune that steals from his own guitar
playbook, muses on short-trousered scrapes
and collars Tom Morello and Nathaniel
Rateliff to boost its good-natured bounce.
The cherry on an astonishing career.
SOUNDGARDEN
The Day I Tried To Live
Obviously not new, but when shocking
news of Chris Cornell’s suicide broke, this
was the song we searched out. Warning
signs are there in the lyric – ‘A voice was in my
head/It said seize the day, pull the trigger’ – but
Cornell was always adamant that this lung-
flaying groove is not “a suicide note song”.
BLACK COUNTRY
COMMUNION
Collide
The first song co-written by Glenn Hughes
and Joe Bonamassa, Collide gave the
reunited supergroup impetus and its most
ambitious moment yet. With a graceful
swoop of strings punctured by the year’s
most swaggerous riff, it’s a song worth
burying hatchets for.
 SHERYL CROW
Heartbeat Away
It’s a pleasure to hear Crow steer away
from country on this growling shuffle, her
ghostly vocal spinning tales of espionage,
stashed money and political meddling. As
Trump and Putin’s toxic romance played
out, it couldn’t have been more relevant.
FOO FIGHTERS
The Sky Is A Neighborhood
This, the standout of the Foos’ Concrete
& Gold, was born when Dave Grohl lay on
the lawn in Hawaii, looked up at the heavens
and contemplated “all the atoms that
comprise life on Earth”. Sounds heavy, but
with that peach of a gang vocal it’s the only
existential thesis you can sing along to.
BLACK STAR RIDERS
When The Night Comes In
Few songs make the BSR faithful roar like
Ricky Warwick’s cathartic ode to “getting
yourself together and being prepared
for everything the world throws at you”.
It’s (almost) enough to stop the mob calling
out for The Boys Are Back In Town.
ANATHEMA
Springfield
The centrepiece of Classic Rock’s sister
magazine Prog’s Album Of The Year feature,
Springfield blossoms from small-hours
piano to mushroom clouds of guitar and
primal-scream vocals worthy of Floyd’s The
Great Gig In The Sky. Springfield is a finger in
the eye of anyone who says modern bands
aren’t pushing the envelope.
AFGHAN WHIGS
Demon In Profile
When Greg Dulli billed Afghan Whigs’
eighth album In Spades as “spooky”, he was
surely thinking of this lead-off single, which
pairs the frontman’s bereft, bluesy vocals
with a raging horn section. Only a moron
would call them a ‘grunge band’ now.
KOYO
Strange Bird In The Sky
The Leeds proggers lead us through the
rainforest, blending bird calls with hypnotic,
Eastern-tinged guitar riffs, before Tom
Higham’s tribal drums set up an epic synth-
rocker. A work of astonishing confidence
from a band still cutting their teeth.
ROYAL THUNDER
April Showers
Georgia’s one-time sludge-rockers shed
their skin on third album WICK. With hand
bells and music-box guitars anchored by
a percussive backbone, April Showers shares
the melodic glower of Fleetwood Mac,
while frontwoman Mlny Parsonz has the
charisma of a spookier Stevie Nicks.
MARK LANEGAN
First Day Of Winter
It arrived in April, but everyone felt the
chill from this electro-tinged lament.
Further exploring his UK goth influences,
Lanegan’s ravaged growl sits gloriously
at odds with the swell of synths, weaving
tales of nowhere towns where rain lashes
the windshield.
PETER PERRETT
How The West Was Won
In recent times we’d resigned ourselves Sheryl Crow
to losing the crack/smack-addled Only
Ones leader. Happily, Perrett sounds
reborn on this countryfied strummer,
his laconic drawled lyric running the
unlikely gamut from dirty bombs to
Kim Kardashian’s derrière.
POND
Sweep Me Off My Feet
Upbeat but off-kilter, blissed-out but with
an edge, this is the best yet from the Aussie
psych-squad led by Tame Impala’s Nick
Allbrook. Refreshingly, in a cocksure
world, it’s a love song of sheer vulnerability:
(‘Hey you! I’m not bold or cool or masculine…’)
Peter Perrett
GOLDRAY
Outloud
Even if former Reef guitarist Kenwyn House
hadn’t told us drugs were consumed during
sessions for Goldray’s Rising album, we’d
have guessed it from this hypnotic, hard-
rocking opener, which comes on like Led
Zeppelin jamming with Kate Bush in
a cloud of incense.
ALL THEM WITCHES
Bulls
Pushing seven minutes, Bulls has the space
to slip its identity. It starts softly, with
spacey guitars and drums gently propelling
Steven Wilson
a drowsy vocal, until the four-minute
mark when it enters hyper-speed like
a Millennium Falcon piloted by an
off-his-tits Han Solo.
OH SEES
Nite Expo
The shortest song on Orc is also the most
potent, with squidgy synths, twinkling
effects, thrashy guitars and a throbbing
bass line all creating heady chaos around
John Dwyer’s almost Krautrock-ish vocals.
Why can’t all bands sound this inventive
after 19 albums?
THE TEXAS GENTLEMEN
Bondurant Women
When six Dallas studio musicians convened
as the Texas Gentlemen, the mission
statement was “timeless, earnest American
music”. They hit the brief on the nose
with this soulful stunner – and like all
good session men, they couldn’t resist an
impromptu outro vamp.
STEVEN WILSON
Nowhere Now
This piano-led ballad from To The Bone
is a song of two halves, with Wilson’s
lyric split between a bleak verse that
examines our broken society, and a
blissed-out chorus from the perspective
of a spaceman. Like everything this man
touches, it works.
BATTLEME
Testament
These Texans practically frog-march us
onto the dancefloor with this highlight
from their album Cult Psychotica. The squelch
of wah-wah guitar and Matt Drenik’s
electrocuted screams – “Ow!” – keep the
energy up, while the beat is as relentless as
a slave ship (but far more fun).
AIRBOURNE
Money
When you’re as drunk as Airbourne, some
songs are gonna go astray. This punchy
rocker from their No Guts No Glory era was
“found covered in piles of dust and reel-to-
reel tape”, and got a long-overdue run-out
on the Diamond Cuts box set.
OTHERKIN
Enabler
Irish noiseniks Otherkin draw together the
best bits of Britpop and early-00s Libertines-
esque drive with this killer highlight from
fizzling debut album OK. The power of
energetic youth – and then some.
THE DARKNESS
All The Pretty Girls
Many artists have deconstructed the
paddling-pool-shallow nature of fame,
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 59

The Picturebooks
but none have done it with such infectious
glee – or in a higher vocal register – as these
mum-shagging merry men from Lowestoft.
The dickabout seaside-themed video sealed
All The Pretty Girls’ inclusion here.
NIGHT RANGER
Day And Night
Thirty-five years into Night Ranger’s career,
Day And Night finds the San Francisco
veterans playing with the vigour of
a pockmarked garage band. Bang your head
to the crunchy riff – but stick around for
one of the most dazzling solos ever to fly off
Brad Gillis’s fingers.
AARON BUCHANAN AND
THE CULT CLASSICS
All The Things You’ve Said And Done
The former Heaven’s Basement frontman
and his band made their mark this year
with The Man With Stars On His Knees, and
this is the pick from it: a thumping anthem
that blooms from morose verse to lift-off
chorus. It’s a cult classic that deserves
mainstream recognition.
HUNTER & THE BEAR
D.R.K
With songs like D.R.K in their locker, it’s
no wonder the unsigned London band
threatened to upstage Eric Clapton at
a recent support slot. Stompy and seismic,
it is by far the lairiest moment from their
debut album Paper Heart.
KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD
She’s $$$
In a genre in which women are routinely
cast as heart-shredding harpies, bluesman
Shepherd flips the concept on this rootsy
60 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
highlight from Lay It On Down, saluting
a goddess who is ‘like a fine wine, a hundred-
dollar bottle/She’s a ’69 Charger on full-throttle’.
SIMO
Shine
Ditching the blues-rock of Let Love Show The
Way, Nashville trio Simo’s comeback single
opens with a bass line straight from Doctor
Who and gets spacier from there. With robot
guitars offset by JD Simo’s roared vocal, it’s
futuristic, psychedelic and almost a classic.
PP ARNOLD
Born
The American vocalist spent four decades
hunting down her lost 60s sessions for RSO
Records, and this soul-blues belter justifies
her tenacity. Stick around for the roaring
outro, where Arnold showcases a set of
lungs that today’s X Factor pipsqueaks can
only dream of.
THE PICTUREBOOKS
I Need That Oooh
German The Picturebooks duo might be
self-professed “bad musicians”, but they
whip up rare road-movie atmosphere on
this feral album standout. With wild slide
and Native American percussion, this is
music for dancing around a campfire in
the Mojave Desert.
TYLER BRYANT AND
THE SHAKEDOWN
Weak And Weepin’
Kenny Wayne This song is these Texans’ regular set
Shepherd
opener, and the studio take of Weak And
Weepin’ rouses the rabble too, as Bryant
The Cadillac pushes that voice box into the red atop the
Three kind of twisty lick you wish Guns N’ Roses
could still write.
ZEAL & ARDOR
Devil Is Fine
No genre is off-limits to Zeal & Ardor
linchpin Manuel Gagneux, and Devil Is Fine
is the year’s most inspired cut-and-shut,
combining a raw-throated chain-gang
chant with hip-hop beats, doleful piano and
white-noise guitar. Like Moby – but good.
DANNY WORSNOP
Don’t Overdrink It
In an age that could drive anyone to drink,
we can all relate to this piano-plonk country
solo tune from the Asking Alexandria
vocalist, which claims our problems are
better marinated than drowned: ‘Whiskey
ain’t the answer but it’s damn sure worth a shot.
We’ll drink (responsibly) to that.
THE CADILLAC THREE
Hank & Jesus
Over scuttling drums and a sun-kissed
country-rock crunch, the Nashville trio
salute the twin touchstones of their
God-fearing, vinyl-spinning upbringing
(‘It was six strings on a Saturday night/Sunday
morning seeing the light’). Only southerners
could pull this off.
BAD TOUCH
99%
Norfolk’s hairiest aced it with this down-
home singalong, which demands to be
heard in an open-topped Chevy, sitting
next to a girl you’re almost crazy about.
“It’s kind of a love song,” noted Stevie
Westwood. “But it’s that kind of thing: ‘I’m
not absolutely sure I love you’.”
DAN AUERBACH
Stand By My Girl
With its honky-tonk piano, handclaps and
60s vocals, Dan Auerbach’s best solo single
seems as light as feather – until you realise
the Black Keys man’s loved-up lyric comes
with a barb: ‘I’m gonna stand by my girl…
because she’ll kill me if I don’t’.
BLACKWATER
CONSPIRACY
Monday Club
The Northern Irishmen had their “eyes
opened” by touring with Blackberry Smoke,
and there’s a hint of the influence on this
smoky soul-rocker, with a hook that speaks
for a million sardine-tinned commuters:
‘Monday morning ain’t no friend of mine’.
THE WEEKS
Talk Like That
The Weeks aren’t afraid to mess with
southern-rock dogma, and on this sugar-
rush indie-rock riot their Mississippi roots
are discernible only in Cyle Barnes’s vocal
delivery. A song so irrepressible that you
practically have to strap down your speakers.
THE MAGPIE SALUTE
Omission
The Black Crowes-shaped hole in our lives
was plugged by this sneery rocker, on which
a vintage Rich Robinson guitar riff barged
against John Hogg’s chant-along chorus.
As the sole original on their debut album,
Omission is a tantalising sign that these
Magpies can do more than steal.
PU T A PAUSE
IN YOUR DAY
With so many demands from work, home and family,
there never seem to be enough hours in the day for you.
Why not press pause once in a while, curl up with your
favourite magazine and put a little oasis of ‘you’ in your day.

To find out more about Press Pause, visit;

pauseyourday.co.uk
 With 200 (yes, 200) years of experience in music between them, Cats In Space are not only
aiming for the stars, they’re also looking to bring some much-needed fun back into rock.
Words: Fraser Lewry Portrait: Will Ireland

decade ago, guitarist Greg Hart left
tribute act Limehouse Lizzy to form
his own band, Hartless. He knew
exactly what he wanted to do:
“A classic seventies-style rock
album,” he said at the time.
“The album I wanted to hear in 2007.” The album
62 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
they recorded was that year’s Full Circle, a solid
collection of songs in the Thin Lizzy/UFO mould
embellished with rich AOR harmonies. It was
okay, but it remained nailed firmly to shop shelves.
The plan needed rethinking.
Cut to 2017, and Hart’s current band, Cats In
Space, are doing rather better. Having recorded
two gloriously effervescent, melody-soaked,
delightfully smart albums, the second one being
the just-released Scarecrow, they’ve moved away
from AOR (“That box is too small”, says Hart),
their eyes set on much loftier heights – think
Queen, think ELO, think 10cc, think bands with
vast ambition and substantial budgets. And he’s

surrounded himself with an extraordinary amount
of experience. Deep breath…
Cats In Space co-founder and drummer Steevi
Bacon has played with Robin Trower and Don
Airey. He plays in the Marc Bolan tribute act
TooRex, and back in the day was in a band
managed by Joe Strummer.
Singer Paul Manzi sang on Gordon Giltrap
& Oliver Wakeman’s Ravens & Lullabies album,
followed Gary Holton and Phil Lewis into the
Heavy Metal Kids, filled in for Tony O’Hora in
The Sweet and sang lead vocals on the soundtracks
of the rock musicals Phantasmagoria and Space
Family Robinson.
Talking of the stage, keyboard player Andy
Stewart has been musical director for productions
of Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Phantom Of The Opera
and Hair. He also plays in the Supersonic 70s Show
(“Europe’s No.1 70s Music Show!”) alongside Hart,
which runs the gamut from Suzi Quatro to Donna
Summer. He also teamed up with Hart in AOR
bands Moritz and If Only.
Bassist Jeff Brown was in NWOBHM stalwarts
Wildfire and Statetrooper before busting up Box
Hill with Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts. He then spent 16
Cats In Space, from left:
Dean Howard, Andy Stewart,
Paul Manzi, Greg Hart,
Steevi Bacon, Jeff Brown.
years in The Sweet and toured with 60s chart-
topping popsters The Tremeloes.
Guitarist Dean Howard was a real-life pop star
with T’Pau before playing with Ian Gillan and AOR
band Airrace and on Bad Company’s 1996 album
Stories Told & Untold.
And lest we forget, Hart was
in Asia, and co-wrote much of
their Aqua album, before
bowing out as grunge killed
the band’s career.
As Venn diagrams go it’s an
absolute mess, but these men
have collectively accumulated
somewhere north of 200 years
experience in music. They
know what they’re doing. And
what they’re doing is joyous.
think rock became frightened to smile,” says
Hart, talking to Classic Rock before Cats In
Space played a sublime show at London’s
Borderline. “I was out of the game for a long time,
because there was no vehicle for me to write any
more when grunge came in. And then [The
Darkness frontman] Justin Hawkins came along
and I thought: ‘Oh my god. Someone’s doing this.’
Everyone thought he was taking the piss, but
I could see through all of that. You could see from
the quality of the songwriting they knew exactly
what they were doing.”
Unlike The Darkness, who have always had an
element of nudge and wink to their music, Cats In
Space’s take on the 70s appears to be entirely
sincere, even if the music is often laugh-out-loud
funny (if there’s a smarter track released in 2017
than Two Fifty Nine, a three-minute pop song
about writing three-minute pop songs, we’ve yet to
hear it). “I grew up with that kind of music,” Hart
says. “And when I started writing songs, that was
the only kind of thing that boiled my egg, you
know? We want to take people back to a time when
they watched Top Of The Pops every Thursday and
listened to the new chart on Sunday. Match Of The
Day. On The Buses. Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em. All that
stuff! We were there as kids. Now we just want to
live it all again as adults. It’s almost like an illness!”
“Young people playing rock are angry,” says
Steevi Bacon. “They’re bitter. They’re just annoyed
with life. They’re fighting to survive and be alive.
We’re older guys, and we’re happy to be alive. That
might sound cheesy, but age is a privilege.”
One barrier to the success of this time-travelling
escapade might be that Cats In Space name. But,
as the band point out, plenty of successful acts
started out with names that must have sounded
ludicrous on first hearing. Def Leppard? Queen?
The Beatles? “From day one we wanted a name that
was Marmite,” explains Hart. “Love it or hate it, at
least people will talk about it.”
There is a reason for the name choice.
“Me and Greg were talking on the phone,” Bacon
recalls “His cat had died, and mine died about a
week later. We were gutted. And we were saying
how our cats would have been looking down on
us, blubbing, going: “Look at those two idiots!’
“I also love space,” he adds, perhaps
unnecessarily. “I have a huge telescope.”
alk to Cats In Space for long enough and you
learn just how ambitious they are, and just
how seriously they’re taking this, even if
things occasionally veer into Spinal Tap territory
(“If less is more, how much will more be, if more is
more?,” asks Hart, bemoaning the lack of pomp in
music). They talk with unbridled belief about
releasing another 10 albums, about plans for
spectacular shows, about
being unafraid, and about
going into the studio and
treating it all with the wide-
eyed enthusiasm of 15-year-
olds in Willy Wonka’s
Chocolate Factory.
“People want this,” says
Hart. “They’re fed up of buying
ELO box sets and Queen
coloured vinyl reissues. This is
just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve got an awful lot
more to come. And if you don’t like it we’ll give
you your money back. But so far we’re recruiting at
a rapid rate of knots. And thank fuck for that.”
Scarecrow is out now via Harmony Factory. Cats
In Space’s first live album, Cats Alive, is released
on February 23.
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 63
 That’s how his life in Queen is summed up by Brian May – or rather, Doctor Brian May, CBE
– for whom 2017 has been another memorable year in a career of many.
n July 18, 2017, when Queen
+ Adam Lambert played at the Air
Canada Centre in Toronto, 20,000
people sang Happy Birthday to one
of the band, who would be turning
70 just a few hours after the show ended: Brian
May. Reaching such a landmark was a rather
strange experience for Queen’s guitarist – now Dr
Brian May, CBE, let us not forget. “I can’t really
believe that I’m that age,” he says. “It’s really odd.”
It has been a busy year for the doc. The Queen
+ Adam Lambert tour ran through North America
and Europe, heading into the UK at the end of
November. A 40th-anniversary box-set reissue of
Queen’s classic album News Of The World was
released. And there was May’s book Queen In 3-D,
featuring hundreds of previously unpublished
photographs that he shot on vintage stereoscopic
cameras throughout his career with the band, plus
his written account
of Queen’s history
– as close as he has
come to writing “Playing live you see
a full autobiography. joy in people’s faces.
Twenty-six years
since the death of It’s what it always was.
Queen singer Freddie
Mercury, and 20 years
Somehow it’s all
since bassist John worth it.”
Deacon retired from
the music industry, May and drummer Roger
Taylor are not yet ready to let go of the band they
co-founded back in 1970. “I don’t want to retire,”
says May, adding with a wry smile: “I’m just
thankful that I got to this point.”
May talks to Classic Rock about the past, present
and future of Queen, the long-awaited Freddie
Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Axl Rose,
Elton John, and why it would be nice if people
called him ‘Doctor’.
For many Queen fans it’s taken a while, but
do you feel that Adam Lambert has now really
proven himself as the singer for the band?
He has. Adam is amazing, he really is. I constantly
wonder where that came from. How did the
universe manage to make that happen?
64 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Words: Paul Elliott
Could you see Queen making a new studio
album with Adam?
I don’t know. We enjoy interpreting the canon, the
oeuvre, and that’s as far as we’ve got.
Has this latest tour been fun, hard work, a bit
of both?
It’s still hard pressing the button to be away from
home for two months at a time, more than
a couple of times a year. But it’s worth it because
something great happens. There’s magic, and you
see joy in people’s faces. It’s what it always was.
Somehow it’s all worth it.
As the old song goes…
Apparently it was. And it is!
Is the Freddie biopic finished now?
We’re finally seeing it coming to fruition, although
I can’t say too much
about it. Eight years
we’ve been working on
getting it off the ground.
Roger and I – to some
extent against our will
– have hung in there for
all this time. But finally
we’ve arrived at a place
where we have the right
director and the right
script and we feel good about it. We’re very
conscious that we get one shot, and if we don’t do
it, someone else will do it badly. We will do it
without avoiding anything – any aspect of Freddie.
But we will try to keep it all in balance. I think if we
get it right it will crystallize the way the world
understands Freddie.
How should he be remembered?
I think in Freddie’s mind he was a musician and
a creator first. So that’s a perspective we want to
keep. He was a family member second, with us as
a group. It was a very strong thing, and we’d like
that to be represented. And the whole thing about
his sexuality and his flamboyance, if you want to
call it that, and all the things that made him tick,
they are also vitally important as well, and none of
them can be ducked or smoothed over. We don’t
want to present him as some kind of unreal
person. He had, like the rest of us, his great bits and
his not so great bits. And in a sense there’s a kind of
superhero quality to him. I think if we get it right,
people will appreciate all over again what a great
bit of machinery Freddie was.
Writing in Queen In 3-D, you describe Freddie
as being insecure.
He really was. He built this armour around himself.
It’s true of so many performers. And that’s how
Freddie was able to metamorphose into the
performer that you saw on stage. He started off as
someone very insecure but with massive dreams,
and he made himself what he became.
You also talked about the creative tension
between the members of the band – a sense of
rivalry as competing songwriters.
I find that’s true of life in general, not just for
a group making albums. That feeling of being roped
out of a situation is a powerful and dangerous
thing. And I think it was true between all four us.
There were areas that we didn’t invade…
Meaning what?
Everybody writes songs about what is around
them, but unconsciously the songs are always
about what is inside them as well. I think that’s
universally true.
When Freddie delivered Bohemian Rhapsody
– now seen as his masterpiece – to the band,
what input did he allow you to have?
A lot of the time, with a song that came from
Freddie the backing track would be piano, bass and
drums, and that’s your skeleton. They would be
putting that down, and I would be on the control
room listening and making comments. And
I asked Freddie to have that spot for my solo
– I wanted to have that verse spot and I would kind
of sing it on the guitar the way I heard it.
When did you work best as a team?
I remember sitting down with Freddie in the
GETTY
Munich days and speaking about It’s A Hard Life,
 Killer Queen: Adam Lambert,
Brian May and Roger Taylor on
the News Of The World tour.
 High times: Freddie and Brian
during Queen’s unforgettable
Live Aid performance in ’85.

Duelling barnets: Slash and

May at the Freddie Mercury
Tribute Concert in ’92.

and hammering out every word of every line

together, because we were actually talking about
what this song meant. And I think also Freddie and
John [Deacon] had moments of getting close to the
inner meaning of a song. Freddie and John worked
on Another One Bites The Dust very closely. John
wasn’t a person who could sing, so John would
speak it to Freddie and Freddie would start to sing
it, and I think during that process they would
unravel what is this thing that we’re doing?

Near the end of Freddie’s life, when the band

made the Innuendo album, did he need you
more than ever?
Well, I remember Freddie and I sat for a long time
working on the lyrics for The Show Must Go On.
He was quite ill at that point, but he sat with me
for a few hours working on a couple of lines. As
far as the story of the song went, we were
working on it together. But perhaps there was
still a level of meaning beyond which we didn’t
look. He wasn’t well – he disappeared and I didn’t
see him for quite a while – so I finished off the
song using those bricks that we built together,
the cornerstones.

In your book Queen In 3-D you recall a moment
from 1977 when the band headlined at New
York’s Madison Square Garden for the first
time, performing at such a high level that you
felt as if you were levitating.
It was incredible. I’ll never forget that feeling. It
actually felt like our feet were not quite touching
the stage. It was an amazing experience. It really
did feel like that. It’s not an exaggeration. I’m not
being poetical.
In some ways, though,
surely Queen never
played a better show “If we get the film right,
than the one at Live people will appreciate
Aid in 1985?
Oh, it was really a great all over again what a
moment for us. We were
used to playing stadia in
great bit of machinery
South America, full of Freddie was.”
people who had all
bought tickets that say ‘Queen’ on them. For Live
Aid they’d all bought tickets for whoever was
announced in the beginning, not us, and by the
time we were added to the bill it was sold out. So
that was in the back of our minds. What is this
going to be like? Are they going to react? Are they
going to relate? We had no idea. But as soon as we
hit the stage it felt like it was our audience. That
was the most amazing thing. It felt like everyone
And for that show Freddie delivered the
performance of a lifetime.
He was able to involve everybody, right to the back
of that stadium. You could feel it. And you can see
it in the video. I’m not sure we realised that this
would happen, and that was extraordinary to
watch, and extraordinary because it was an
unusual talent to have in those days. Back then
there weren’t stadium bands, and most of the acts
on that bill had never played in a situation like that.
So really, Freddie had
skills beyond the norm.
We did as a band as well,
but particularly Freddie.
It was at Wembley
Stadium, the scene of
Live Aid, that the
Freddie Mercury
Tribute Concert For
AIDS Awareness was
held on April 20, 1992, a little over a year after
Freddie’s death. Queen performed with a cast
of singers, including David Bowie and Robert
Plant. And on Bohemian Rhapsody there was
a duet between Elton John and Axl Rose…
It was a magnificent coming together. And I’ll
never forget Axl’s entrance in Bohemian Rhapsody,
coming on like this whirling dervish. He was pure
energy, Axl, and it was just what was needed, just
in Guns N’ Roses are great. Slash is just a wonderful
person. I’m happy to communicate with him, and
we do on animal issues as well as musical issues. So
there you have one of the world’s great souls. And
I’m thrilled that Axl and Slash got back together.
I think that’s what the world wanted.
Looking back on your life, what are you most
proud of?
With music, the fulfillment is in knowing that it’s
done to the best of your ability, it’s fulfilled a dream
and it’s become what you dreamed it could be. It’s
the creation of those things, and you know that no
one else has done it, and nobody else could have
done it quite in the way you’ve done it.
Is your PhD in astrophysics one of your
greatest achievements?
It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
That’s why people want to be called ‘doctor’ when
they’ve got a PhD, because it didn’t come easy.
Should I have called you ‘doctor’?
No, you’re fine [laughs]. But being called ‘doctor’,
it’s like badge you wear because you’ve been
through such shit, such a challenge to your self-
belief that you came through.
How would you sum up your life in Queen?
It has been unforgettable and unique and
GETTY x2

was a million per cent with us. what we’d hoped for, and more besides. The guys unrepeatable. Just out of this world.
66 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
 It was the year the reunited GN’R finally got back in the ring with British fans. Knockout?
I
t wouldn’t be the first time that Axl Rose
has kept us waiting. As the Not In This
Lifetime tour visited the US and South
America last year – hitting such notable
rock’n’roll towns as Foxborough and East
Rutherford – British fans were left feeling snubbed
by the band whose special relationship with this
country was consummated when they tore up the
Marquee club in June 1987. If not Axl, then surely
Slash – a man raised in Stoke, who claimed to be
“proud I was part of this grand lineage of English
pissheads”, and identified with the capital so
strongly that he called his son London – would
prioritise Britain over, say, Glendale, Arizona?
Turns out they hadn’t forgotten. In December
2016, news broke that they were to play two nights
in the capital. And when the tour bus reached the
London Stadium on June 16 the mood was one of
gleeful nostalgia laced with please-don’t-fuck-this-
up trepidation. We’d heard the reports from the
international press; many of us had made the trek
to see the band. But when Duff McKagan pumped
out that opening bass line to It’s So Easy, shortly
joined by Slash’s coruscating riff and Axl’s still-
potent banshee howl, the longest-odds event in
rock’n’roll felt real for the first time. “You’re too
kind,” bantered Axl, his Union Jack topper
capturing the spirit of Brexit. “How ya doing…?”
Mr Brownstone. Welcome To The Jungle. Rocket Queen.
Sweet Child O’ Mine. Nightrain… The London
Stadium set-list practically wrote itself. And so did
the reviews, which were notably kinder than the
raspberries blown when Axl dragged his hired
hands to the O2 in 2010. “You can’t blow the roof
off a stadium that doesn’t have one,” trumpeted The
Words: Henry Yates
Guardian, “but they damn well tried.” “Really, this
had no right to be as good as it was,” gushed The
Times. “Big stadium rock is inherently ridiculous,”
considered The Telegraph, “and when played in front
of 80,000 people in its natural home, it not only
makes perfect sense but transports you
somewhere thrilling.”
Classic Rock’s Dave Everley was more measured:
“We get the hits, of course. Drill down, though,
and you can’t help but wonder at some of the song
choices. Eight covers – including The
Damned’s New Rose, a mawkish Black Hole Sun and
instrumental versions of Wish You Were Here, the
piano outro from Layla and the theme from The
Godfather – is taking the piss. This is a stadium, not
the lounge bar of the Holiday Inn, Poughkeepsie.”
Another note of dissent came from the Arts Desk,
which complained that “the
acoustics at the back of the
venue felt like sludge… those
drinking in the bars outside
could probably hear Axl and
Slash more clearly”, but
conceded that “the evening’s
climax, Sweet Child O’ Mine,
was a thing of true beauty”.
But money talks louder
than any rock hack, and
with the London dates alone
pulling in £13.1 million,
June was never going to be
the Gunners’ kiss-off to
Britain. In November, a run
of European dates for 2018
was announced. And while
the band’s itinerary continued to frustrate – how
come Germany is getting four separate shows?
– the big news was that Download had pulled off
the festival coup of next summer. “It’s great to have
this iconic line-up of Guns N’ Roses headlining at
Download,” said festival boss Andy Copping. “I’m
sure I’m not alone when I say I have been wanting
this to happen for years.”
The other entry on fans’ wish list is a studio album
from the classic line-up. This was the year that
Appetite turned 30 – an event marked with a private
concert at New York’s Apollo Theater in July – and
a tantalising development is that by next summer
there may be new material. The core line-up have
been operating under a virtual media blackout in
2017, but guitarist Richard Fortus didn’t get the
memo, confirming in July that “magical” studio
material is in its early stages.
Axl Rose: “still-potent “We’ve been recording a
banshee howl”. lot of stuff,” he told the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch. “Just
ideas… but not going into
a studio and actually
tracking a new record.
Asked if he thought a new
GN’R album will happen,
Fortus answered: “Yeah, I do.
It’s sort of too good not to
happen at this point, that’s
how I feel about it. This band
is really a force right now,
and I definitely hope that we
do, and I think we’re all sort
of counting on it and we’re
also planning on it.”
The boys are back in town:
Guns N’ Roses delighted
thousands of fans – and made
a financial killing – in 2017.
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 67
 The
Adventure
Continues…
With rumours (“read between the lines”) of Def Leppard playing Hysteria in full and in the round
next year, and more to come from his Down ‘N’ Outz, Joe Elliott’s 2018 is looking busy.
Words: Dave Ling Portrait: Ross halfin

U
ber-fanboy Joe Elliott was thrilled December 2014. Had your voice returned we always have to juggle. But it’s the whole point
by an invitation to support Mott after a bout of flu that could have ruined the of the Down ‘N’ Outz; it’s about going on
The Hoople at Hammersmith on London gig? holiday – stepping out of a soap opera to make
the final night of their 2009 I was dying of pneumonia. And I’ll be completely, an indie movie.
reunion tour and, with members bluntly honest, this was filmed in Sheffield but it
of the Quireboys in tow, the Down ‘N’ Outz were ain’t recorded in Sheffield. Some of the music is In that first Classic Rock interview, you said
born. As the Def Leppard singer reveals, despite cobbled together from various performances on you hoped D‘N’O will record “a minimum of
being conceived as a one-off project they continue that tour. It’s live, but not all of it is from the four albums”. Volume two, as you rightly
to raise their heads when schedules allow, the same show. Mirror Ball [Leppard’s 2011 live set] predicted, comprises some “lesser known”
dusting-down of a new in-concert DVD acting as was just the same – that was recorded in twenty Mott songs, such as Violence and Crash Street
an hors d’oeuvre for a third album that’s in the different venues. Kidds. Is the plan still to record “other songs
preparation stages. from the same period but totally different
Why has Live Adventures remained in the bands” for the third album?
In the seven years since you spoke to Classic vaults for three years? No, that one was skipped. We sat down over
Rock about the first Down ’N’ Outz album, I had wanted to archive the tour, that’s why it a couple of pints and made a shortlist – Band On
My Re-Generation, what was once called was filmed. But of course I went back out on tour The Run [by Wings] and [10cc’s] Wall Street Shuffle
a project has developed into a real band. with Leppard, and then we recorded the album were on it, so was Crazy Horses [The Osmonds]
That’s almost as long as The Beatles were together [Def Leppard, 2015] so the Down ‘N’ Outz – but it got discarded when I sat down at the piano
[laughs]. Since then we did a second album [The returned to the back burner. That’s an issue that and found myself channelling stuff. I was writing
Further Adventures Of…] in 2014, there a song a day.
were tours with Paul Rodgers and
Vega and the debacle of the High Original Down N’ Outz material,
Voltage Festival, and we’re now “The whole point of the Down you mean?
working on a third album. ‘N’ Outz is about going on holiday Yeah, but of such a style that it doesn’t
matter because they’re right out of the
Share Ross, a member of Vixen, – stepping out of a soap opera to 1970s. I’ve played the songs to the
has joined on bass. What happened guys and they thought they were
to Ronnie Garrity? make an indie movie.” great. So we jumped ahead to the
We’ve had a different pass player on fourth record I’d been planning,
every record. When the Down ‘N’ which was always going to be self-
Outz got together the Quireboys The Down N’ Outz at
the Academy, Dublin.
penned. I’ve got around seven or
were between bassists, so it was eight songs, and there will be one
suggested we bring in Ronnie. non-Mott cover.
We then had Snake Luckhurst
[formerly of Thunder], but by Will the other guys chip in?
trade he’s an estate agent, so he They’re very welcome to, put it that
was always going to be temporary. way. But as I always tell Paul [Guerin]
Share sings, too, and she’s also great and Griff [Guy Griffin, guitarists],
© NIALL FENNESSY PHOTOGRAPHY/PRESS

eye candy on stage – better than an they’d need to run them past Spike
estate agent [chuckles]. first. It’s probably better if I write, to
avoid any potential conflict. I do
The concert album and DVD The hope they’ll bring in something. If
Further Live Adventures Of… were somebody writes one that sounds like
recorded at the Corporation in Cheap Trick but didn’t work for the
your home city of Sheffield in Quireboys, I’m sure it would for us.
68 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
When do you hope to release that album?
It’s not due until September 2018, but with
Leppard on hiatus until May there are lots of things
on the go, some catalogue things that I can’t yet tell
you about. We’ve found some stuff, let’s say. The
great thing about having an attic full of cobwebs
and boxes is that sometimes you go: “Ooh, I didn’t
know we had that.” Right now, downstairs [in the
studio] I’m juggling five different projects. The
next Down ‘N’ Outz gigs will probably be in 2019.

In the meantime, Frontiers Records are

re-releasing those first two albums with
added bonus tracks.
They’re coming out on vinyl, too. I can’t believe I’m
going to see these records on vinyl. Fucking great.

Let’s look back over 2017. What for you were

the best and worst things about the past
twelve months?
The best was the Leppard tour [mostly in the
United States]. It was exciting to go back to South
America and play some shows with Aerosmith
and one with The Who. We hadn’t been there in
twenty years, so no one knew what to expect.
I struggle for something negative. I mean,
Sheffield United got promoted [back to the
Championship] with a hundred points, come on!
2016 was way worse – Bowie and Buffin [Dale
Griffin of Mott The Hoople] both died, as did so
many musicians into their seventies. I’m lucky
I’m only fifyy-eight. Losing Tom Petty was
a complete bummer. I didn’t really know the guy
– we met a couple of times, but I couldn’t say
we were friends – but I was an enormous
fan of his work. We did American Girl as
a bonus track for Yeah! [Leppard’s covers
album of 2006], that’s how much love we
had for him.

Will you be making any New Year’s

resolutions for 2018?
No. I don’t drink much any more, and I’m not
becoming a vegan. Health and happiness are my
priorities. Save for a handful of people, I’m not
expecting anyone to give a shit about a third Down
‘N’ Outz album. But it’s all about legacy. Whatever
I leave behind I want to be good. If people discover
it down the road, that’s fine. Townsend and Daltrey
had us in their dressing room, and Pete said: “The
great thing about Leppard is legacy, and unlike us
[The Who] you guys can carry it forward.” When
somebody like Pete Townshend tells you that, it
makes you think.

Months ago you were cagey about the

suggestion that in 2018 Leppard will revisit
Hysteria, in its entirety, live in the round.
I believe in a big bang [of a news announcement].

Go on, light a firecracker or two.

There’s nothing to say beyond “Watch this space”.
People are still talking to people. Is something
gonna happen? Yeah. Will there be some English
and Irish dates? Probably. But are they booked yet?
I’d be lying if I said that they were, and foolish to
say it’s definitely happening, because it might not.
Read between the lines, should you wish.

The Further Live Adventures Of… is out on

December 1 via Frontiers Records.

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 69
 They came, they saw, they rocked and then they left us. Raise a glass to the
rock’n’rollers who departed in 2017. Thank you for the music…

TOM PETTY GREGG ALLMAN

October 20, 1950 – October 2, 2017 December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017
Singer-songwriter with Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Keyboard player/singer/guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band
solo artist and American music great and solo artist

TOM PETTY, CHESTER BENNINGTON, GLENN CAMPBELL: GETTY; GREGG ALLMAN, CHUCK BERRY, JOHN WETTON: REX FEATURES

CHUCK BERRY JOHN WETTON

October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017 June 12, 1949 – January 31, 2017
Singer/guitarist/songwriter and rock’n’roll pioneer Bassist/vocalist with Asia, King Crimson and more

GLEN CAMPBELL CHRIS CORNELL CHESTER BENNINGTON

April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017 July 20, 1964 – May 17, 2017 March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017
Singer/guitarist and country music legend Solo artist and singer with Soundgarden and Audioslave Singer with Linkin Park

70 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
 DAVID A SAYLOR
Died January 1 2017
Singer with Push and Wild Rose
PETER SARSTEDT
December 10, 1941
– January 8, 2017
Composer and performer of the
1969 chart-topper Where Do You
Go To (My Lovely)?
TOMMY ALLSUP
November 24, 1931 – January 11,
2017
US rockabilly guitarist
MIKE KELLIE
March 24, 1947 – January 18, 2017
Drummer with the Only Ones
PETE OVEREND WATTS
May 13, 1947 – January 22, 2017
Bassist with Mott The Hoople
JAKI LIEBEZEIT
May 26-1938 – January 22, 2017
Drummer with Can
BUTCH TRUCKS
May 11, 1947 – January 24, 2017
Drummer with the
Allman Brothers Band
TOM EDWARDS
Died January 25, 2017
Guitarist with
Fields Of The Nephilim
GEOFF NICHOLLS
February 29, 1944 – January 28,
2017
Keyboard player with Quartz
and Black Sabbath
MICK HAWKSWORTH
Died January 28, 2017
Bassist with Andromeda,
Fuzzy Duck, Five Day Week
Straw People and Toe Fat
GABRIEL ‘GUITAR GABLE’
PERRODIN
August 17, 1937
BUTCH TRUCKS, ELYSE STEINMAN, ANITA PALLENBERG, ALLAN HOLDSWORTH, HOLGER CZUKAY: GETTY; WALTER BECKER: REXFEATURES
– January 28, 2017
Louisiana swamp blues guitarist
DEKE LEONARD
December 18, 1944 – January 31, 2017
Guitarist/vocalist with
Man and Iceberg
JOHN SCHROEDER
Died January 31, 2017
Early producer of Status Quo
and others
ROBERT ‘STRÄNGEN’
DAHLQVIST
April 16, 1976 – February 1, 2017
Guitarist/vocalist with
the Hellacopters
STEVE LANG
March 24, 1949 – February 4, 2017
Bass player with April Wine
TRISH DOAN
Died February 11, 2017
Bassist with Kittie
AL JARREAU
March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017
Genre-hopping vocalist
PETER SKELLERN
March 14, 1947 – February 17, 2017
Singer-songwriter
LARRY CORYELL
April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017
Jazz-rock fusion guitarist
HORST MAIER-THORN
Died February 19, 2017
Singer with Bonfire
RICK CHAVEZ
Died February 25, 2017
Guitarist/vocalist with Drive
DANNY SPOONER
December 16, 1936 – March 3, 2017
Folk singer
JOEY ALVES
August 3, 1953 – March 12, 2017
Rhythm guitarist with Y&T
TOMMY LIPUMA
July 5, 1936 – March 13, 2017
Record producer
JAMES COTTON
July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017
Blues harmonica player
SIB HASHIAN
August 17, 1949 – March 22, 2017
Drummer with Boston
ELYSE STEINMAN
Died March 30, 2017
Slide guitarist with Raging Slab
ALEXANDER KWAKU
BOATENG
Died March 31, 2017
Drummer with Osibisa
LONNIE BROOKS
December 18, 1933 – April 1, 2017
Texas bluesman
IKUTARO KAKEHASHI
February 7, 1930 – April 1, 2017
Pioneering developer of drum
machines, effects and synthesisers
PAUL O’NEILL
February 23, 1956 – April 5, 2017
Producer, composer and manager of
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
KENI RICHARDS
Died April 8, 2017
Drummer with Autograph, Dirty
White Boy and Mark Lanegan
BRIAN MATTHEW
September 17, 1928 – April 8, 2017
Broadcasting legend
BANNER THOMAS
Died April 10, 2017
Bassist with Molly Hatchet
J GEILS
February 20, 1946 – April 11, 2017
Leader of the J Geils Band
ERIC COOK
August 29, 1961 – April 11, 2017
First manager of Venom
BARRY ‘FROSTY’ SMITH
March 20, 1946 – April 12, 2017
Drummer with Sweathog
BARRY MARSHALL-EVERITT
November 8, 1947 – April 16, 2017
Radio presenter, tour manager
and promoter
ALLAN HOLDSWORTH
August 6, 1946 – April 16, 2017
Guitar hero extraordinaire
LES PAYNE
Died May 1, 2017
Producer of Marillion’s first,
three-song demo
BRUCE ‘THE COLONEL’
HAMPTON
April 30, 1947 – May 2, 2017
US jam band stalwart
C’EL REVUELTA
Died May 3, 2017
Bassist with Black Flag
CASEY JONES
July 26, 1939 – May 3, 2017
Blues drummer
CECILIA KUHN
November 11, 1955 – May 4, 2017
Drummer with Frightwig
CLIVE BROOKS
December 28, 1949 – May 5, 2017
Drummer with Egg, The
Groundhogs and Liar
JIMMY COPLEY
December 29, 1953 – May 13, 2017
Drummer with Jeff Beck,
Magnum and more
KEITH MITCHELL
Died May 14, 2017
Drummer with Mazzy Starr
DAVE ‘SHIRT’ NICHOLLS
May 8, 1965 – May 25, 2017
Sound engineer for Saxon, Diamond
Head, Thin Lizzy and more
ROSALIE SORRELS
June 24, 1933 – June 11, 2017
Folk singer-songwriter
ANITA PALLENBERG
April 6, 1942 – June 13, 2017
Actress and former girlfriend of
Keith Richards
SHEILA RAYE CHARLES
Died June 17, 2017
Singer-songwriter, daughter of
Ray Charles
BELTON RICHARD
October 5, 1939 – June 21, 2017
Cajun accordionist and vocalist
JIMMY NALLS
May 31, 1951 – June 22, 2017
Touring member of Sea Level
NIC RITTER
Died June 29, 2017
Drummer with Warbringer
MELVIN ‘DEACON’ JONES
December 12, 1943 – July 6, 2017
Blues-rock organist
DAVID ZABLIDOWSKY
Died July 14, 2017
Bassist with Adrenaline Mob
KENNY SHIELDS
Died July 21, 2017
Singer with Streetheart
MICHAEL JOHNSON
August 8, 1944 – July 25, 2017
Pop, country and folk singer-
songwriter and guitarist
GOLDY McJOHN
May 2, 1945 – August 1, 2017
Keyboard player with Steppenwolf
TONY COHEN
June 4, 1957 – August 2, 2017
Record producer
FELIX FLANAGAN
December 8, 1947 – August 4, 2017
Harmonica player
KENNY KANOWSKI
Died August 6, 2017
Guitarist with Steelheart
JASON CORSARO
July 27, 1959 – August 16, 2017
Record producer and mixer
SONNY BURGESS
May 28, 1929 – August 18, 2017
Rockabilly guitarist and singer
JOHN ABERCROMBIE
December 16, 1944 – August 22, 2017
Jazz guitarist
JANE TRAIN
Died August 23, 2017
Tour manager for Adrenaline Mob
MICK SOFTLEY
September 26, 1939 – September 1,
2017
Folk scene veteran
RICK SHORTER
Died September 1, 2017
Folk singer
MURRAY LERNER
May 8, 1927 – September 2, 2017
Music filmmaker
HARRY SANDLER
Died September 2, 2017
Tour manager for the Eagles, Van
Halen and John Mellencamp
WALTER BECKER
February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017
Bassist/guitarist with Steely Dan
DAVE HLUBECK
August 28, 1951
– September 3, 2017
Guitarist with Molly Hatchet
HOLGER CZUKAY
March 24, 1938 – September 5, 2017
Bassist with Can
DON WILLIAMS
May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017
Country music singer
VIRGIL HOWE
September 23, 1975
– September 11, 2017
Drummer with Little Barrie,
son of Steve Howe
FRANK CAPP
August 20, 1931 – September 12, 2017
Jazz drummer
GRANT HART
March 18, 1961 – September 13, 2017
Drummer with Hüsker Dü
and Nova Mob
WILL YOUATT
Died September 13, 2017
Bassist with Man, Quicksand and
Deke Leonard’s Iceberg
JOHNNY SANDLIN
April 16, 1945 – September 19, 2017
Producer of the Allman
Brothers Band
GUY VILLARI
Died September 21, 2017
Lead singer with The Regents
HAROLD PENDLETON
Died September 22, 2017
Head of London’s Marquee club
JACK GOOD
August 7, 1931
– September 24, 2017
Producer of 60s TV pop shows
Oh Boy!, Six-Five Special and Shindig
STEPHEN ‘CATBIRD’
ROBINSON
Died September 26, 2017
DJ with TotalRock Radio
CEDELL DAVIS
June 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017
Blues guitarist and singer
RAINER HÄNSEL
May 4, 1954 – October 3, 2017
Promoter, producer and label boss
ALVIN DEGUZMAN
Died October 4, 2017
Guitarist with the Icarus Line
AL FRITSCH
Died October 9, 2017
Vocalist with Drive, She Said
EAMONN CAMPBELL
November 29, 1946 – October 18, 2017
Guitarist with The Dubliners
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 71
 ,
Sisteicrk StRreaety,
Berw
on
Soho, Lond
THE £50
Walter Trout
mbient techno is not the most
obvious soundtrack for record
shopping with blues guitarist
Walter Trout, a man whose
on-stage guitar pyrotechnics
and off-stage antics – the
latter culminating in his
near-death from liver failure in 2013 – genuinely
warrant the epithet ‘legendary’. Still, that’s what’s
on the stereo at Sister Ray on Berwick Street in
Soho, and Trout is nothing if not game.
“Pet Shop Boys and Soft Cell,” he says,
pretending to rifle excitedly through the synth-pop
section. “That’s the real me.” Suddenly he’s
distracted by something even more mouth-
watering. “Now for some krautrock,” he jokes,
heading for the 70s German proto-electronica
section. “A little Tangerine Dream, maybe…”
Trout is on good form today – very good, in
fact, for a man who almost died. Far from the
emaciated, harried figure circa 2014, he looks
robust, swaggering about the shop in his hooded
black anorak like Liam Gallagher’s friendly uncle
from New Jersey.
While some people who’ve cheated death
retreat into themselves, Trout couldn’t be more
open, embracing every experience with almost
childlike glee. Take today’s Record Store Challenge,
for which he has been given £50 to spend on his
vinyl of choice. He couldn’t be more engaged. Gags
in which he feigns interest in unlikely genres aside,
he’s not going to waste a single penny on anything
but music of the finest vintage.
“There’s a Ray Charles album I’d
love to find,” he says, his gregarious
bark clearly audible over the shop’s
somnolent electronica, as he eagerly
flicks through the pioneering American
singer/composer’s records. And, despite
its relative rarity, there is a copy. He
seems quite moved.
“My god, there it is.”
He clutches lovingly The Genius Sings
The Blues and reminisces about life in
white suburbia – Ocean City, New
Jersey – in the 50s, where his parents
72 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
RECORD STORE CHALLENGE
Words: Paul Lester Portraits: Will Ireland
were fans of Charles as well as BB King, John Lee
Hooker, John Coltrane and Mississippi John Hurt.
His father would take him to black jazz clubs in
Atlantic City, his mother escorted him to concerts
by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald.
“It’s going to be hard to get through this,” he
says, continuing his story, misty-eyed. “They had
this album, and I remember walking in one day
and one of the songs was playing, and my mum
was crying. I said: ‘What’s the matter, mum?’ I was
about five years old. She said: ‘That song…’
I haven’t seen the album since.”
H
is childhood with his carpenter dad and
teacher mum sounds idyllic, almost
genteel. My use of the ‘g’ word makes him
laugh out loud. There was nothing genteel about it,
especially after his parents divorced when he was
seven and both got remarried to people he
describes as “mentally ill”. His
stepfather’s issues were
understandable: he had been
a Japanese prisoner of war and “It [seeing The
had been tortured. Hardly
surprising, then, that he came Beatles on TV]
home from World War II with
post-traumatic stress was February
disorder, at which point he
was told to “be a man and ninth, 1964,
suck it up”. But he had other
coping strategies in mind.
eight p.m. on
“He’d get drunk and try to Sunday. It was
seismic for my
generation.”
The Beatles made Trout
crave an electric guitar.
murder my [elder] brother and me with a hatchet,”
Trout recalls. “He’d chase us around, chop down
the door of the bedroom, and my brother would
hold him off with a shotgun. We’d jump off the
porch and go sleep in the woods.”
Life wasn’t much more tranquil at his dad’s place
in Philadelphia, where he lived with his new wife.
“Oh god, she was fuckin’ nuts,” he says.
“I remember her one time, she comes out of her
bedroom naked and she’s waving a forty-five
[handgun] and she goes: ‘I’m gonna kill myself!’
And my dad said: ‘Stop.’ And she said: ‘Don’t try to
stop me.’ And he says: ‘No, I was just gonna show
you how to turn off the safety on the gun.’”
So, not very genteel, then.
“It was insanity. If it hadn’t been for music, I’d
have ended up in a mental hospital.”
Spotting the Todd Rundgren section reminds
him of the time he bought a Byrds album from
the teenage Runt, who
was working behind the
counter at Jerry’s Records in
Philadelphia and a budding
blues guitarist himself. A
Laura Nyro album prompts
another recollection – of the
strange day when Trout, aged
16, ran away to Greenwich
Village in an attempt to find
the darkly confessional
singer-songwriter, with
whom he’d fallen in love after
seeing her on TV. “I walked
around for hours looking for
her because I wanted to ask
her to marry me.”
As we loiter by the jazz and
blues sections, he remembers
his first musical hero – Al
Jolson – and also his mum taking him,
aged 10, backstage to meet jazz legend
Duke Ellington.
From the age of six Trout played
trumpet, and joined the school band.
This was partly to avoid Physical
Education class, where he was bullied
One for a Christmas stocking:
Walter finds an album by his
son Mike’s favourite band.
WALTER TROUT
by the “jocks” because of his hair, which was long
because of The Beatles – he’d become infatuated
after seeing them on the Ed Sullivan show.
“It was February ninth, 1964, eight p.m. on
Sunday night, Channel 2 CBS in Philadelphia,” he
recalls, remembering the precise moment history
was made for young America. “It was seismic for
my generation.”
When Trout was 10 he’d been given an acoustic
guitar, but seeing The Beatles made him crave an
electric one. His new direction was confirmed after
his brother introduced him to the Paul Butterfield
Blues Band album.
“I’d never heard blues played with that fire and
aggression, that fast and at that volume,” he gasps.
“It said on the back: ‘Play it loud.’ So my brother
and I cranked it up, and it was like, ‘Holy shit!’
From the age of fourteen, I knew: ‘This is what I’m
gonna do.’”
“A measly fifty quid, Lester?
What do expect me to be able
to buy for fifty quid?!”
“I remember
W
hen Trout was 16
he formed his first being drunk
band, Wilmont
Mews, who played cover and telling
versions of Beatles, Stones
and Santana songs. He soon Bruce
found himself competing
with a wannabe star on the
Springsteen
local circuit. I didn’t think
“Bruce Springsteen was in
his band Steel Mill at the he was all that
same time as us, and we’d
play these clubs with two good on guitar.”
stages, one on either side of
the room,” he remembers.
“As soon as one band
stopped the other would start. I remember being
drunk and telling him I didn’t think he was all that
good on guitar. He said something like: ‘I’m
writing songs’, and I said: ‘I hope they’re
good, cos you’re not much of a lead player.’”
In 1974, Trout moved to Los Angeles,
where he joined a country band who had
a residency at a club called Gazzarri’s on
Sunset Strip.
Around this time he became a drug
dealer. Or as he puts it, “a fucking big-time
dope gangster”. Apart from running
errands, such as driving Gregg Allman to
the methadone clinic for treatment and
sorting out local pop stars, he was involved
in a major way in the importing of cocaine,
heroin and opium. To facilitate his business,
he fell in with a couple of smugglers.
“Basically, I met a girl and she took to
me, so I moved in with her,” he explains.
“And she was in business with those guys.”
It was all going well, until
one day there was a knock
at the door from two men in
suits. They were FBI agents.
“They said: ‘Hi, Walter, we
just want you to know we
arrested your friends,
Daulton Lee and Christopher
Boyce, for espionage. We’re
watching you.’”
He fled to Huntington
Beach, although to say the
episode put him off fast living
would be an exaggeration. He
spent the next decade – even
as he began his career, first as
a sideman for Percy Mayfield, Joe Tex and John Lee
Hooker and then as a member of Canned Heat and
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers – pursuing women,
drink and drugs with some vigour. Which of those
appealed most?
“That’s a hard question,” he replies. He did
everything, including injecting heroin: “Whatever
means of ingestion were available, I’d go for it.”
He spent “a couple of houses’ worth” on getting
wasted; the mid-70s passed in a narcotic blur, his
desire to numb the senses a hangover from his
troubled upbringing. Not that it worked.
“No, because as soon as the dope wore off the
pain was still there,” he says. He gave up smack
around seventy-five, following his run-in with the
Feds, but carried on caning the coke and booze
until the late eighties. That’s when the realisation
finally hit: “I needed to confront the things that
had hurt me in the past, not escape them.”
Two people saved Trout’s life: Carlos Santana,
who 30 years ago encouraged him to give up drink
 CHECKOUT WITH £50 OF CLASSIC ROCK’S MONEY IN HIS POCKET,
HERE’S HOW WALTER TROUT SPENT IT.

“There’s a Ray Charles album I’d love to find.” he says, as

he eagerly flicks through the pioneering American singer/
composer’s records. And, despite its relative rarity, there is
a copy. He seems quite moved. “My god, there it is…”

With a burger and the album

he most wanted to find,
Walter is a happy man.

and drugs; and the anonymous liver donor who

allowed doctors to operate on him in 2014.
Without both, Trout would now be dead.
“It all seems like a bad dream,” he says of the
period when he was diagnosed with cirrhosis, as
he makes his last few unexpected purchases at
Sister Ray today: the debut album by Curtis
Mayfield, Big Star live and Tim Buckley’s Goodbye
And Hello. “I was completely gone mentally and
physically. I didn’t recognise my wife and kids,
I had brain damage, I couldn’t talk, I lost a hundred
and twenty pounds. I was in bed for eight months.”
Trout has gone from enfeebled to enthused – as
he says: “I’m so alive now.” True enough – the night
before this interview, he played an astonishingly
vital set at Under The Bridge in London. Goodbye And Hello – Tim Buckley Curtis – Curtis Mayfield
He might have just released a new album – “It came out [in 1967] when I was in the “One of the greatest shows I ever saw was Curtis
We’re All In This Together, a series of collaborations midst of some severe emotional turmoil. in St Louis when I was with John Mayall on a
including Joe Bonamassa and Eric Gales – but he’s I was still in high school and dealing with my night off, at a place called The Club. It was
already primed to write the next one. home situation. I was basically a lost soul, not mind-blowing. He was also a great guitar player.
“I’m imbued with energy, creativity, gratefulness real happy being alive, looking for some He invented that style that Hendrix used on
and passion,” he beams. “I’m like a different human semblance of sanity in the world. I just sat songs like The Wind Cries Mary – really soulful.
being to what I was four or five years ago. I’m and played my guitar. The song Morning And his songs were political statements –
bursting. I could literally sit down in the next week Glory really spoke to me. It’s beautiful, and comments on racism, society and black
and write you a new album. I feel fucking great.” still emotional to me.” struggle, like [Don’t Worry] If There Is A Hell Below,
It’s been quite a journey. How does he plan to We’re All Going To Go.”
celebrate his 50th anniversary as a performer, in The Genius Of Ray Charles
two years’ time? – Ray Charles Live – Big Star
“I’ll go out and play a gig somewhere,” he “On his Atlantic Records albums he was literally “I’m a good friend of [Big Star drummer] Jody
decides as he heads to the counter with his inventing soul music: taking black church Stephens, who also runs Ardent Studios.
purchases. “I’ll keep gigging till I can’t gig any gospel songs, writing secular lyrics and turning I recorded seven albums there. Chris Bell [late
more. I’m inspired by guys like John Mayall, who’s them into secular music. He realised the guitarist and singer] was a real troubled fellow
eighty-three and still does two hundred shows emotional resonance and potency of black and [late frontman] Alex Chilton went through
a year. I would love to make it to that age and be gospel church music, and figured if he could a lot of phases. My twenty-one-year-old son,
out there, giving it everything I got.” get that out to the public but not be religious Mike, that’s his favourite band. The way we were
he’d be on to something.” with The Beatles, he’s like that with Big Star.”
We’re All In This Together is out now via Mascot.

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 75

After the Pistols dream ended as a nightmare, Steve Jones and
Paul Cook eventually returned with The Professionals. Now the
latest line-up are giving it another go and “having a bit of fun”.
Words: Ian Fortnam Photos: Will Ireland
M
alcolm McLaren loved
a soundbite. He’d generously
deploy succinct pearls of
wisdom at every given
opportunity. Paul Cook,
recalling his flaming youth at
the epicentre of the punk firestorm over a bracing
cup of tea, recounts one of his late manager’s
absolute favourites: “He’d say: ‘You’ve got to destroy
in order to create, boy. You’ve gotta destroy.’”
As situationist rhetoric goes, it’s a classic; when
stencilled on to a shirt, a design for life. But in the
real world – or at least the music business – what
do infamous iconoclasts do for an encore? The Sex
Pistols were a hard act to follow. Especially for the
Sex Pistols.
“It was pretty tough,” Cook, the band’s drummer,
admits of the year he and guitarist Steve Jones
spent in limbo following the Sex Pistols’ irreparable
split of January ‘78, “wondering what to do with
“I wasn’t surprised it all [the
Sex Pistols] imploded at the
end, I was relieved.”
Paul Cook
ourselves after being in such an iconic band. In the
end we thought we’d better knuckle down and
carry on as The Professionals, otherwise we were
just going to fade away.”
Obviously, once you’ve torn down the temple,
you can’t really expect too many invitations to
rejoin the choir. As if alienating their industry
wasn’t enough, the Pistols had apparently set out to
destroy rock’n’roll itself, so rebuilding a career in its
ruins was never going to be easy. Consequently
The Professionals’ initial incarnation careered, as if
cursed, from chaos to catastrophe. Now they’re
back, with heavy friends, for a second crack. But
76 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Ringing the changes:
current Professionals Paul
Myers (left) and Paul Cook.
let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For every ‘happily
ever after’ there’s a ‘once upon a time’, and ours
occurs in London’s Shepherd’s Bush.
“Me and Steve have known each other since we
were ten years old,” says Cook. “He was a terrible
influence on me, but a good one as well. He was
a wayward boy, a loose cannon. Always the one
making things happen, leading everyone astray,
getting us into trouble or excitement. He stayed
at my house a lot. We were like brothers.”
Jones frequently stayed with friends, and for
good reason. As he recently revealed in his
startlingly frank autobiography Lonely Boy, his
home life was tumultuously toxic, defined by
a combination of neglect and abuse. It stole his
childhood, bequeathed intimacy and chemical
addiction issues, along with a predisposition
toward petty crime that resulted in frequent spells
in reform school. A prolific burglar of his favourite
rock star’s homes, it was only a matter of time
before Jones recognised music as the
only feasible off-ramp from his life’s
on-going downward spiral.
Cook nearly avoided the drums.
At first it was Jones who took to the
stool when their schoolboy gang
decided to emulate the Faces, but as
“the obvious outward-going, show-
off frontman-type”, Jones was cattle-
prodded reluctantly upfront.
“Steve never felt comfortable being the singer,
ever,” Cook continues. “He always felt more at
home on guitar. Even in The Professionals. I ended
up on the drums by accident, really, but once I had
the mission, that was it. Full steam ahead.”
Even under full-steam, a life in rock was a far
from foregone conclusion. Paul Cook: “We were
just normal working-class kids, and it [rock] was
all quite college-y and art school-y back then. We
used to go down the King’s Road, hang around
Malcolm’s shop and I guess he saw a hunger in us.
He was the only one who’d listen. So eventually we
thought that we’d better stick in here. Steve used
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 77
 The Professionals - with guitarist Ray
McVeigh (foreground) - playing
Mount Vernon, New York in 1981.

to be there all the time, he was never at school and

would end up doing a bit of work for Malcolm.
Then Glen Matlock joined, who fortunately
worked in the shop, so then there was all three of
us cajoling Malcolm to get involved as manager,
saying we needed a singer, and that’s when it
started getting serious.”
Enter John Lydon with ‘Rotten’ teeth,
a notebook full of game-changing lyrics, and the
rest, as they say, is some of the most familiar
history ever fine-tooth-combed for column inches.

S
pooling forward through the Pistols’ rapid
dissemination of the punk message to
a coming generation (from its tabloid-driven
Grundygate recruitment drive to its ‘Ever get the
feeling you’ve been cheated?’ final denouement),
we find a shell-shocked Cook and Jones, adrift in
San Francisco in the wake of a chaotic Sex Pistols
US tour so catastrophically ill-conceived that it
ultimately saw Rotten bail, smack catastrophe Sid
Vicious (Matlock’s replacement) overdose on the
dressing room floor and the band unravel.
“It was horrible, a shambles,” shrugs Cook.
“Sid was totally out of control. It was very dark.
I thought someone was going to get killed. It was
heavy, really scary. Malcolm booked us to tour
the south to cause maximum press and carnage.
I wasn’t surprised it all imploded at the end,
I was relieved.” “Tom’s enthusiasm’s led to
Meanwhile, McLaren had, somewhat naively,
sunk all of the band’s capital into a far-from-
us writing some songs together,
finished movie, The Great Rock ’N’ Roll Swindle, which is great, because we didn’t
which desperately needed a soundtrack if it were
to ever see the light of day. Along with the Sex
want to do this as a nostalgia trip.”
Pistols name, Cook and Jones had also inherited Paul Cook
the band’s responsibilities, which they had to
honour before moving on.
With no one particularly keen to return to soundtrack, while a superior version featuring “At the end of the Swindle me and Steve started
England, and a proposed Pistols Swedish tour pulled Steve’s vocal was earmarked to be The writing songs for this mad film we did in Canada
due to “the state Sid was in”, McLaren’s next cunning Professionals’ debut A-side, but it didn’t quite work called The Fabulous Stains. We played the band – Paul
plan involved cutting a single in Rio with Great Train out that way. Silly Thing was released under the Simonon was on bass and Ray Winstone was the
Robber Ronnie Biggs. “God knows what we were name Sex Pistols and hit UK No.6. singer – and that was the beginning of our
doing there. We went from one mad scenario in the “Nobody knew what was going on,” Cook songwriting. All the songs we wrote in that era
States to an even madder one in Rio,” Cook says. recalls. “Everybody was going: ‘What’s this? It’s the went on The Professionals’ first album.”
Still reluctant to face the post-Pistols media Pistols, but Steve’s singing on it. Have they finished Signing to Pistols label Virgin in 1980, Cook and
frenzy unfolding at home, the pair remained in or are they still going?’ That whole era of the Pistols Jones’s Professionals (then using Lightning Raiders
Brazil on their sun-loungers for six weeks. But their was a real balls-up. We should have just drawn bassist Andy Allan for sessions) released a brace of
tans came at a cost. Every day that the unfinished a line under it.” modestly performing singles: Just Another Dream
Swindle debacle meandered on, with Jones co-opted Silly Thing’s success also impacted on the band and 1-2-3. But just as their debut album was set for
as its star by default, their next move, The that The Professionals became: “Because Steve sung imminent release, Allan sued Virgin for credits and
Professionals, were missing their moment. on it, he was forced into being the singer, a position cash, and as a consequence the all-important first
The first Professionals single was meant to be he never felt comfortable with,”says Cook. album was shelved. Once again, impetus lost.
Silly Thing. A version with Cook singing was The band’s first batch of original songs, “We was our own worst enemies,” Cook admits.
originally contrived to flesh out the Swindle meanwhile, came courtesy of yet another movie. “Virgin were willing to give us this big deal to carry
78 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM

“I was around thirteen years old when I first
heard the Pistols. Being from a family of
eight kids, I finally had a band and sound
I could claim as my own. Jonesy’s guitar
sound and style, Cookie’s drum attack and
groove remain the benchmark for what’s
right with rock‘n’roll, and have influenced
my every musical move since.
“I’m sure they don’t remember, but my
band The Fastbacks opened for The
Professionals in Vancouver in 1980 or ‘81.
I was in the company of legends, and more
PAUL HARRIES/PRESS
than likely just another young goof they
were trying to get away from (plus… I didn’t
have drugs!). I became friends and then
good friends with both of them in the
mid-nineties because Steve and I played in
the Neurotic Outsiders together.
“When Cookie asked me if I wanted to
be on the new record it took me less than
one half of one micro-second to say yes.
I was never physically in the studio with
the band, but I have a little home operation
and was able to get a guitar sound that fit
the tracks that they sent from England. It’s
a great way to do it these days. I did the
same a few years back on a Manics record.
“Did I enjoy being a Professional? Are
you kidding me? They’ve always been one
of me and all of my teenage friends’
favourite bands. They all freaked when
I said: ‘Hey! Guess what?’ If you listen to
‘And another thing!’ Myers
and Cook aren’t short of
ideas (or contacts).
my guitar playing on Neurotic Outsiders
or Loaded stuff… it’s all about Steve. He
taught me how to play through the Pistols
and The Professionals.”
THE PROFESSIONALS
The current Professionals: (l-r)
Paul Myers, Paul Cook, Tom
Spencer, Chris McCormack.
“Steve was clean while we
were on the road, getting
his act together, but his
heart wasn’t in it.”
Paul Cook
on after the Pistols, which we signed eventually,
but we put it on the shelf for ages. It all came back
to Steve not wanting to be the singer. We were
writing, but it wasn’t until Paul [Myers, bass,
formerly of Subway Sect] and Ray [McVeigh,
second guitarist] joined that we thought: ‘We’ve
actually got a proper band together now so we’d
better crack on.’”
Getting serious at last, The Professionals
engaged Dave Hill as their manager. Hill also
represented The Pretenders and Johnny Thunders.
What could possibly go wrong?
Initially, Hill’s connections brought only
opportunities: Cook and Jones, both fans of Phil
Spector, hooked up with Chrissie Hynde to record
a sumptuous (still unreleased) wall-of-sound
version of The Ronettes’ Do I Love You. They had
also worked briefly with Joan Jett. As well as
contributing to Don’t Abuse Me and a version of
Lesley Gore’s You Don’t Own Me for Jett’s debut solo
album, they played on and arranged a B-side
version of The Arrows’ I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll which,
latterly re-recorded (“they copied our arrangement
right down to the last detail, guitar solos,
everything”), provided her with her biggest hit. The
pair also appeared on Johnny Thunders’ So Alone
album, the sessions for which have since passed
into notoriety. “It was a pretty dark time all around
that scene,” Cook recalls, “Considering all the drugs
stuff that Thunders, The Pretenders and Steve were
involved in, I’m amazed he got the So Alone album
together at all, really.”
Within a year, seven months of which was spent
securing a release for the band’s Join The Professionals
single (which didn’t chart), Dave Hill had quit to
concentrate on the rapidly ascendent Pretenders.
Bassist Paul Myers had seen it all before: “You can’t
manage two groups. It was like Bernie [Rhodes]
with The Clash trying to manage us in Subway
Sect, it never really works. Dave managed us for
about a year, but we weren’t easy to manage.”
“And with Steve going off the rails at the time,”
Cook adds, “he thought: ‘I don’t need this.’ We were
still finding our way: we recorded tracks, didn’t like
them, did them again. Virgin were going: ‘Come
on,’ and we just let it go on and on.”
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 79
THE PROFESSIONALS
The Professionals’ eponymous debut was finally
released –17 years too late – in 1997.
With John Curd enlisted as manager, the band
set to work on their second attempt at vinyl
immortality, I Didn’t See It Coming, with producer
Nigel Gray. Unfortunately the production rapidly
went awry, and Steve Jones remained off the rails
– and he wasn’t alone.
“It sounded pretty weird,” Cook considers before
turning to Myers: “Was you even there?”
“I was there in body,” Myers admits, “if not in
mind. I was totally fucked up.”
Popular myth has it that Johnny Thunders’
Heartbreakers arrived into the London punk scene
at the close of ’76 as smack evangelists; that the
sudden prevalence of heroin within the punk
scene was all down to them. “Everyone blames
The Heartbreakers,” says Cook. “But it’s too easy
to blame them.”
Paul Myers, in many ways the voice of experience,
having cleaned up and subsequently worked in
addiction counselling, has his own theory.
“Back then, a lot of American bands were
overdosing all over the place because the heroin in
London was so much stronger than in New York.
Even before The Heartbreakers came over there was
a heroin scene in London. Then when the Iranian
revolution happened in ‘79 there was a sea change.
Until then, all that was available was white heroin
you had to inject. And a lot of people wouldn’t cross
that line. After the revolution a lot of wealthy
Iranians came over to London and brought brown
heroin you could smoke. Suddenly brown heroin
was widely available to people who didn’t want to
use needles, and within a matter of months you had
a massive addiction problem in London.”
Cook nods in agreement. “It decimated the
scene,” he says. “A lot of people got into it.”
On a personal level, Steve Jones turned to heroin
because, as Myers succinctly puts it: “Steve’s not
a frontman, ended up being a frontman, and didn’t
like it”. The I Didn’t See It Coming sessions soon
foundered because Nigel Gray (“Who’d rather have
been riding his horse”) soon lost interest and, while
Steve was absent scoring, “let the engineer take
over”. The album, its strong material emasculated
by inappropriate production, fell short of the chart.
The Professionals, it seemed, had missed their
moment. Again.
Punk was old news and much of their core
home constituency had moved on. They played
one show in the UK, to a disinterested Futurama
Festival in Leeds (“We played Leeds?” Myers
deadpans) before trying their ‘luck’ in America.
Inevitably, things didn’t quite go
as planned. “The album came out,
nobody was interested because they
were expecting the Pistols,” says
Cook. “So we went to the States to smashed up, because it was
do a six-week tour, and some drunk
came down the freeway and absolutely fantastic. All these
smashed right into us.”
Predictably, the Steve Jones ‘cloak
nurses pandering around me.”
of invisibility’ meant he was not in
the car at the time. “That’s typical,”
Cook tuts. “We all end up getting bashed up and
nearly killed, and he’s having a whale of a time in
a hotel somewhere, scoring drugs with some bird.”
“Steve was lucky,” Myers considers. “But I felt
really lucky being smashed up, because it was
absolutely fantastic. All these nurses pandering
around me. Six weeks after, I left the hospital and
I cried, I wept, because I had to come home. I was
so happy in that hospital. It was one of the happiest
times of my life.”
As the band recuperated, the writing was on the
wall. The battered, bruised Professionals eventually
returned to the road to honour the US dates but, as
Myers remembers: “Even though there were some
good gigs, it seemed the group didn’t have legs.”
Cook: “Which was a shame, because we were
really getting good. Steve was clean while we were
on the road, getting his act together, but his heart
wasn’t in it. At the end of the tour we were
supposed to come home but he
ended up staying in the States,
and he’s been there ever since,
and that was the end of that.”
ended in familiar circumstances, as Cook
remembers: “A good little band that never really
went anywhere. Matthew was getting more and
more fucked up as we went along. Drugs again, the
same old story.” He has also enjoyed a 20-year plus
association with Edwyn Collins and made two
albums with Def Leppard’s Phil Collen and Girl’s
Simon Laffy as Manraze.
And Myers?
“I had a serious drug problem for many years, so
I didn’t really do anything other than steal and rob.
I tried to be a manageable addict. I did gardening
“I felt really lucky being
Paul Myers
work but sold all the equipment. I started with
a load of mowers and a year later was down to
a pair of secateurs. Everything went to pot. They
eventually locked me up in Wandsworth prison for
a while and it got even worse from there.”
Cook: “I think that was Jonesy’s influence.”
Myers: “I wouldn’t say so, because you have to
remember I came into The Professionals addicted,
and I just met another addict, and two addicts in
a band is just a no-no.”
Ultimately cleaning up in 2000, Myers got a call
from Vic Godard, his former compadre in Subway
Sect, asking him to return to the stage. He wasn’t
sure. “I was nervous. But when he said ‘Paul [Cook]
is on drums’ I thought why not give it a go.”
After a relatively short stint playing together
behind Godard, the pair were left at a mutual loose
end and, taking a long hard look at the elephant in
the room, Myers suggested to Cook they put The
Professionals back together again. “Even when I
was saying it I knew it was mad.”
Mad or not, soon the idea gained momentum
and former members were approached.
As label Universal geared up to release The

“I first saw the Pistols at
their second Manchester
gig in July 1976. They left a
huge impression on me and,
of course, like many people
of my generation they
changed the course of my
life. Unlike many I still have
the poster and two tickets
– it cost a quid, by the way. I
have to give a shout out to
The Buzzcocks who opened
the show with their first ever gig who were
amazing too; I ran out and bought Spiral
Scratch as soon as it came out. And also
Slaughter And The Dogs, from my local
council estate, who probably were the
biggest reason I went to the show, to see the
‘local lads made good’.
“I met Steve [Jones] in Los Angeles in,
I think, 1987 when The Cult were on a short
break, after the Billy Idol arena tour we’d just
completed, and before we embarked on our
own headline tour with special guests Guns
N’ Roses. I believe we were attempting –
unsuccessfully – to record a song for a single.
Too many distractions, I think. Steve came by
on his big red Harley and let me have a go.
Been mates ever since. As for Paul [Cook],
I think I met him when he was drumming for
Chiefs Of Relief, who played with The Cult at
80 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Brixton Academy around
the same time.
“Paul asked me if I
fancied playing on a track
or two of the new
Professionals album in
his usual no-stress,
low-key way, and I was,
of course, happy to do so.
“Once I had set up a
studio session to play on
the tracks, Steve Jones
called me up, and initially I was worried he
was gonna bollock me for playing, when in
fact he asked me if he could come along at
the same time and play a bit too. That’s how
we ended up on the same three tracks. The
session was fun, so we decided to do
another, and that was how it came to be.
“It was an amazing experience for
a fanboy like me to play with Steve and
Paul. It’s probably apparent that we are all
fairly close friends these days anyhow, and
at times we have ‘jammed’ with each
other, but it was still both an honour and
a thrill, especially to record with Steve at
the same time. On one of the tracks, I think
I tapped into my inner Steve, the ‘when in
doubt, Chuck Berry it out’ guitar solo
approach which has served us all very well
over the years.”
F
ollowing The
Professionals’ original
demise in 1982, Steve
Jones joined Michael Des Barres’
ill-fated ‘supergroup’ Chequered
Past (with Clem Burke, Nigel
Harrison and Tony Sales). After
finally removing the debilitating
spectre of heroin from his life,
he recorded a couple of poorly
received solo albums – Mercy
(’87) and Oil And Gasoline (’89)
– made a series of cameo
appearances with everyone
from Iggy Pop to Bob Dylan
and, in the mid-90s formed the
Neurotic Outsiders with Duran
Duran’s John Taylor and GN’R’s
Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum.
Paul Cook resurfaced in ’85,
replacing Dave Barbarossa in
Matthew Ashman’s post-Bow
Wow Wow project Chiefs Of
Relief, which accounted for the
better part of five years but
Complete Professionals compilation in October 2015,
a Professionals line-up was in place to launch the
album at London’s 100 Club. The two Pauls were
joined by Ray McVeigh (who subsequently parted
company with the band. Cook: “It didn’t work out.
Different dynamics”), and vocalist/guitarist Tom
Spencer in place of the absent Steve Jones.
Despite the fact that Cook and Jones have
remained firm friends, and returned to tour the
world twice (in ’96 and ’07) with a re-formed line-up
of the Sex Pistols, Steve Jones wasn’t about to walk
away from his burgeoning second career as
a successful radio presenter (of the Jonesy’s Jukebox
lunchtime slot on Los Angeles KLOS) to re-form
and front a band that, for him at least, held only bad
memories. Thankfully, though, in Spencer, Cook
and Myers had found exactly the right frontman
with whom to move forward, write fresh material
and record an album worthy of their reputation.
Cook had met Spencer through Ginger
Wildheart: “I sang Pretty Vacant at Ginger’s birthday
gig with Cookie on drums,” says Spencer, a Pistols
fan since acquiring Never Mind The Bollocks when he
was 10. “They got in touch a while later asking if I’d
come sing and play guitar at rehearsals. They were
 Myers and Cook: not letting
the grass grow under
their feet this time.

still trying to tempt Steve Jones over, but by the wasn’t contrived, but once we was back to a three- “I tried to cajole him into doing some vocals as well,
time it became obvious he wasn’t going to travel to piece it opened up the spare guitar parts.” but getting him to do guitar was hard enough.”
the UK the rehearsals had got better and the new With an address book like Cook’s, it didn’t take Dave Draper’s ballsy production (with
line-up had taken on a life of its own.” long to fill the vacant guitar tracks on the album significant assistance from both the two Pauls and
Witnessing the new, dynamic Professionals line- that became What In The World’s 10 songs. It’s NMTB’s midwife Chris Thomas, who popped
up live, Spencer is also far more suited to his role as consequently something of a star-studded affair, down to Zak Starkey’s studio on the day of this
frontman than Jones ever was. “Tom loves it,” says featuring Phil Collen, Duff McKagan, The Cult’s interview to cock an expert ear and suggest tweaks
Myers, “while Steve was a reluctant frontman. Tom Billy Duffy, ex-Clash Mick Jones, ex-Ants Marco to the final mix) has finally captured The
puts a hundred per cent into it and he’s a natural.” Pirroni, ex-3 Colours Red Chris McCormack (who Professionals sounding exactly as they should have
Cook: “Tom’s enthusiasm’s great. It’s led on to has taken on the role of live second guitarist at all always sounded.
us writing some songs together, which is great, the band’s recent dates), and even shy, retiring With their unfinished business having reached
because we didn’t want to do this as a nostalgia Steve Jones has been coerced into adding his a satisfactory conclusion and their ultimate
trip. Losing Ray opened up other avenues, having trademark Bollocks to three tracks. statement finally into shops and on to turntables,
different guests playing. That wasn’t the plan, it “I was in Los Angeles not long ago, “ says Cook. where next? Have these particular Professionals
got sturdier legs than their former incarnation?
“Well we’re having a bit of fun doing it,” Cook
understates. “We might even make a few bob.
Because he’s broke, aren’t you?” he says to Myers.
“You need the money.”
“The Pistols ushered in a desperately started talking, especially if we were both “I’m being made redundant,” says Myers. “I’m an
needed breath of fresh air, as the music touring the States. addictions counsellor, and with all the cutbacks in
industry and the country were becoming “Aside from playing together in health, the job’s going… At the best possible time,
fairly stale. I never suffered teenaged angst Manraze, myself and Paul have remained
as a kid because I had a release valve that great friends outside the confines of the funnily enough.”
was playing and creating music. But when band, and Paul’s wife Jeni is an inspirational “You might even be able to become
I first heard God Save The Queen that valve life-changing raw-food specialist as well as a professional musician,” Cook retorts. “Hopefully
was opened all the way. Forget genres and being friends with me and my wife, Helen.
labels, the Pistols were the ultimate rock So when Paul and Jeni stayed with us in earning money, if things pan out.”
band with an absolute fuck-offness that I’d California earlier this year Paul said: ‘We’re not sure he believes me. Steve’s guitar “I’m not sure if I wanna be a professional
never heard before, that affected doing a new Professionals album. Wanna sound is one of the two best guitar sounds musician like him.” Myer’s concludes wistfully.
everything around it, from fashion, politics play on it?’ I jumped at it. And one song I’ve ever heard live, and I’ve seen everyone “I quite like the idea that I’m a very non-
and UK society in general. turned into three. I recorded it at my house from Zeppelin to Van Halen, and Steve’s
“As I’m from London I’d be playing in and I loved it. I naturally play guitar very energy and sound is still the best. And I’ve professional musician… Cup of tea?”
some of the same pubs and clubs that the aggressively, but don’t always get the always loved Paul’s playing. Probably And why not? Maybe there’ll be better luck in
ROSS HALFIN/PRESS

Pistols were in. I’d also hang out in some of
the same places as Paul and Steve so, it was
the occasional nod ‘Alright’ type thing, and
after Def Leppard blew up we eventually
chance to let go, so this was perfect.”
“Did I tap into my inner Steve Jones?
Absolutely. I love Steve’s playing and he is
an inspiration. I’ve told him before but I’m
because he uses the sticks upside down so
he can hit the drums harder. But the two of
them are like a living, breathing entity. It’s
such a rare delight.”
their leaves this time around.
What In The World is out now via Automaton.
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 81
 “I think A Farewell... was an important
album for us. We did go into new territory
with that record.”
Celebrating 40 years of Rush’s evergreen masterpiece
with Geddy and Alex.
IS
I NC LSU E 82
U DE
11T S…
Feat R
urin ACK C
Brot g Von H D
Cow he ert
boys rs, Gala zen
Arc , B ram ctic
Life hives, Stoker
sign Kyro
s, s,
and Chaome
mor try,
e…

New issue on sale now!

 p 86
Iron Maiden
What’s the verdict on Bruce
and co’s new album?

Classic Rock Ratings Ingredients:

QQQQQQQQQQ A Classic
QQQQQQQQQQ Excellent
QQQQQQQQQQ
QQQQQQQQQQ
Very Good
Good
p86 Albums
QQQQQQQQQQ Above Average p94 Reissues
QQQQQQQQQQ Average
QQQQQQQQQQ Below Par p102 DVDs & Books
QQQQQQQQQQ A Disappointment
QQQQQQQQQQ Pants
QQQQQQQQQQ Pish

16 PAGES 100% ROCK

Edited By Ian Fortnam ian.fortnam@futurenet.com
JOHN MCMURTRIE

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 85
 ALBUMS
Iron Maiden
The Book Of Souls: Live Chapter
The best bits of the band’s mammoth tour,
boiled down to 15 tracks across two discs.
L
ive albums are interesting creatures.
Made to capture a moment,
somewhere in time, giving fans the
ability to relive that one special night. But
one show just isn’t enough for some bands.
Iron Maiden’s gargantuan The Book Of Souls
World Tour hit 36 countries in its two-year
run, unleashing hell in Buenos Aries, Cape
Town and beyond, and for The Book Of Souls:
Live Chapter the best bits have been curated
into one blistering track-list. Maiden have
long been cultivating their global fan base,
and throughout the ‘concert’ you can hear
how ecstatic and elated every metalhead is
at the mere sight of Steve Harris.
The audiences are just as integral a part
of the Maiden live show as the band, filling
the enormodomes of the world with
deafening “whoa-oh”s, screaming on
Bruce Dickinson’s command.
Unfortunately the beer-loving frontman’s
between-song witticisms and ponderings
– which often prove to be the most
amusing moments of any Maiden show
– aren’t included here, but Live Chapter is
a master class in what the mighty Maiden
mean in 2017.
The track-listing leans heavily towards
the new album (although sadly without
the inclusion of Tears Of A Clown from the
first leg of the tour), and the energy and
tenacity poured into The Great Unknown is
just as ferocious as it is into The Trooper.
86 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
PARLOPHONE
Comprising 15 tracks across two discs,
it’s not the epic two and a half hour set
that Metallica might roll out, but the
hand-picked anthems still receive the
rapturous banshee screams that they did
decades ago. Sure, there’s no Run To The
Hills, Hallowed Be Thy Name or 2 Minutes To
Midnight, but the welcome addition of
a punked-up Wrathchild and a life-
affirming rendition of Blood Brothers more
than makes up for it. And while Fear Of
The Dark doesn’t match the iconic version
from Rock In Rio, there’s still something
joyous about hearing thousands of your
brothers and sisters in arms on the other
side of the world bellowing it out.
Of course, no live album, or even
a DVD, can ever match up to a live show,
by Maiden or anyone else. So much of the
Book Of Souls tour was about the visuals
and the theatrics – from the Mayan stage
set to the giant inflatable Beast to the
beating heart spurting gallons of blood
– the sheer scale of the operation is
obviously missing from an audio
recording. But what you can feel is the
sense of conquest; you can almost hear
the band’s Eddie-sized grins as another
trip around the planet is complete, with
Harris and co. still proudly flying the flag
of heavy metal.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Luke Morton
Warrior Soul
Back On The Lash CARGO
What rock’s angriest man did
next.
While nobody can really blame
Warrior Soul mainman Kory
Clarke for dropping out of the
fight every few years to mop up
the blood and give his embattled
liver a brief respite from further
punishment, now is probably the
most crucial moment this band
have ever had. He always warned
about a fascist, warmongering
USA, and now he’s got one. If
rock’n’roll’s angriest man was
ever gonna rally the troops and
bring truth to power, the time is
now. So this better be some
album. And it is.
Perhaps the most focused
blast-cannon of steely-eyed
sleaze-metal since 91’s Drugs,
God And The New Republic, Back
On The Lash is not a political
screed by any means, it is simply
and inexorably rock as fuck.
Heavier than a hammer to the
skull. Sleazier than Times Square
in the summer of ‘77. Badder
than ol’ King Kong. Meaner than
a junkyard dog. I think that’s the
trick here: hook the kids with the
hard stuff and then recruit ‘em
for ongoing culture war. See you
on the front lines.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Sleazegrinder
Evanescence
Synthesis RCA
Goth-rock superstars give
themselves an electro-
orchestral remix.
After six years
on semi-hiatus,
Amy Lee’s
multi-platinum
goth-metal
arena-rockers return with a not-
quite-new fourth album
comprised largely of old material
rearranged for electronics and
full orchestra. Evanescence are
no strangers to strings and
synthesisers, of course, but the
Synthesis’s guitar-free remakes
have a windswept grandeur and
widescreen sonic palette lacking
in the original recordings.
Two new compositions, Hi-Lo
and Imperfection, are both classy,
stadium-sized anthems that
couch soaring Bond-theme
melodrama in supple trip-hop
shudders and sumptuous,
vaguely Middle Eastern string
swirls. Baroque reworkings of
Lacrymosa and Never Go Back
also harness the full power of
the orchestra to amplify rather
than restrain Lee’s roof-raising
histrionics. Less impressively,
operatic power ballads like My
Heart Is Broken and Lost In
Paradise sound a little deadened
by blustery, Lloyd Webber-ised
arrangements. A handful of solo
piano interludes also summon
inescapable echoes of Spinal
Tap’s Lick My Love Pump.
Overall, though, Synthesis feels
like a successful experiment.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Stephen Dalton
The Adicts
And It Was So! NUCLEAR BLAST
Droogy East Anglian punk
veterans return.
Forty-two years
into their career,
evergreen
Ipswich punks
The Adicts still
look pretty ageless in their
Clockwork Orange-inspired droog
costumes. Not much has
changed musically, either, as
evidenced by this first album
since 2012, with its 12 pubby
punk-rock chantalongs.
Even when Picture The Scene
departs from the template by
lasting five and a half minutes,
it’s five and a half minutes of
a boom-thump beat and
a simple riff allied to lyrics such
as: ‘Picture the scene, it’s so
surreal… Picture the scene, know
what I mean?’
Still, no one’s expecting high
art, and it’ll probably still do the
business in front of a spittle-
flecked mosh-pit, and blunt,
verging-on-self-parody tracks
like Talking Shit will sound
positively profound with rhymes
like: ‘So out your head, you had to
go to bed… Shut up, shut up you,
you always tell me what to do.’
QQQQQQQQQQ
Johnny Sharp
Mike Love
Unleash The Love BMG
Love is not the answer.
Mike Love tends
to be painted as
the bad guy in
the story of the
Beach Boys; the
domineering profiteer who’d
rather play safe and commercial
than accommodate the creative
ingenuity of Brian Wilson. “For
those who believe that Brian
walks on water, I will always be
the Antichrist,” he once said.
While the received narrative
is both unfair and way too
simplistic, Love doesn’t do
himself any favours on his first
solo album in 26 years. As if he
doesn’t quite believe in these
songs himself, he’s opted to
append Unleash The Love with
an extra disc of re-recorded
Beach Boys classics (California
Girls, Good Vibrations, Help Me
Rhonda etc), presumably as
a gesture of appeasement.
Nothing can save the album
itself, however. Love offers up
the kind of unrelentingly tame
MOR that makes Christopher
Cross look edgy. What’s worse,
the lyrics are packed with so
many trite clichés that you can’t
help but wince, whether he’s
wishing for world peace on
Make Love Not War (which
manages to make room for the
Trump-supporting Love to thank
the USA ‘and all the folks
protecting us very day’), dredging
up seafaring love metaphors on
Too Cruel or fashioning sappy
eco ballads like Only One Earth.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Rob Hughes
The Sourheads
Care Plan For The Soul
OAK ISLAND
Heads-down, no-nonsense
directionless rock du jour.
The Sourheads’
promo photo
shows their
bearded
frontman
emulating Iggy Pop in
a swaggering, shirtless pose,
while the rest of the band, short-
haired, indie-looking lads in
spectacles and scarves, stand
around awkwardly. It’s
a bemusing introduction to the
Wakefield-based quartet.
Meanwhile, the album cover and
title are just plain misleading:
a tranquil image of a figure on
ROUND-UP: MELODIC ROCK
Raintimes: you’ll struggle
to find a duff track.
Raintimes
Raintimes FRONTIERS
Raintimes began life
as a personal tribute to
the exquisite and much
missed talents of
The Storm, a Journey
breakaway combo from San Francisco
that featured Gregg Rolie, Ross Valory
and Steve Smith. On the other side of the
world in Northern Italy, Pierpaolo ‘Zorro’
a beach, and the peaceful Care
Plan For The Soul.
But what Sourheads actually
specialise in is a dishevelled,
balls-out concoction of classic
rock with a punk-rock strut (that
explains the Iggy Pop pose, at
least) and a grungy feel. The
album is more a raucous, fast-
paced ride than a collection of
stand-out songs, and, like that
promo pic, it lacks focus.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Hannah May Kilroy
Austin Gold
Before Dark Clouds JIGSAW
UK rockers already grown on
their debut.
There’s something unnerving
about the way these
Peterborough blues rockers seem
to spring fully formed from this
first album. The band are based
firmly along the Free/Bad
Company axis, but there’s an
unexpected poise and maturity
on the opening tight
and impressive Brand New Love,
and also on the title track where
they allow the song to build its
own momentum.
The lyrics are personal and
sometimes downbeat, and if
singer David James Smith’s style
is still a work in progress it won’t
take long to develop. Guitarist
James Cable has already carved
out a niche for himself with his
prog-styled flavourings. They’re
not afraid to tackle a broad range
of songs – too broad, maybe.
They’re most confident on the
Monti played Storm’s two albums so
much, especially their second, 1996’s Eye
Of The Storm, he almost wore them out.
More than 20 years after The Storm
folded for good, Monti, by then a member
of the successful AOR acts Shining Line
and Charming Grace, wrote a song called
Forever Gone in their style. When Davide
Barbieri, his pal from Charming Grace,
became involved and the pair roped in
Michael Shotton of Canadian veterans
rockers, but they need to pay
more attention to their ballads,
some of which are a bit plain,
but at least they don’t resort to
fake emotion.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Hugh Fielder
Quicksand
Interiors EPITAPH
New York post-hardcore
heroes step back into the fray.
When a much-
loved band
returns after
a lengthy
period in the
wilderness, often a feeling of
anxiety is as palpable as one of
excitement. And as this is the
first new Quicksand album in 22
years, the fear that it could never
hope to compare with their
impeccable two albums from the
mid-90s, Slip and Manic
Compression, was very real.
So it comes as a pleasure to
report that from the rumbling
opening notes of Illuminant it’s as
if the New York band never went
away in the first place. This is
edgy post-hardcore that wears
its brains on its sleeve, frontman
Walter Schreifels’s warm rasp
bringing a sense of humanity to
the taut, grungy, often dreamlike
technical brilliance of the music,
which regularly explodes into
glorious lava flows of pure noise.
Neither a work of nostalgia nor
a move away from the blueprint
that made them so special in the
first place, this album
Von Groove to provide a steady hand with
the vocals, Raintimes were born.
Forever Gone opens this album like
a divine throwback of those days of post-
grunge defiance, although fidelity-wise the
production places things in a more modern
context. And there’s plenty more where it
came from – Make My Day, Don’t Ever Give
Up, I Need Tonight, Together As Friends…
you’ll struggle to find a duffer here.
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demonstrates that artistic
quality cannot be confined to
a specific place in time.
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Emma Johnston
Swedish Death
Candy
Swedish Death Candy HASSLE
Skull-rattling Scandinavian
psychedelia.
First of all,
Swedish Death
Candy are not
Swedish, they’re
British. They
just hate that gross Swedish
licorice. Join the club.
We could really drill down on
the dark majesty of this
blistering debut album if we had
more time, the takeaway here is
that it’s basically Neil Young if he
was a punk rocker and planned
on living forever. While they
maintain a bedrock of swirvy,
swirly doom - think Cathedral
without the bullshit or Monster
Magnet with more monster -
this is really a pretty fucking
groovy psychedelic rock’n’roll
record. While it never goes so far
that you’re lost in the woods
forever, there are a good few
minutes of hardcore, free-
flowing, I-am-naked-and-
maybe-dying moments in here,
particularly during the pretty
incredible single Love You
Already and the skull-rattling
opener Last Dream.
Like their spiritual forebears in
JAMC, the Stooges or Daisy
Eisley/Goldy
Blood, Guts And Games
FRONTIERS
In which frontman David
Glen Eisley and guitarist
Craig Goldy fail to
redeem themselves
following their
clusterfuck of a set at Rockingham 2015 as
part of the Gregg Giuffra-less Giuffria (yes,
really). Isley’s voice has seen much better
days, and these songs are so lumpen and
uninspiring that BGAG must rank among
2017’s most crushing disappointments.
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Steve Walsh
Black Butterfly ESCAPE MUSIC
Rightly revered for his
contributions to Kansas
and Streets, Steve
Walsh retired from the
former band three years
ago. Given the forlorn shape of his voice
and spirit back then, this slick collection
of melodic-pomp songs – crafted with
back-up from Tommy Denander and
Steve Overland, among others – is far,
far better than anyone could have
reasonably expected.
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Chainsaw, SDC offer a near-
perfect balance of pop
perfection and bone-gnawing
dissonance. No matter how
noisy it gets, you’re never too far
away from a tasty hook lurking
just around the corner. Unlike
the chewy fish they’re named
after, this is some seriously
tasty shit.
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Sleazegrinder
Powerman 5000
New Wave PAVEMENT MUSIC
The silly side of industrial metal.
There’s a song on this eleventh
album from this Boston
industrial crew (fronted by Rob
Zombie’s little brother, Spider
One) called Sid Vicious In A
Dress, a high-octane love song to
a hot mess on the road to self-
destruction, that sums up
everything you need to know
about Powerman 5000. While
musically they offer up
a pounding blast of noise,
lyrically they have their tongue
firmly in their cheek. At least we
hope they do, since they follow
that up with David Fucking Bowie,
a tribute of sorts imploring us to
dance like the great man,
gleefully mangling his Space
Oddity in the process. Which
makes attempts at seriousness
like No White Flags a little jarring.
Like your industrial metal with
a side order of high camp? Then
step right up.
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Emma Johnston
By Dave Ling
The Radio Sun
Unstoppable PRIDE AND JOY MUSIC
Once again produced
by Paul Laine of the
Defiants, Unstoppable is
the fourth full-length
album from these Aussie
Leppard-alikes. Long-term fans of The
Radio Sun will know what to expect from
the band by now, and the keyboards from
guest player Andy Shanahan of Down
Under cult heroes Roxus on the ballad
Dreams Should Last Forever provide an
additional bonus.
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Gypsy Soul
Winners And Losers
ESCAPE MUSIC
In 1987, Ronnie Montrose
teamed future Foreigner
vocalist Johnny Edwards
with fellow ex-King
Kobra man JK Nortrup
on guitar, producing some of the songs
now heard on this previously unreleased
set. The results, which found their way on
to records by Foreigner, King Kobra and
Paul Shortino, should satisfy fans of
Humble Pie and 80s Bad Co.
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Peter Hammill
From The Trees FIE!
Sparse of instrumentation yet filled with
meaning and emotion as mortality beckons.
W
hen Barry Manilow croons
the line ‘I write the songs that
make the whole world sing’ ,we
doubt very much whether he has a picture
of Peter Hammill in the back of his mind.
The Van der Graaf Generator mainman is
not what one would call a populist figure
in the world of music. His songs are bleak,
morbid and mesmerising – much to the
delight of hardcore fans who like nothing
better than having their tender souls
jolted to the core. But the whole world?
Not so much.
From The Trees is the latest in a very
long line of determinedly individualistic,
some might say self-absorbed, Hammill
solo albums. Will it win the highbrow
progster new admirers? Not a jot. Will it
sell more than a generous handful of
copies? Unlikely. But that doesn’t stop it
being achingly, challengingly brilliant. The
overriding theme is, as ever, an intensely
personal one. Since suffering a heart
attack in 2003 Hammill has been haunted
by visions of his own mortality. Now
nearing his 70th birthday – and if you’ll
forgive the image of a rancid tramp
waving a placard down Oxford Street – he
realises the end is nigh. Thus From The
Trees, to quote the man himself, is full of
songs that explore – or, more accurately,
dissect – the experience of “facing up to or
edging in towards twilight”. Taking a leaf
88 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
out of Love’s Arthur Lee’s little red
book, then: all that lives is gonna die.
Of course this could be dismissed as
a cute marketing ploy as a recent survey
concluded that 86.4 per cent of VdGG
fans were OAPs. (We’re joking of course,
although Hammill plainly isn’t.)
In common with much of PH’s
modern-day output the album has
a sparse, cottage-industry appeal.
Occasional bursts of fierce, psychotic
guitar evoke the spirit of punk-rock alter
ego, Rikki Nadir. Otherwise it’s voice and
piano and very little else. The intimacy is
at times so intense it’s almost frightening.
It is, to borrow the title of a VdGG song,
’eavy mate. There are some clever sub-
plots too, Hammill being at the very top
of his lyrical game. Reputation issues this
chilling message to the Kardashian
generation: ‘You might as well admit that
in the final reckoning fame and fortune are
falsehoods that leave you for dead.’ But as
someone whose late father suffered
from Parkinson’s disease a song called
Anagnorisis (and it is a genuine word;
look it up) hits home hard and true with
the words: ‘The shaking in his hand is a sign
of goodbye not hello.’ What more is there
to say except: Peter Hammill – death
becomes him.
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Geoff Barton
Pretty Boy Floyd
Public Enemies FRONTIERS
The Boyz are back – and pretty
in places...
Nearly four
decades on
from their
cartoon glam
metal debut
Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz
little has changed, stylistically, in
the world of Hollywood’s Pretty
Boy Floyd, reunited (again) for
this fifth studio outing.
Guitarist Chris Maggiore
(appearing as his alter ego Kristy
Majors) has rejoined and now
handles bass and production
duties as well. Given that Steve
Podwalski (aka Steve Summers)
still sings like a cross between
Vince Neil and one of those
Disney chipmunks, the main
successes of this album are
when Majors’ riffs cleverly and
brazenly revisit Too Fast For Love-
era Mötley Crüe.
For a band of fiftysomethings
Pretty Boy Floyd exhibit an
unhealthy interest in teenage
girls, but when they get it right –
as on Feel The Heat (‘Hot is
what we got!’), We Got The
Power (‘We’re young and wild!’)
and their cover of the Starz
classic So Young So Bad – it’s
perfectly preposterous.
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Neil Jeffries
Palaye Royale
Boom Boom Room SUMERIAN
Indie with a little bit more of
what you fancy.
Palaye Royale
have a look
that’s Rolling
Stones hitting
the Sunset Strip
and describe themselves as
‘fashion art-rock’ – but don’t let
this put you off. Though their
chiselled faces are destined to
appear on posters on bedroom
wall of many a teen, there’s
substance beneath the surface.
The Canadian-born three-
piece might now be based in Las
Vegas, but their sound closely
emulates that of noughties
Britain: the jaunty indie pop
of the tracks on their debut will
appeal to anyone who had Bloc
Party, Franz Ferdinand and
Kaiser Chiefs on their stereo.
Palaye throw some garage and
glam into the mix too, and the
result is a collection of highly
polished rock songs right from
the rollicking opener Don’t Feel
Quite Right, that would get even
the grumpiest grouch on the
dance floor and would also slot
in perfectly on the stages at
Reading and Leeds festivals.
At 15 songs the album length
may test some attention spans,
but it’s a seriously strong debut.
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Hannah May Kilroy
Cactus
Black Dawn SUNSET BLVD
Still prickly.
There was
nothing very
complicated
about Cactus,
even in their
early 70s heyday, but they did
their thunderous heavy rock well
enough to be touted as the US’s
answer to Zep.
This is the second time
Carmine Appice has reformed
the band; the first was in 2006
with original bassist Tim Bogert
and guitarist Jim McCarty and
new singer Jimmy Kunes plus
harmonica player Randy Pratt.
This time Bogert appears twice
but Appice’s trademark driving
beat and McCarty’s simple but
effective solos with choruses to
match keep the spirit of Cactus
topped up. Vocals were never
the band’s strong point but
Kunes’ could be regarded as an
improvement. And Pratt’s heavy
harmonica adds variety.
They’re not afraid of a direct
comparison either: the last two
tracks are previously unreleased
from the original band, including
the wild jam, C-70 Blues.
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Hugh Fielder
Santa Cruz
Bad Blood Rising
M-THEORY AUDIO
Fearsome Finns with a soft
underbelly.
Three albums in
and Helsinki’s
Santa Cruz are
beginning to
stray from their
template. 2013’s Screaming For
Adrenaline and its self-titled
successor established them as
turbo-charged Skid Row acolytes
with a penchant for scuzzy,
soaring guitars and stompalong
choruses. This time around, the
near-title-track Young Blood
Rising, the self-explanatory Fire
Running Through Our Veins and
Pure Fucking Adrenaline, plus the
anthemic Voice Of The New
Generation re-state their case,
while Johnny Cruz’s dazzling
guitarwork on River Phoenix is
the sound of a man who’s as
good as he thinks he is.
But, these Finns are not
entirely what they used to be.
Breathe opens with some nifty
whistling before Archie Cruz
rasps over a pretty melody,
strings and choral voices. Get
Me Out Of California is better
still: a scarf-waving ballad, which
explodes into no-holds-barred
frenzy. It’s the song of their
career and it’s the song that
might make their career.
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John Aizlewood
Virgil &
Steve Howe
Nexus INSIDEOUT
Posthumous album from Yes
guitarist’s late son.
Nexus is a
beautiful
instrumental
album
comprising
music largely put together, with
the help of his father, by Virgil
Howe, sometime member of
Amorphous Androgynous and,
as a member of Little Barrie,
creator of the theme music for
Breaking Bad prequel Better Call
Saul. Recording began in 2016,
when Virgil would send musical
ideas, based on piano sketches,
to Steve, who then added
acoustic, electric and steel guitar
to each one. Virgil proceeded to
flesh them out with keyboards,
synths, bass and drums.
Tragically, and suddenly, Virgil
died on September 11, 2017, as
this was about to be released.
A decision was made to go
ahead, Nexus growing from a
series of duets to, as Steve has
explained, “something bigger
and better, more of a complete
ROUND-UP: SLEAZE
Hot Mayonnaise:
hot and heavy.
picture than a mere shape”. The
title track sets the tone, all
elegiacal piano and plangent
electric guitar motif. The
arrangements vary – Hidden
Planet has skittering, drum’n’bass
percussion while Night Hawk has
Moog burbles and Passing Titan
features a sitar-sounding guitar
like Ravi Shankar in space.
Listeners might project
because of the events of
September ‘17, but the titles –
Leaving Aurura, Astral Plane,
Infinite Space, Freefall – suggest
a journey into the vast unknown,
which in a sense Virgil has
undertaken. It is brave of fellow
cosmonaut Steve to make public
his son’s final voyage.
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Paul Lester
King Crimson
Live In Chicago,
June 28th 2017 PANEGYRIC
“Official bootleg” catches
Crimson at full tide.
The ever-
morphing KC
are currently
enjoying
a purple patch
as a “double quartet”. With their
huge, defiantly awkward music
there’s plenty to keep all eight
virtuosi busy. Three drummers
– that’s more than The Glitter
Band! – switch between
industrious and intricate as
ringmaster Fripp, Levin, Collins,
Jakszyk and Rieflin aren’t given
the slightest chance to think
about ordering a curry. This is
relentlessly progressive stuff,
two lengthy discs covering tricky
material from showpieces like
Starless and 21st Century Schizoid
Man to most of the Lizard album
(played live for the first time).
There are stabs from their more
jagged 80s work plus a new
song, The Errors, which is
appropriately bombastic.
Milestones amid the
experimentation, those
trademark doomy, almost metal
riffs lock in. As the ensemble
have themselves declared, this
was a gig where everything
sparked: Chicago fire. The
encore of Heroes is earned.
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Chris Roberts
Barenaked
Ladies
Fake Nudes UMC
Trumpocalypse peepshow.
This may be
their 15th studio
album in a
career knocking
on 30 years, but
more significantly it’s the fourth
since founder member Steven
Page quit in 2009. As the major
songwriter, his departure raised
questions but these have all
been answered and they now
sound even more like a band
than they did before.
The title theme runs through
the first four songs as the band
gaze across the border from
their homeland at the unfolding
Hot Mayonnaise
Heavy Moments
SELF-RELEASED
HOTMAYONNAISE.BANDCAMP.COM
This is merely
speculation, but if I had
to guess, I’d say that
collectively the only
book that Rochester,
New York band Hot Mayonnaise have ever
read is The Dirt by the Mötley Crüe and the
only bands they’ve ever listened to are
Black Sabbath and the MC5. Which is
perfect, really. Who needs anything else?
With titles such as Dungeon Of Love and
Stoned N’ Dangerous they’re the living
embodiment of everything you’ve ever
been warned about, they are what
happens if you let rock’n roll rot your brain.
Remember the back-masking Satanic
panic of the 1980s? Finally, it worked on
somebody. If you let these Hot Mayonnaise
into your house, they will destroy it. They
will eat your food and clog your toilet and
give your pets venereal diseases and turn
your basement into a meth lab and then
accidentally blow it up. And they won’t be
sorry, and you won’t even be mad about it.
That’s the beauty of this band, man. They
are you, if you were a fucking lunatic. And
this album is a monster.
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of America, put succinctly on the
opening singalong Canada Dry.
They then try the view from
different angles on the equally
catchy Bringing It Home and
Looking Up and the Rubber Soul-
drenched Invisible Fence.
After that they starting letting
their characteristic quirks do the
talking, notably on the lilting
reggae-infused Nobody Better
and the potent Navigate in
which they invoke the spirit of
Peter Gabriel.
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Hugh Fielder
Kansas
Leftoverture Live
& Beyond INSIDE OUT
Two-CD live album of the 40th
anniversary Tour.
The number of
musicians who,
like Dorothy in
The Wizard of
Oz are not in
Kansas any more, is impressive.
However, as drummer Phil
Ehart, one of the two remaining
originals freely admits, that’s of
little concern to their fans so
long as they continue to provide
the Kansas experience, so much
a fixture of the American rock
scene they could almost make
a theme park ride out of it.
This, then, is the Kansas ride
through 40 years of elaborate, at
times over-elaborate, prog rock
boogie, now featuring David
Ragsdale on lead violin, leading
the dance down the byways of
Baby And
The Nobodies
Kiss This SELF-RELEASED
BABYANDTHENOBODIES.BANDCAMP.COM
Snotty, glammy punk
rock’n’ roll from Olympia
Washington that sounds
like NY Loose or maybe
Social Distortion with
Mike Ness’ street-fightin’ kid sister on
vocals. Hooky, tight, and ready to rumble,
Kiss This is a blast of teenage rebel rock
full of safety pins, bubblegum and the
kinda glue Joey Ramone was sniffing.
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Gutter Saints
The Saintanic Verses
SELF-RELEASED
THEGUTTERSAINTS.BANDCAMP.COM
If a band writes a song
called Samurai
Frankenstein, you’d
expect a lifestyle to go
with it. I’m fairly certain
South Carolina’s Gutter Saints live up to
whatever weirdo sex-death fantasies Mega
Sci Fi Astro Dick/Monster Movie Kung Fu
Kicks suggest. Grimy apocalyptic Z-movie
r’n’r delirium. Delivers the greasy goods.
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their back catalogue. Carry On
Wayward Son features, as does
Icarus (Borne On Wings Of Steel).
A fan’s memento.
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David Stubbs
Trucker Diablo
Fighting For Everything
BAD REPUTATION
New Brit hard rock finery.
Swooping in
with an arena
rock attitude,
the third album
from this
Northern Irish foursome elevates
them to a new level. Often
referred to as stadium pub
rockers, the emphasis is now
firmly on the ‘rock’, their songs
blazing with big ambitions.
Taking cues from AC/DC,
Lizzy and Black Stone Cherry,
the records hits you right in the
chops with the muscular Born
Trucker and We Will Conquer All.
Let’s Just Ride is so insistently
catchy you’ll want to rewind and
OD on its melodic drift.
Guitarists Tom Harte and
Simon Haddock have an
understanding of what Lizzy,
Aerosmith and Wishbone Ash
achieved; Hart’s vocals are also
convincingly powerful. The band
are at their best on epic closing
track When The Waters Rise
– a joyous amalgam of beautifully
balanced passion and depth.
High grade quality all round.
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Malcolm Dome
By Sleazegrinder
Blood God
Rock’N’Roll Warmachine
SELF-RELEASED
BLUTGOTT.BANDCAMP.COM
You might think that 46
songs is too many for
one album. But listen,
man, you don’t win a
rock’n’roll war unless
you’ve got enough ammunition. Germany’s
Blood God play a kind of muscle-bound
hard rock that eschews any subtleties for
unapologetic bludgeon. Even Rose Tattoo
would think these dudes are too macho.
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Seven Dirty Words
Along For The Ride
SEVENDIRTYWORDS.BANDCAMP.COM
Californian smoke-
belchers 7DW return
with their fifth album
and they have lost
none of their venom
or lust for speed and mayhem over the
past decade. Less an album and more of
a highlight reel of Evel Knievel’s greatest
motorcycle wrecks, Along For The Ride
will bust every bone in your body and
you’ll love it.
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Bob Seger
I Knew You When CAPITOL
Hollywood Nights man can still come out
fighting, but the quality control is suspect.
F
or a man with such a complicated
relationship with his own
discography (several early albums
have never been released on CD, never
mind on heavyweight 180g audiophile
vinyl), veteran American singer-
songwriter Bob Seger seems content
enough to return to the past in order to
preserve his future. For, like his excellent
2014 album Ride Out, his latest, I Knew You
When, is a mixed bag of covers, new songs,
and old material pulled from the archive
and thoroughly defibrillated.
Seger is sounding gruff these days. The
registers he sings in are lower than in his
heyday, he’s still unmistakably Seger, but
now he’s far more likely to half-sing, half-
talk his way through a song than open up
the full Hollywood Nights-style throttle.
That’s not to say Seger is lacking fight;
a couple of draw-your-own-conlusion
inclusions appear to take a swipe at fellow
golfer and current tenant of 1600
Pennsylvania Ave, Donald Trump. The
first is a lively cover of Lou Reed’s Busload
Of Faith, which changes the original’s
‘You can’t depend on any churches, unless
there’s real estate you want to buy’ to ‘You can’t
depend on the president, unless there’s real estate
you want to buy.’ The second is a largely
faithful version of Leonard Cohen’s
Democracy – a song that has shepherded
both Bill Clinton and Bernie Sanders on
90 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
stage in the past – where the line
‘Democracy is coming to the USA’ suddenly
sounds more barbed than the author of
the original probably intended.
The biggest surprise on the record is The
Sea Inside, originally intended for Ride Out.
It’s a song that churns with malevolence,
with Bonham-esque tom-tom rolls and
Kashmir-style strings that swoop in to
heighten the air of mystery. Similarly
unlikely is Marie, an anguished love song
brightened by cello and tumbling Spanish
guitar. Glenn Song is a slow, genuinely
mournful tribute to the late Glenn Frey,
who grew up with Seger in Detroit, while
I’ll Remember You is Seger doing what he
does better than almost anyone: a gospel-
tinged ballad of the sort that originally
cemented his command over arena
crowds. Elsewhere, Runaway Train is a sub-
ZZ Top boogie that should probably have
remained in cold storage, while Blue Ridge
sounds like Jimmy Buffet clumsily
attempting a country version of The
Kinks’ Come Dancing.
Overall the album comes together in
somewhat less cohesive fashion than Ride
Out, and listeners may end up wishing for
a Seger to take firmer grip on the steering
wheel for one final album. Does anyone
have Rick Rubin’s number?
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Fraser Lewry
Electric Eye
From The Poisonous Tree
JANSEN PLATEPRODUKSJON
The great taste of original sin...
Throbbing across an
underlying rhythmic pulse that
boasts the mesmeric
combination of detached
precision and groove that
marks all the best motorik,
Bergen’s Electric Eye have
concocted the third instalment
in their ongoing journey into
the heart of the psychedelic
sun, and it’s a keeper.
So what exactly have the
Norwegian quartet plucked
From The Poisonous Tree on this
occasion? As is often the case
with such improvisation-
inclined psychotropic sonic
explorers: more of the same,
only more so.
Of course, wizards of
a decidedly more lizard-y
gizzard have a tendency to
plummet haphazardly in similar
circumstances, to crank up their
inner Hawkwind and fly as far
off the handle as is possible. But
the added glint in Electric Eye
comes courtesy of a broader
sonic palette, jarring old-school
beats that trip off into surprising
counter-rhythms, and dynamic
shifts that initially jar just as
much as they ultimately
beguile. Sometimes You Got To
Jump To Lift Your Feet locks in,
then soars, locks back in then
soars again.
Electric Eye elevate to
captivate, they have the power
to seduce a soul ascendent.
With a post-Roses spin on
a 60s soundtrack vibe here,
a celestial sitar there, the
succulent fruits of this
particular tree are as seductive
as Eve’s apples.
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Ian Fortnam
Michael Crimson
Medusa GAIN/SONY MUSIC
Corkscrew-haired Swede takes
the retro route.
A self-confessed “quiet soul”
from Eskilstuna in Sweden,
Michael Crimson spent his
childhood living, breathing and
digesting the contents of an
expansive record collection.
His biography names them
– Page and Plant, Gilmour,
Bowie, Dylan, Cohen, The
Doors, Iggy Pop – but really
there was no need, because
Medusa, the full-length debut
from this singer, guitarist,
writer and producer, is
colourful enough to suggest
that those hours of bedroom
study were not wasted.
From the Queen-esque
stacked vocal harmonies of
opener Seashell Eyes to the
Floyd-flavoured instrumental
A Season In Hell and the husky
In The Winter, the album ebbs
and flows while honouring its
theme of “compelling
characters and captivating
tales from Greek mythology”.
An opening statement this
eloquent and absorbing does
Michael Crimson enormous
credit. A bigger still long-term
challenge will, of course, be
whether or not he equals or
even manages to surpass it.
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Dave Ling
Skam
The Amazing Memoirs
Of Geoffrey Goddard SKAM
Conceptual high jinks from
Leicester rockers.
Skam are a little
band with big
ideas. On this,
their third
album, the
Leicester trio have gone fully
conceptual. Like Doctor Who
in a flying hat, The Amazing
Memoirs Of Geoffrey Goddard is
the tale of a time-hopping
WW2 airman who finds
himself in medieval Japan,
Wild West Oklahoma and
prehistoric Africa. It’s an
inherently silly idea, saved by
Skam’s no-nonsense delivery.
Take It Or Leave It and Bring
The Rain are grittily anthemic
rockers that owe more to the
Foo Fighters than to Yes – the
odd sonorous spoken-word
interlude aside, it’s hard to
envisage any of its 12 tracks
being staged on ice. Still, full
marks for ambition.
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Dave Everley
Galactic Cowboys
Long Way Back To
The Moon MASCOT
As uniquely charismatic as ever.
In the early 90s, Texan band
Galactic Cowboys stood out
as being different – almost
a precursor to grunge, with an
added Beatles twist. There
hadn’t been an album from the
original line-up since 1993’s
Space In Your Face, but now
they’re back together, and
Long Way Back To The Moon is
a quite brilliant collection.
The style is unmistakable
from opener The Clouds, with
elements of King’s X, Alice In
Chains and Jellyfish yet
BOB SEGER: KEN SETTLE
determinedly individual.
Sparkling melodies mingle
with a dark humour and vocal
harmonies. There’s a sense
 that the listener is gate-
crashing a private party, which
gives the album a distant
flavour, yet such is the
welcoming draw of Zombies,
Hate Me and the title track that
you feel compelled to linger.
Galactic Cowboys never
cared for commercial
formulae. They have always
done what pleases them. In
that resect nothing has
changed. Thankfully. They’re
still making intelligent music
with explosive quirkiness.
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Malcolm Dome
The Used
The Canyon HOPELESS
Utah post-hardcore crew dig
deep into their psyche for
album seven.
An evolution of
a band’s sound
is often
described as
risk-taking,
yet the real risk comes with
stagnation. So it’s heartening
to find The Used sailing into
unchartered waters for their
seventh album.
The Canyon was produced
by Ross Robinson, famed for
squeezing emotion from his
singers, and he’s worked his
cruel magic again here.
Stripped-back, grief-stricken
opener For You is painfully
intimate, frontman Bert
McCracken barely holding
back sobs. From there we get
jazzy, discordant noise in Cold
War Telescreen, high-octane,
Refused-meets-Blood Brothers
fury in Rise Up Lights and even
a touch of reggae in The Divine
Absence (This Is Water).
The post-hardcore
foundations are here, complete
with drama-fuelled, singalong
choruses, but what The Used
have built upon them opens
up a new world of creative
opportunities for them.
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Emma Johnston
Spock’s Beard
Snow Live RADIANT
Modern prog classic, live
at last.
Immediately after Spock’s
Beard’s 2002 concept double
album Snow, Neal Morse left
the band, having become a
born-again Christian. Perhaps,
then, its over-sincere narrative,
in which an albino boy goes on
what can only be described as
an allegorical spiritual quest –
thus the perpetual, although
inaccurate, comparisons to
Tommy, Quadrophenia and The
Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
– was inspired as much by
reality as by fantasy. Either
way, although they never
played it live back then, Snow is
generally recognised as one of
the best American and finest
21st-century prog albums.
At 2016’s Morsefest in
Nashville the original line-up
(including Morse and Nick
D’Virgilio) united with current
members to at last perform
the two-hour epic in its
entirety, an event which fans
– and devotees of this album
tend to gush in terms of lives
saved and suicides avoided –
never thought would happen.
Emotional, effervescent, the
show goes from overtures to
blues, from metal riffs to
brass sections to Beatles-
esque melodies; a definitive,
ripe-for-parody, dauntingly
impressive plateau of prog,
gloriously unabashed.
Multiple formats offer DVDs
of the occasion.
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Chris Roberts
Strawbs
The Ferryman’s Curse
ESOTERIC ANTENNA
Abandon hope all ye who
enter here…
One of the
most enduring
touchstones of
the British folk
and progressive
scene, the Strawbs mainman
the esteemed Dave Cousins
has never shied away from
contentious material. And now
he’s in his seventies he seems
even more determined to rattle
cages from his home in Kent.
After a plush piano orchestral
overture lurches into
a percussive storm, Strawbs
conjure a narrative, The Nails
From The Hands Of Christ, that
examines modern religious
fetishism. Having set the tone
– think Midlake for old timers
– Cousins takes relish in
constructing the perfect
soundtrack for the Winter
Solstice. Whether you agree
with his tongue-in-cheek view
of contemporary morality on
the Ten Commandments or
not, it’s difficult to avoid being
sucked into to a cautionary tale
that makes short shrift of the
meme generation, TV cooks,
footballers’ wives, instant
talent show fame et al. It’s
a kind of Money For Nothing
but with better lyrics. The title
track is the killer in every
sense. The 47-years-later
sequel to Tony Hooper’s The
Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake
(from Dragonfly) this is
hauntingly redolent of Bowie at
his bleakest – the two Daves
often shared stages and joints
back in the day – and sets the
seal on one of the year’s more
imaginative albums.
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Max Bell
U2
Songs of Experience ISLAND
The disappointment continues.
The gulf
between U2’s
perennially
amazing live
shows and
their almost obstinately
pedestrian albums gets wider
every year. A belated and
much-reworked companion
piece to 2014’s Songs Of
Innocence, Songs Of Experience
was recorded with no less than
nine producers plus cameos by
Kendrick Lamar and Haim.
And yet it is composed largely
of dreary sub-Coldplay
trundlers like Summer Of Love
and Bryan Adams-style soft-
rockers like You’re The Best Thing
About Me. A handful of tracks
shoot for the anthemic uplift of
vintage U2, but fall short. The
only real left-field beauty here is
Love Is All We Have Left, a token
reminder of the Dublin quartet’s
shimmering ambient avant-
rock period.
The global army of Bono-
bashers will doubtless relish
U2’s ongoing creative and
commercial decline, but for
casual fans it is baffling how
a band who were once so
experimental, outspoken and
musically ambitious have
ended up so joylessly
conservative. Love or loathe
them, U2 have always had
planet-sized ambitions, market-
savvy pop instincts and A-list
collaborators. They clearly still
want a seat at rock’s top table,
it’s just that they’ve forgotten
how to write memorable tunes,
or at least how to find suitably
demanding studio partners to
stop them churning out
mediocre makeweight albums
like this one.
QQQQQQQQQQQ
Stephen Dalton

ROUND-UP: BLUES By Henry Yates

The Cold Tami Neilson
Heart Revue Don’t Be Afraid OUTSIDE MUSIC
Renegade Heart SELF-RELEASED Don’t Be Afraid is
Casuals will remember a family affair, released
The Cold Heart Revue’s in tribute to the late
roots as a one-man Ron Neilson by his
acoustic troubadour, but daughter Tami, who
David Robinson is also co-wrote much of the material with
equally convincing on this plugged-and- her brother Jay. These songs reiterate
cranked EP. With barely a breath taken the talent of all concerned, whether
between them, I Can’t Get Started, Tattoo that’s Ron-penned stunners like Lonely,
Girl and American Rain are everything the Tami’s extraordinary vintage-soul voice
blues should be, played with fire, flair and or the fiery brilliance of the siblings’
urgency. Fabulous. Holy Moses.
QQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQ

Ghalia & Mama’s Boys: Gráinne Duffy Jim Byrnes

bashing out a set of
sprightly floor shakers. Where I Belong SELF-RELEASED Long Hot Summer Days
BLACK HEN MUSIC
There’s a wonderful
Ghalia & languid quality to When you’ve got the
paired with Louisiana’s local heroes squeaking and purring through Hiccup County Monaghan voice, you needn’t
Mama’s Boys Mama’s Boys for this debut album, and Boogie’s anecdotage, or reeling off songwriter Gráinne bother with the pen, and
Let The Demons Out RUF together they’re an irresistible force, a boozy rider in All The Good Things that Duffy’s third album. The here Byrnes’s evocative
GHALIA & THE MAMA’S BOYS: MJ MAESTRO

Ruf Records have bashing out a set of sprightly floor puts Keef’s shepherd’s pie to shame. That folk picking of Where I Belong is worthy of delivery breathes fresh
struck gold with Ghalia shakers that would clean up in any voice can do damage, too, swanking on Nick Drake; My Love and Open Arms have mojo into a covers set of his high-school
Vauthier, a fizz-and- Crescent City dive bar. Little Willie John’s I’m Shakin’ and shades of prime-time Sheryl Crow, Duffy’s favourites. Bobby Bland’s Ain’t No Love In
pop livewire who The Boys can certainly play, but roasting edgy standout See That Man voice nailing the ratio of grit and honey. The Heart Of The City is sweet and sad;
probably scared the Vauthier is the star. It’s not just that she Alone. She might just be the most It’s often mellow but rarely lightweight, Percy Sledge’s Out Of Left Field is a sunset
shit out of passing Eurocrats during early wrote 10 of these songs, but also that she interesting thing ever to come from the a balancing act exemplified by stark over a southern cornfield; Something Inside
years busking in her native Brussels. inhabits them, lip-smacking her fingertips land of Brexit legislation. instrumental finale Canyon Road. Of Me takes Elmore James to the wire.
Hacking across the States, the singer in the rowdy 4am Fried Chicken, QQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQ

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 91
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 EISSUE S
R
INXS
Kick 30 UMC
Premium 80s gloss-rock INX-celsis.
O
utside of Frankie’s pleasuredome and
Dexys’ dungaree incinerator, no one in
the 80s ever admitted to sweating. This
was the decade of the pristine, the age of
immaculate aristocrat make-up, sculpted fringes,
and trousers cut to allow for the maximum air
circulation. Pop music was clinically synthetic,
sleek and vacuum-moulded; no star worth their
Stock Aitken Waterman remix would ever do
anything as human as perspire.
So when, in 1987, INXS frontman Michael
94 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Hutchence rolled up in a zip-strewn biker jacket
behind a swarthy guitar riff and pouted ‘there’s
something about you girl that makes me sweat’, we
barely knew what to make of him. He and his
band of Australian gloss-rockers had all the
plastic funk grooves, silvery synth touches,
sax solos and soul harmonies of popular
contemporaries such as Fine Young Cannibals,
the Human League, Duran Duran, Level 42 and
Curiosity Killed The Cat, but they were fronted
by a lizard-hipped sex mop with clear
aspirations to be the Jim Morrison of his day.
With one purring ‘slide over here and give me
a moment, your moves are so raw’, INXS became
the safe, sanitised sound of 80s sexuality, the
Kylie fan’s (and, later, Kylie’s own) bit of rough.
A band more likely to make you feel like a
million dollars in the sack than Howard Jones,
but less likely to leave you encrusted with soiled
dairy products than Prince.
Very much an Australian phenomenon until
’87 – their many Australasian hits had barely
registered in the UK – their sixth album, Kick,
landed like a Thor’s hammer of lascivious arena
pop, a virtually faultless, laser-targeted collection
of synthetic sleaze that spoke of a band arriving
fully formed at the very peak of their songcraft.
After 10 years spent quietly polishing up their
Boomtown Rats-style new-wave pub rock and
trimming their mullets for the spangly new
GETTY
decade, they were the Down Under U2,

slamming from the ether with their very
own Joshua Tree or, in Peter Gabriel terms,
delivering their So without the wider world
knowing they’d ever worn a sunflower
helmet. Seductive nightcrawler Need You
Tonight was like
a glowing neon
calling card reading
‘NEW IN TOWN’
‘A virtually faultless
tucked suggestively collection of
into the breast pocket
of the top five, and synthetic sleaze.’
once we made the
call they sure kept showing us a good time.
Devil Inside was 80s pop licking a forked
tongue. The shiny funk blast of New
Sensation sounded like a duel between rival
gospel gangs on E Street, orchestral last
dance Never Tear Us Apart, easily the coolest
doo-wop ballad of the decade (sorry, Flying
Pickets), proved there was heart beneath
Hutchence’s biker threads.
The album itself didn’t stop kicking.
From the opening snap, crackle and sex
noises of Guns In The Sky it teetered on the
mainstream’s edge, flirting with the language
and imagery of danger and rebellion but
with its studded gloves clasped firm on the
throat of the 80s commercial aesthetic.
Hutchence twisted his enigma throughout,
by turn radical hippie free thinker (ethereal
quasi-rap Mediate), rebel without a cause
(Wild Life) and elemental playboy (the sultry
Mystify). By the record’s end he’d proved
himself the blueprint for the ultra-modern
rock’n’roll lizard king; you can easily
imagine Bono studying a song like Devil
Inside, with its sordid fascination with knives,
leather and the wickedness within, and
summoning forth The Fly and MacPhisto in
Hutchence’s image.
For all the supersonic Motown horns of
the title track, the John Hughes prom party
vibe of Calling All Nations and the climactic
sparkle of Tiny Daggers, it’s The Loved One that
best captures the essence of Kick: a studio-
sterilised grindhouse groove oozing slick
sensuality, which slides effortlessly into
a chorus born to rattle Red Rocks.
For such a strong, consistent album, it’s
bewildering that there’s so little worthwhile
second-tier material to be excavated for this
anniversary edition. The package cobbles
together reams of rolled-up-blazer-sleeve
remixes, live tracks and surprisingly
pointless B-sides:; I’m Coming (Home) sounds
like they bugged a brothel, then whacked
five minutes of extraneous funk and Barry
White impressions over the top; On The
Rocks is throwaway scat jazz; and the
acoustic demo of Jesus Was A Man has
Hutchence drooling cod-philosophical
nonsense about Jesus, Ghandi and Hitler
like John Lennon falling over pissed. Do
Wot You Do and Move On are worthwhile
additions, but the lack of studio overflow
only makes the album’s 12-track bullseye
seem all the more superhuman, and its
rejection by three record labels all the
more unfathomable.
Move On’s confession that ‘there’s a monkey
on my back, been there much too long/Every time
I kick it off another one comes along’ was
a buried hint that Hutchence wasn’t quite
the Kershaw in Sixx
clothing he first
appeared to be. Kick
would prove to be the
peak of a tragic
downward spiral
that would see him
cremated 10 years
later, belt marks around his neck and
a gram of heroin slipped into his funeral
suit pocket. We’d rather remember him this
way: the devil in his hip, a gleam on his lip
and the world at his fingertip.
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Mark Beaumont
Sixx:A.M.
The Heroin Diaries
Soundtrack: 10th
Anniversary Edition
ELEVEN SEVEN
Nikki Sixx’s descent into hell,
revisited.
In retrospect, the
success of the
debut
SIXX:A.M.
album was the
first death knell for Nikki’s then
day job with Mötley Crüe. It
might have been there to serve
as the soundtrack to his
gruelling drugs biography of the
same name, but it showed a
sharper, more shrewd and
contemplative songwriter than
people thought capable from a
man who once rhymed ’fifty
thousand screaming watts’ with
’honey dripping from her pot’.
Time has been kind to the
songs and production too, and
for this 10th Anniversary Edition
the band have reworked three of
the originals to offer some extra
impetus for parting with your
cash for an album you probably
already own. That said, there’s
no denying the impact and craft
of songs like utterly bleak Van
Nuys and the yearning imbued in
Accidents Can Happen: the sound
of a man clinging to sobriety by
his very fingertips.
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Philip Wilding
Magma
Retrospectiw Vol 1 & 2 & 3
SOUTHERN LORD
Molten gold.
Two years shy of their 50th
anniversary, French uber-
proggers Magma are enjoying
considerable late-life appreciation
from metal fans drawn to their
immense heavyweight power
and multi-headed epics and the
world’s coolest logo.
Since 2015’s exhaustive
remastering binge, Magma and
leader/drummer Christian
Vander have been celebrated in
their first film while still riding a
lava-flow of reissues. This latest
finds the band celebrating their
10th anniversary at Paris
Olympia in June 1980. Originally
released in 1981, the sets
reappeared in 2015’s colossal
Kohnzert Zund box set and now
get another lease of life on vinyl.
Volumes 1 and 2 are
constructed around Theus
Hamtaahk, Vander’s space opera
about a doomed planet, Kobaia,
sung in his self-invented
language and consisting of three
epic movements, including
1973’s breakthrough Mekanik
Destructiw Kommandoh. That’s
here in truncated form, joined by
concert-only first movement
Theus Hamtaahk (Time Of
Hatred). This could be the
definitive version, its spectral
chorales and keyboard meteor
showers swarming around
Vander’s metronomic
polyrhythms. Volume 3 eases
the intensity with jazz-funk
Retrovision and Vander’s spirited
vocal on Hhai.
Such a lavish package might
not be the best way to enter
Vander’s idiosyncratic universe,
but diehards will be delighted.
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Kris Needs
The Moody Blues
Days Of Future Passed UMC
Soft-concept maestros’
timeless classic.
The Moody
Blues tend to
slip under the
radar when
caps are doffed
to 70s/80s giants. Three UK
chart-topping albums and two
(different ones) in the US, where
they still reached the Top 10 as
recently as 1986, is extraordinary
going by any yardstick.
This second album marked the
arrival of singer Justin Hayward
and bassist John Lodge. Inspired
by The Beatles’ pioneering
studio work on Revolver, and the
purchase of a Mellotron which
would define their glory years, it
set up the Moody Blues for
a career that still thrives today.
Days Of Future Passed is
a concept album loosely
detailing a working day and,
equally revolutionary at the time,
features the London Festival
Orchestra and two spoken
poems by drummer Graeme
Edge. With hindsight it’s dwarfed
by Hayward’s Nights In White
Satin – and the song’s over-
familiarity should not disguise
what an epochal pop moment it
was – but it wasn’t a US hit until
1972, so the album went Top 10
there on the strength of the road-
honed Peak Hour and the lavishly
layered Dawn Is A Feeling.
This edition includes three
mixes of the album, a mountain
of extra tracks including an
intriguing take on Don’t Let Me
Be Misunderstood and a three-
song 1968 set from a French
television show in sparkling
black and white.
For all its of-its-time touches,
Days Of Future Passed’s sheer
craft makes it timeless. Frankly,
it’s hard to think of a band whose
rehabilitation is so belated.
QQQQQQQQQQ
John Aizlewood
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 95
REISSUES
Eagles
Hotel California: 40th Anniversary
Deluxe Edition (RHINO)
This could be heaven or this could be hell.
W
hen Hotel California’s
mellifluous opening title track
first aired in December 1976
(strictly speaking this year is its 41st
anniversary), carried into the California
desert air by Don Felder’s distinctive guitar
licks – “Mexican Reggae” they’d called it
– the Eagles were entering a habitual state
of flux. With Bernie Leadon’s authentic
country presence now replaced by fellow
party animal Joe Walsh, and Randy
Meisner sidelined, they were arguably the
Don Henley and Glenn Frey band. Hugely
successful thanks to Their Greatest Hits, they
saw no reason not to believe their own
legend and created a quasi-conceptual
album, contrasting art versus commerce
in the American bicentennial.
At least that’s become lore, although it
doesn’t stack up; nor does the notion that
they suddenly ditched soft country rock.
Previous album On The Border was
a tougher beast, Desperado, their best, was
a more convincing Western concept. Hotel
California is great in parts: the title track is
immediately absorbing, New Kid In Town
has bruised charm, the Eagles’ notorious
extracurricular activities informed Life In
The Fast Lane. Following that atmospheric
trio, the album enters the realms of the
pleasantly banal. Wasted Time, underscored
by Jim Ed Norman’s romantic strings
arrangement, doesn’t merit the
96 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
instrumental reprise that ushers in side
two. The self-consciously rocked up
Victim Of Love, co-written with singer
songwriter JD Souther, hasn’t aged well.
The Joe Walsh/Joe Vitale ballad Pretty
Maids All In A Row is sweet enough even
if it sounds like something left over from
Walsh’s The Smoker You Drink, The Player
You Get. Meisner’s slushy Try And Love
Again is best ignored altogether. Henley’s
nihilistic The Last Resort is a jaundiced
appraisal of American excess and
cultural poverty. Pretty ironic, all things
considered, but Henley is adept at this
type of mournful pontificating.
This 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is
completed by 10 live recordings from
a three-night stint in October 1976 that
unveiled the hypnotic Mariachi-inspired
title epic and New Kid In Town, plus
cracking versions of James Dean, Already
Gone and the irresistible Take It Easy, all
played with precision-tooled elegance and
emphasis on the sparkling harmonies at
which the Eagles excelled.
Those with deeper pockets (£85 deep)
might prefer the three-disc Super-Deluxe
Blu-ray audio version, which includes
a 44-page hardcover book, a 24-page
replica tour book and three posters, one
being a Pete Frame Family Tree.
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Max Bell
Flesh For Lulu
Flesh For Lulu
Expanded Edition CAROLINE
Old Flesh with new boner.
Named when
a girlfriend
called Lulu
stood in front of
a Flesh For
Frankenstein poster, Flesh For
Lulu flourished in London’s post-
punk free-for-all after amateur
synth-pop duo Nick Marsh and
James Mitchell added
ex-Wasted Youth guitarist Rocco
Barker and bassist Glen Bishop
to become one of the Batcave’s
most beloved outfits. Their
glammed up collisions of the
Stones, underbelly Americana
and classic rock suss that could
see them transform Jody
Reynolds’s Endless Sleep into
a funereal goth anthem earned
them a deal with Polydor, BBC
sessions and rave press for the
album that followed night-
stalking debut single Roman
Candle in 1984.
Making its CD debut, the
album reveals itself as an
overlooked rock‘n’roll gem rather
than any dated goth curio,
elevated by its robustly melodic
songs. Marsh’s compelling
vocals turn soaring Batcave
anthem Subterraneans into the
era’s most poignantly poetic
rhapsody, and conquer the
Stones’ Jigsaw Puzzle to show
his roots beneath the hairspray.
The Expanded Edition adds
12-inch remixes and B-sides,
along with Peel, Janice Long and
Kid Jensen radio sessions and an
informative booklet, completing
a fitting tribute to a great lost
band and the underrated talents
of Nick Marsh, who sadly
succumbed to cancer in 2015.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Kris Needs
Various Artists
Brown Acid: The Fifth Trip
RIDINGEASY
Heavy Pebbles – boulders, if
you will.
Culled from
endless hours
of sifting
through dusty
records in
forgotten corners all over the
globe by the tireless crew at
RidingEasy, the Brown Acid series
is a Nuggets for modern times,
every volume a crucial collection
of impossibly obscure heavy ’n’
hairy proto-metal from the age
of Aquarius.
The fifth volume of anything is
bound to show some wear and
tear, and The Fifth Trip does have
a few ho-hummers that would
probably have been rejected
from the first few volumes, most
notably the pedestrian prog
Clockwork by Cybernaut and the
plodding stoner rock Mammoth
and Zebra. But it also includes
some serious head-spinners,
from the neo-punk of Thor’s Lick
It to the jarring epic Nothing In
The Sun by never-weres Finch.
Opener No Reason by Captain
Foam hits a similar band-out-of-
time nerve.
Perhaps the most exciting
revelation on this volume is the
rediscovery of the toothsome
Blowing Smoke, a lost single from
George Brigman, a freaked-out,
turned-on teen from Baltimore
who self-produced an proto-punk
monster of an album, Jungle Rot,
back in ‘75.
If you like it heavy and weird,
take the Brown Acid.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Sleazegrinder
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Fever To Tell Deluxe Box
UMC/POLYDOR
The album that devoured the
noughties. Cool, and clever.
Impossible to
disassociate
from the times;
stoned
interviews,
dresses covered in beer,
Williamsburg bar tables set
alight; punch-ups at 3am;
a fierce riot of love and
excitement and explosion,
exclamation marks covering
everything in sight. Life is
nothing if not a spectacle.
Karen O – a whirling dervish
on vocals, emotion punctuated
by breathy spaces and faux
disdain, like Riot Grrrl and Big
Black given 20 doses of
whatever – was the party queen.
Brian Chase – a meticulous
withering one-man assault on
drums – put the rock into the art.
Nick Zinner: Brutal thunderous
minimalist guitar.
Critics claimed that Fever To
Tell, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2003
debut album, was short on
emotion and… uh… songs.
Critics were wrong. It had as
many songs as the Ramones’
debut – and that is a shitload of
songs, let me tell you. Rarely did
the pace let up, from the
insanely great Date With The
Night to the greatly insane Pin
to the percussive melodrama
No No No, and when it did
(Maps or closer Modern
Romance) it felt emotional.
This reissue comes with the
sort of fancy shit they never
send reviewers – two remastered
LPs, plus pages from Karen O’s
 notebook and a 164-page
hardbound book of Nick Zinner’s
personal photos – numbered,
signed and wrapped in fishnet
stockings. It includes nine
demos, eight B-sides and rarities
and five newspaper lyric posters.
There’s also a custom
champagne cork 8GB USB stick
containing video content.
Bang.
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Everett True
Richard Hell And
The Voidoids
Blank Generation RHINO
He coulda been a contender...
Aside from The
Ramones’ D-U-
M-B exception
to the rule,
NYC’s CBGB-
based version of punk was
significantly more cerebral than
its largely visceral McLaren-
encouraged UK counterpart, and
Richard Hell – poet, style icon,
novelist, nihilist, perfectionist,
arsonist – was its nearly man.
He could (should) have been
huge: broodingly handsome,
literate, ambitious, it was Hell
who pioneered the electrocuted
crop punk hairstyle and first
repurposed torn T-shirts with
safety pins.
In spite of a co-frontman stint
with the original line-up of The
Heartbreakers, bass-toting,
mannered vocalist Hell’s
incarnation of the ‘punk’ sound
had way more in common with
Television – the band he’d
formed with Tom Verlaine in ‘73
– than with the Dolls. Voidoids’
guitarist Robert Quine matched
an edgy Verlaine precision with
a brink-dwelling Velvets
aggression.
Hell and his Voidoids’ Sire
label debut is the sound of urban
paranoia, of stolen diet pills,
cold-water Lower East Side lofts
and clucking Bohemia; a thrift-
shop, gutter-glam, sunglasses-
after-dark symphony of the
street. Hell might have looked
and sounded an awful lot like
an imminent future, but Blank
Generation echoes the Bleeker
Street beats and is as much the
last echo of a lost downtown
scene as it is the harbinger of
a spike-topped new order; its
title track parodies Bob
McFadden’s ‘59 B-side The Beat
Generation, its extensive Another
World closing piece is almost
avant-garde in its taut
improvisational jazz-born
ambitions. Elsewhere Love Comes
In Spurts jabs and jars as Betrayal
Takes Two simply delights.
Mis-filed under ‘also-ran punk’
for way too long, Blank
Generation deserves reappraisal
as a truly outstanding late-70s
alt.rock classic.
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Ian Fortnam
Skyclad
Reissues NOISE
Riffs, riddles, fiddles and
folk revisited.
If you want to
hear folk-
metal’s true
starting point
– and why
wouldn’t you? – listen to The
Widdershins Jig from Skyclad’s
1991 debut album The Wayward
Sons Of Mother Earth. There it is,
the birth of a genre. And yet
these daddies of the whole thing
remain weirdly overlooked in the
pantheon of acknowledged
British metal legends. Along with
with the current Skyclad line-up’s
excellent new album Forward Into
The Past, these classy reissues
should go some way towards
setting the record straight.
Firmly rooted in the thrash of
vocalist Martin Walkyier’s
former band Sabbat but
undeniably dancing to
a different, more euphoric tune,
The Wayward Sons (8/10)
remains an indecently thrilling
debut album, full of great songs,
wickedly intricate lyrics and
mad-eyed bite. A Burnt Offering
For The Bone Idol (1992, 8/10)
and Jonah’s Ark (1993, 8/10)
offered a more overtly folked-up
and sophisticated take on that
original blueprint, while 1994’s
Prince Of The Poverty Line (9/10)
and the following year’s The
Silent Whales Of Lunar Sea
(9/10) are the true gems here.
Unsung British heavy metal
classics that haven’t aged a day,
they represent a giddy peak in
Walkyier’s songwriting
partnership with guitarist Steve
Ramsey and hammering home
what a truly great band Skyclad
had become.
Dom Lawson
Pretenders
Alone Special Edition BMG
I’d sure as hell still go and see
Chrissie Hynde play live.
This album
rocks. Yes, in
places it feels
like a nostalgic
rip-off
– co-conspirator, fellow Akron-
ite Dan Auerbach is well-known
for his greasy reverence for
rock’s past in the Black Keys.
Yes, the title track is half-Klark
Kent tribute and half second
Pretenders’ album tribute (all
those muttered asides and ‘fuck
off’s). It feels right, though.
Chrissie Hynde, more than most,
personifies rock (part Kim Deal
with a dirty fag hanging from her
mouth, part Suzi Quatro, very
much herself).
Roadie Man could be an out-
take from The Blues Brothers
(original) – Booker T on the keys.
But for every One More Day
demoing for a 30-year-old
remake of Absolute Beginners
with its bossa nova swagger,
there’s a grungy shit-kicker like
Gotta Wait or a serpentine,
murky Holy Commotion. Sure, we
only really love it cos it sounds
like Chrissie. But this is Chrissie
sounding on top of her game:
tough, solid, and emotional.
Pretenders? Hardly matters at
this late stage. Bunch of session
musicians or not, Hynde has
always been centre and front
of the band. This reissue of the
2016 rocker comes with 15
classic Pretenders songs
recorded live in 2017. Frankly,
they feel unnecessary, although
I’m sure they’re great to
witness (see above). But Alone
itself rocks.
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Everett True

Ramones
Rocket To Russia 40th Anniversary
Deluxe Edition RHINO
“One-two-three-four…” now goes up to 11.

T
his is the album that should have broken
The Ramones. Even now it’s baffling that
the mainstream didn’t accept the band
earlier. Compare the first Ramones album to
Green Day’s Dookie (the album that finally thrust
punk down the US mainstream’s throat in 1994)
and frankly it’s staggering to see how little was
added to the Ramones blueprint across 18
subsequent years of tail-chasing Maximum Rock
’N’ Roll stasis. Joey, Johnny, Tommy and Dee Dee
not only defined, but also fine-tuned the shape of
things to come. Check out Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop
opener, and all of Dookie’s fundamentals, from
chainsaw riffing to adenoidal vocals, are already
in place. Across the 20 months between the
release of Ramones and their third, Rocket To Russia,
collection the band had changed nothing but
honed everything. Tommy’s production was now
as regimented as Johnny’s riffing, label Sire,
sensing the potential imminence of a hitherto
unlikely hit, invested a grander budget, and in
compositional terms the band were getting better.
RAMONES: GODLIS
out and I want some’, Rocket To Russia
sounded like a hit record. That said,
six months earlier it would have
sounded even more like one. Its lead
single Sheena Is A Punk Rocker had
been around since May. Waiting until
November to release the album meant
it went head-to-head with Never Mind
The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols, and in
comparison to the Pistols’ raging
delinquent fury the Ramones’
1950s-based pop classicism suddenly
sounded positively archaic. So the
album missed its moment, died on its
arse and in the UK peaked at No.60.
But the Ramones had a secret
weapon, one with which the Pistols couldn’t Glasgow Apollo live set, meanwhile, is a dead
compete: they were an astonishing live band spit of the exemplary It’s Alive (recorded at
who could casually knock out 45 songs in an London’s Rainbow 12 days later). By 1978’s
hour and a half. And reliable? Totally. So while Road To Ruin, Tommy had gone and the spell
there are 77 tracks on this 40th Anniversary was broken, but these Ramones, captured here,
edition, the demos, alternative takes and rough remain entirely essential.

From Rockaway Beach’s genius opening couplet cuts all sound pretty much identical to their QQQQQQQQQQ
‘Chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum, the sun is finished counterparts. The contemporary Ian Fortnam

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 97
REISSUES
The Rolling Stones
On Air POLYDOR
Off-the-leash early-60s radio work from the
band that ensnared the hearts of the insolent.
D
ue to the fact that The Rolling
Stones have been playing that live
set, with little deviation (for want
of a better word), for the last forty years,
it’s easy to forget that there’s a rich seam
of their back catalogue that’s been pretty
much Jumpin’ Jack Flashed out of history.
Spool backward past Their Satanic Majesties
Request to when Brian Jones was still
a going concern and there they are: the
band that ensnared the hearts of the born
insolent, the antidote to The Beatles, The
Greatest Rock’n’ Roll Band In The World.
When they actually still played some pure,
unalloyed rock’n’roll.
With all due respect to today’s
Rolling Stones, they’re a very different
proposition to the vital force captured here
on these hitherto unavailable (legally) radio
sessions recorded between 1963 and ’65 for
the BBC’s Saturday Club, Blues In Rhythm, Top
Gear, Rhythm And Blues, Yeah Yeah and, oh
yes, The Joe Loss Pop Show. These Stones are
drilled to perfection, there’s no intuitive
intra-guitar weaving going on here, their
gig-honed delivery is as tight as Charlie’s
snare, and in combining this degree of
technical competence with the pent-up
fury of an ambitious young band under
a barrage of undeserved tabloid abuse, their
form is staggering.
The band are off-the-leash, ploughing
through unpolished takes of
98 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
contemporary hit singles (Come On,
I Wanna Be Your Man, It’s All Over Now,
The Last Time, a quite spectacular (I Can’t
Get No) Satisfaction), favourite B-sides and
album tracks (The Spider And The Fly,
Down The Road A-Piece) and historically
sought after exclusives (Chuck Berry’s
Memphis, Tennessee and Beautiful Delilah,
Buster Brown’s Fannie Mae, Tommy
Tucker’s Hi-Heel Sneakers and, the time-
honoured bootleggers’ favourite, their
remarkable live romp through Bo
Diddley’s Cops And Robbers).
As proceedings unfold, you’re struck
by certain lost elements: Ian Stewart’s
piano locked into an unwavering Watts/
Wyman rhythm section, Brian Jones’s
signature blues-wailing harp and the
extraordinary vocal performance of the
young Mick Jagger.
The passing years have not been kind
to Mick Jagger. It invariably seems to be
Keith Richards that receives the lion’s
share of plaudits for the Stones’ legacy and
longevity. Somewhere along the line we
got used to Jagger, we ceased noticing
what an incredible vocalist he is, or in the
case of On Air, was. Mick Jagger is brilliant
on here, there’s no other word for it.
Expressive, feral, soulful, sensual,
explosive… On Air? On fire, more like.
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Ian Fortnam
Deep Purple
A Fire In The Sky –
A Career Spanning
Collection RHINO
Comprehensive three-disc set
charts Purple’s career highs.
It’s been
something of
a banner year
for Deep Purple
with the well
received Infinite album and an
impending continent wide
tour set to take the band into
Christmas. Little wonder then,
that Rhino have decided to
pull together this expansive
collection that gives a generous
nod to all of Deep Purple’s
history. Admittedly, the cover
looks like it’s been drawn by
a child who’s just been given
his first crayon, and the title
sounds like the first suggestion
someone threw out at a
marketing meeting, but it’s
hard to quibble with the track
listing and the sustained and
enduring song writing from
a band who have endured more
splits, line-up changes and
protracted and very public fall-
outs than your average
Hollywood marriage.
Also, given Coverdale’s
miserable take on the Purple
legacy, Jon Lord’s passing and
Ritchie Blackmore riding
roughshod over his musical
catalogue at this year’s Stone
Free festival, it’s something of
a relief to cherish Deep Purple
in their pomp, and appreciate
some of their latter day highlights
– Vincent Price, Rapture Of The
Deep – and work backwards
from there, stumbling across
forgotten gems as you go, not
least a song like the eloquent
Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
from 1996’s Purpendicular album.
That said, it’s hard to imagine
the Deep Purple fan who
doesn’t already own the bulk of
material here and who might
need prompting to revisit the
history of a band they already
know and love.
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Philip Wilding
Various
Looking At The Pictures
In The Sky – The British
Psychedelic Sounds Of
1968 GRAPEFRUIT
The trip goes on.
British
psychedelia
from 1968 may
lack the naive
charm and
enthusiasm that characterised
the previous year as bands
wised up to nicking half
a phrase or chord from
a favourite hit to try and
concoct one of their own, but
there’s still plenty of treats
along this four-hour audio trip
even allowing for the compilers’
occasional bias towards
inverted snobbery – judging
a record more for its rarity value
than its contents.
There’s a smattering of
name bands – the Move, the
Status Quo, Procol Harum,
Pretty Things - with obscure
B-sides and a few more who
reached the dizzy heights of
a support slot at the Marquee
but the majority remained
unknown beyond a small circle
of friends. Indeed the compilers
have scrupulously rounded up
every record label they could
find to prove they existed.
Look out for Mr Pinnodmy’s
Dream by the Attack –about
a deaf, dumb (but not blind)
boy a year ahead of Tommy,
rock and roll’s favourite
gynaecologist Sam Hutt aka
Hank Wangford cunningly
disguised as Boeing Duveen
& The Beautiful Soup and
Ritchie Blackmore unable to
stop tinkering with the
opening riff to So You Want To
Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.
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Hugh Fielder
Pink Floyd
A Collection Of Great
Dance Songs/Delicate
Sound Of Thunder
PINK FLOYD RECORDS
Vinyl reissues of 1981
compilation and 1988
live album.
Released
in 1981,
A Collection
Of Great
Dance Songs
(6/10) was castigated for its
conceitedly humorous title
which only served to make the
band appear pompously
remote; of course, we’re far too
good to make dance music. It’s
a strangely random collection;
a couple of tracks from Meddle
including One Of These Days,
with its futuristic, wormhole
synth interlude, a version of
Money re-recorded due to
licensing issues, as well as
Another Brick In The Wall (Part
II), which, ironically, is a dance
song, though not a great one.
By 1988, Roger Waters
had quit Pink Floyd and must
have assumed as the creative
ROLLING STONES: GETTY
mainstay that the band
carrying on without him would
be like The Police carrying on
without Sting. However,
despite the langour of David
Gilmour, noodling towards
a distant sunset, Pink Floyd
continued to sell millions on
the strength of their name.
Recorded over five nights at
the Nassau Coliseum on Long
Island, Delicate Sound Of
Thunder (5/10) sees the
crowds sit patiently through
solemnly somnabulent new
material like Round And Round
and Sorrow from 1987’s
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
before the hits come oozing on
disc two, including Time,
Comfortably Numb and Run Like
Hell, one of Gilmour’s few
co-contributions to The Wall.
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David Stubbs
David Byron
Baby Faced Killer VOICEPRINT
Byron’s brave fling.
After David
Byron was fired
from Uriah
Heep in 1976 he
formed Rough
Diamond whose album the
following year was as dire as it
was predictable. The rest of his
alcohol-fuelled decline was just
a matter of time, apparently.
Not quite. In 1978 he teamed
up with producer and songwriter
Daniel Boone who tried to
reinvent Byron as a singer
beyond his heavy metal
confines. The title track, Only
You Can Do It and Heaven Or
Hell are catchy pop songs with
synthesizers and electronically
treated vocals that reek of ELO.
Rich Man’s Lady and Acetylene
Jean are smooth rockabilly.
Then there’s the electro-disco
of African Breeze, complete with
tribal rhythms.
In retrospect, Baby Faced
Killer is a brave album that’s
flawed because it tries to do
too much too soon. If it had
focused on developing just one
of these styles it might have
succeeded as Byron’s voice
was certainly adaptable and
the production was sleek and
brimming with ideas.
But the heavy metal world
is not best known for its
willingness to embrace
innovation. As expected the
reviews were dismissive.
Nobody was prepared to
countenance such a crossover.
The album was also ahead of its
time and swimming against the
tide of the new wave, not to
mention the first stirrings of
NWOBHM. It’s unlikely that
it would have been more
favourably received at any time
before Byron’s death in 1985.
But 40 years later it doesn’t
sound like the turkey it was
portrayed as back then.
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Hugh Fielder
Twisted Sister
A Twisted Christmas
RAZOR & TIE
Get thee behind me, Santa.
These days
Christmas
albums have
become a tacky,
cynical, money-
grubbing fixture in a festive
season already overstuffed with
commercialised vulgarity. So
respect is due to Dee Snider and
his hard-rocking elves for going
the extra mile with their 2006
festive stocking-filler, which
pushed gaudy yuletide cash-ins
to new heights of migraine-
inducing, cross-dressing, office-
party naffness. This is the album,
in other words, that Twisted
Sister were born to make.
A Twisted Christmas treats
a range of seasonal classics
including White Christmas, Deck
The Halls and Let It Snow to the
full glam-metal treatment of
clobbering drums and squeaky-
shiny hard-rock riffola, with
Snider’s signature nails-on-
blackboard screech the icing on
the cake. It is relentlessly
horrible, of course, but no more
so than most Green Day albums
and considerably more fun. The
melodic parallels between O
Come All Ye Faithful and We’re
Not Gonna Take It are amusingly
highlighted, and there are
pleasing in-jokey nods to Judas
Priest, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and
others. A decade later, this
straight no-frills reissue remains
difficult to like but still oddly
compelling, like watching a scary
cross-dressing clown vomiting
half-digested mince pies into the
eager upturned faces of carol-
singing Dickensian orphans.
Just not quite as entertaining as
that sounds.
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Stephen Dalton
Upp
Upp/This Way FLOATING WORLD
Jeff Beck’s funk-rock follies.
It was during
a more
auspicious
meeting, as he
rehearsed with
Bowie for Ziggy’s farewell gig,
that Jeff Beck walked in on Upp.
Their very white-boy funk,
hugely indebted to James
Brown, Sly Stone and, in Andy
Clarke’s outlandish synth work,
Stevie Wonder, tickled Beck
enough for him to produce
their self-titled 1975 debut.
The very sub-Brown grit of
Clark’s voice is worsened by
a never-welcome Vocoder (his
sub-Marvin Gaye falsetto is
better). Vapid attempts at
black American street lyrics
jostle with the clunkingly
Dylanesque (‘She sparkles like
a god, and she bleeds like a girl’)
on the otherwise affecting love
song It’s A Mystery. Beck solo
completists will be detained
most by his fleet runs, choked-
back attack and swift peaks
of intensity on Bad Stuff, and
have Beck himself to blame for
the aggravating fadeout. The
album’s real interest is in the
polite freakiness of Clark’s array
of cutting-edge keyboards,
nodding back to the band’s
prog pasts.
Beck was a less frequent
visitor for 1976’s This Way.
Recording moved from Kent
to LA, and the sound to slickly
conventional, string-laden
disco, only nodding back to
prog with propulsive, jazzy
instrumental There’s Still Hope.
There wasn’t, so they split.
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Nick Hasted

Gary Moore
Blues And Beyond BMG
Late, great Irish blues dynamo gets his due in
both a two-CD and handsome four-disc set.

G
ary Moore was a racked, impassioned
and troubled individual, as Harry
Shapiro’s excellent biography – included
in the full bells-and-whistles box set edition of
this collection – makes clear. It was our good
fortune that much of his inner turmoil found
release in his music, specifically the blues.
In the period covered, between 1999’s Beat To
The Street and 2004’s Power Of The Blues, Moore
was unassailable.
Fresh from his gunslinger stint with Thin
Lizzy and Phil Lynott and holding his own with
jazz-rock heavies Colosseum II, Gary was free to
assert formidable mastery across a range of
blues formulations. The intensity of the
performances is breathtaking, a heady cocktail
combining the showboating flair of Jeff Beck, the
astonishing firepower of Stevie Ray Vaughan
and the fervent impassioned feeling of fellow
Irishman Rory Gallagher.
Moore’s devastation and dominance rages
in the searing, distorted Gibson tonality of You
Upset Me Baby, turning easily to piquant lyricism
on the gently awed Picture Of The Moon – his
playing shredding and sympathy in
equal measure.
Add the giddy hairpin speed and
calamity stoked by How Many Lies or
the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac
evoking lambent doom of Torn Inside
and Moore’s all consuming greatness
– as frontman, bandleader and
composer – is confirmed.
The two-disc set ends with a live
take of the showstopping Parisienne
Walkways but Moore’s natural playing
to the gallery flamboyance gets a fuller
airing on the previously unreleased
live show featured on the box set’s
two-disc Blues and Beyond Live set.
The 1999 performance is deliriously formidable tradition is made firm with indelible
combative and gloriously defiant. Perhaps stung cry from the heart Cold Black Night and the wild,
by critical reaction to the forward thinking yearning, sky-scraping glory of The Prophet.
A Different Beat and previewing new, as yet Moore’s premature death in 2011, aged 58,
unreleased, material this is GM at his robbed the world of a mighty talent. This
unvarnished, back to the wall, best. collection captures him at an awesome peak.
Forging allegiance with past masters Elmore QQQQQQQQQQ
James and Jimi Hendrix, his own place in the Gavin Martin

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 99
REISSUES
Green Day
God’s Favourite Band WARNER BROS
Concise career ‘best of’ collection from
the kings of pop-punk.
T
he arguments over what is and
isn’t punk have raged for as long
as the genre has existed. They
might share a common ancestry, but
Green Day bear as much resemblance to
the politically charged, $8-a-show likes
of Fugazi as a chihuahua does to a wolf.
Green Day’s brand of punk has, from day
one, harboured capitalist ambitions of
fame and fortune, stadium shows and
high-return royalty payments. And, fair
play to them, they’ve succeeded to a degree
that they themselves probably couldn’t
have envisioned. This new ‘best of’
collection unveils the secret of their
success in very simple terms: they’ve
written some blinding songs in their time.
From the irresistible bouncing bass of
early smash Longview, the sarcasm and
snotty self-loathing of Basket Case – which
defined Generation X ennui with laser
precision – to the move towards more
considered acoustic, string-laden pop
with Good Riddance and the political and
social fury of George W Bush-era
American Idiot (ah, if only we had some
inkling of the true horrors to come),
they’ve soundtracked popular culture
since breaking through with their major-
label debut Dookie, the starting point of
God’s Favourite Band’s tracklist, in 1994.
While it’s not all gold – Warning remains
a dragging misstep that sticks out like
100 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
a sore thumb among their greatest pop
moments; and the ‘P’ word really is their
greatest ally – they’ve never been afraid to
celebrate the joys of pop, the fizzy highs of
a singalong chorus, the communal joy of
a concert that throws in everything
including the T-shirt cannon. While
grunge was busy pretending fame was
a curse, Green Day were embracing it and
moulding themselves into the ultimate
gateway band for rock fans to come – that
you can go to one of their gigs now and
see two or three generations of the same
family singing their hearts out is a truly
wonderful thing. And this collection of
their biggest hits is the perfect
introduction to the pre-teen budding
rocker in your life.
For those already familiar with the
tracks on God’s Favourite Band (which is
probably most of us), there’s the new Back
In The USA, a rollicking, all-American
anthem stuffed with harmonies and all
set to soundtrack the next big teen drama,
and a new version of then gentle,
Americana-tinged Ordinary World, now
transformed into a tear-jerking duet with
country singer Miranda Lambert. But
that’s just garnish. Really, God’s Favourite
Band is about the hits, the whole hits and
nothing but the hits.
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Emma Johnston
The Pretty
Things
Greatest Hits MADFISH
Underground stalwarts’
60s encapsulated.
In many ways
the Pretty
Things really
were what
Andrew Loog
Oldham sold the Rolling Stones
as. Founding guitarist Dick Taylor
actually was a Stone until he
ducked out of the fledgling
combo in ‘62 to study art, but
the quintet he formed with
futuristically hirsute fellow
student Phil May had so much
antisocial attitude, feral rhythm
‘n’ blues brutality and
argumentatively shaggy hair that
they never actually enjoyed any
of the hits that this double-disc’s
title idly boasts.
The ironically branded
Pretties were malchicks to
a man. Sullen and aggressive,
their take on the R&B that the
Stones had recently ushered
into the mainstream (then
quickly abandoned) was raw,
it ramped up the keening
sexuality at the core of the
genre, and its influence was
broad and enduring. David
Bowie covered both Rosalyn and
Don’t Bring Me Down on Pin Ups
(his address book listed Phil
May under ‘G’ for God). Aside
from The Dame’s patronage,
generations of testosterone-
packed adolescent males found
release in replicating the 12-bar
assault the Pretties pioneered
(Dr Feelgood, Nine Below Zero,
Thee Headcoats, The Strypes,
Eight Rounds Rapid). Elsewhere,
latter PTs define other 60s
aspects (Defecting Grey’s dark
psych; pioneering concept work
S.F. Sorrow’s proto-metal Old
Man Going). But it’s the
desperately driven early
material corralled here – and
coupled with a live 2010, 100
Club revisit to the band’s
eponymous debut – that’s sure
to ensnare and inspire most
new converts.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Ian Fortnam
Skid Row
B-Side Ourselves
WARNERS/ATLANTIC
New Jerseyites’ 1992 covers EP
dusted down.
Skid Row were
the last band to
the hair-metal
party. Their
1991 album
Slave To The Grind reached No.1
in the US but it proved to be the
genre’s final hurrah; a few months
later, Nirvana released Nevermind
and the world went plaid.
As their 1992 EP B-Side
Ourselves proved, they never
really deserved to be lumped in
with the likes of Warrant and
Slaughter anyway. Skid Row
were a down-the-line rock band
at heart, one who were well-
versed in the enduring legacy of
heavy metal and hard rock.
Their choice of covers here isn’t
exactly revelatory: Kiss (C’mon
And Love Me), Rush (What You’re
Doing), Hendrix (a take on Little
Wing that sounds like every
guitar shop version you’ve ever
heard) and Judas Priest (a live
version of Delivering The Goods
featuring backing squawks from
Rob Halford, much to frontman
Sebastian Bach’s evident
delight). The only vaguely off-
piste selection is a barrelling
version of the Ramones’ Psycho
Therapy – the best track here
and one that displays a side of
the band you wish they’d
showed off more.
It’s a pity the original EP’s five
tracks haven’t been bulked out
with additional rare ones, covers
or not, but, given the long-
running acrimony between Bach
and his old bandmates, that’s
hardly surprising.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Dave Everley
Sweet
Sensational Sweet SONY/RCA
They could kill you with a wink
of their eye.
Subtitled,
somewhat
optimistically,
Chapter 1: The
Wild Bunch,
what we have here is a massive
nine-disc set that serves to
remind us what was wrong with
The Sweet, a band much
maligned by the contemporary
rock press throughout their
early-70s heyday: absolutely
nothing. Sure, there was a five-
year false start – if you can call
a modus operandi that netted
six chart hits a false start – but
from the dawn of ‘73 (when their
Blockbuster narrowly beat David
Bowie’s The Jean Genie to the top
of the UK singles chart using the
same riff) until the summer of
‘74, this cannily cosmetic-caked
quartet, operating under the
auspices of RAK Records
songwriting team Nicky Chinn
and Mike Chapman, fashioned
GREEN DAY: FRANK MADDOCKS/PRESS
five of the glam era’s finest 45s.
Which in turn engendered some
of Top Of The Pops’ defining
moments – guitarist Steve
Priest’s mugging to camera
simply never gets old. Maybe
 they didn’t have the worthy
muso authenticity of Zeppelin,
but when faced with a Hellraiser,
a Ballroom Blitz or a Teenage
Rampage, what self-respecting
13-year-old cared what the dull
old man with the droopy
moustache and the Robert
Johnson record from Melody
Maker thought?
While there’s significant
ballast in this trove of material
from ’71-78 (all the hits, all the
albums, all the rarities, all the
rest), there’s also The Six Teens,
and if you don’t feel the need to
own that then, quite frankly, you
and your 27-minute live version
of Dazed And Confused deserve
each other.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Ian Fortnam
The Grateful
Dead
The Grateful Dead
Records Collection RHINO
Upheavals and exploratory
sounds in the mid-70s.
Despite the
catch-all title of
this five-disc
set, it actually
covers a period
of less than three years in the
land of the Dead, book-ending
a rebirth and farewell of sorts.
Wake Of The Flood, from 1973,
was the band’s first full studio
set since the latterly-perceived
masterpiece American Beauty
at the start of the decade, and
while it performed better than
its predecessor charts-wise, the
sonic makeover leaning towards
avant-garde jazz alienated
some fans.
The following year’s From The
Mars Hotel, named after a one-
time residence of celebrated
beat writer Jack Kerouac, was
a partial return to their roots,
although several tracks sound
muted compared to the free-
flowing versions played live
over the previous 12 months.
Blues For Allah (’75) differed in
that its songs were largely
improvised in the studio, the
band having announced an
indefinite break from touring,
with more members
contributing to the songwriting.
Experiments with atonal
melodies and Middle-Eastern
time signatures aren’t wholly
successful, although Franklin’s
Tower pilfers from Lou Reed’s
Walk On The Wild Side with
pleasing results.
Silence prevailed until the
double live album Steal Your
Face in 1976, although its
recording over four nights at
San Francisco’s Winterland
Ballroom in 1974 places it,
ahem, dead-centre in the
chronology of this collection.
Technical obstacles in mixing
the group’s elaborate multi-
speaker live sound for home
consumption makes it an often
unsatisfying listening
experience, and the band
subsequently revealed that the
death of founding member Ron
‘Pigpen’ McKernan from alcohol-
related illness upset the dynamic
of their performances.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Terry Staunton
Scorpions
Born To Touch Your
Feelings – Best Of
Rock Ballads SONY
Masters of power-ballad
cheesiness.
Nobody delivers
a power ballad
quite like the
Scorpions,
as this
compilation proves. Yes, some
of the songs are incredibly
cheesy, but so what? That’s the
allure of this type of song.
With Always Somewhere to
Still Loving You, Wind Of Change
(inevitably) and Holiday and
the rest the band have always
done it with such conviction
and style that you have to
admire their achievements.
Not all of the tracks here come
from their original source. There
are two MTV Unplugged
versions, and in the case of Send
Me An Angel it’s a 2017 acoustic
rendition. There also two new
songs, Melrose Avenue and
Always Be With You proving they
haven’t lost their touch.
There is an argument to
suggest that an album full of just
ballads lacks variety. However,
that shouldn’t deter anyone from
getting hold of this 17-tracker,
because it will make you smile,
and smirk!
QQQQQQQQQQ
Malcolm Dome
Avenged
Sevenfold
The Stage CAPITOL
A modern classic of epic metal
gets a polish.
Two years ago,
Avenged
Sevenfold took
everyone by
surprise with
The Stage, which showed the
band elevating their ambitions
and taking on board influences
from Queen and Queensrÿche.
In the process they came up
with a brilliantly explosive and
intelligent musical presentation.
Now, that album has been
expanded, with the addition of
seven studio recordings, six of
which are covers, plus four live
tracks. The live material, which
is basically the opening quartet
of tracks from The Stage, and
Dose, the one previously
unreleased studio original, are
all worthy additions.
But it’s those covers which get
the attention. The band give the
Rolling Stones’ 50-year-old As
Tears Go By a contemporary
thrust, Mr Bungle’s Retrovertigo
sounds like it was actually
composed with this version in
mind, and the Del Shannon’s
Runaway is spritely. Malagueña
Salerosa, meantime, stays true to
its Mexican roots
However, the shining moments
on this reissue come with
a breathtaking march through
The Beach Boys’ God Only Knows
and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were,
both of which have distinct
Avenged affectations yet are
respectful of the classics we
know so well.
This deluxe edition on two
discs adds to the original
album’s impact.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Malcolm Dome

The Doors
Strange Days 50th Anniversary
Deluxe Edition RHINO
Old man’s new clothes are a cheap suit.

W
hen did you discover The Doors?
Raddled old rock journos from the
inkie era might claim they were
turned on to the band by their heroin dealer;
a wrinkly Strip hipster that he saw them perform
at the London Fog way back in ’66. Me? I was
introduced to The Doors by my mate Steve Pratt.
We worked together as Saturday salesmen at
men’s tailors John Collier. Pratt instilled in me
a love affair for the band that endures to this day.
Therefore it should be a gratifying experience – an
honour, no less – to review the 50th anniversary
edition of their second studio album, Strange Days.
But it turns out to be almost impossible.
For starters, one cannot help but wonder what
a 15-year-old music fan’s reaction would be if he
or she heard The Doors for the first time today.
“You’re playing me something that’s, like, fifty
years old?” Think back. Secondly, to these ears
Strange Days is so achingly familiar that any
departure from the original vinyl listening
experience jars alarmingly: there’s no crackle
THE DOORS: GETTY
There’s no doubt that original
engineer Bruce Botnick has done
a pristine remastering job, chucking
in extra mono mixes for good
measure. (But why listen to medium
wave when you can have DAB radio
instead?) Refreshed, revitalised,
reborn? Some might say so. But it just
doesn’t sound right. Thirdly, shouldn’t
anniversary editions be stylish and
celebratory in some fashion? There
are no bonus tracks here, although
one could argue this is just fine, as in
Doors terms such things usually
consist of Morrison mumbling
incoherently while Robby Krieger
plays the riff to Roadhouse Blues over and over simultaneously misogynistic and pathetic; You’re
again. But the bare-bones nature of this reissue Lost Little Girl is downright creepy; and as for
is disconcerting; its cause isn’t helped by My Eyes Have Seen You… well, duh! Plus, with
sleevenotes that are drier than Jimbo after a demented US president taunting a tubby North
a month in rehab. Additionally, nitpickers could Korean nukehead on Twitter, these days are
argue that the original album is past its sell-by. surely the strangest of them all.

and pop after Love Me Two Times? There isn’t Three examples: the People Are Strange lyric QQQQQQQQQQ
a skip during Moonlight Drive? How can this be? ‘Women seem wicked when you’re unwanted’ sounds Geoff Barton

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 101
 STUFF
DVDs
BOOKS &
The Heroin Diaries:
A Year In The Life Of
A Shattered Rock Star
Ten Year Anniversary Edition
Nikki Sixx with Ian Gittins
Notorious smack confessional given a 10-year update.
“T
here is something about
spending Christmas alone,
naked, sitting by the Christmas
tree gripping a shotgun, that lets you
know your life is spinning dangerously
outta control.”
While certainly belonging to the
no-shit-Sherlock school of self-analysis,
Sixx’s quote is a decent example of the
black humour that threads through this
often bleak memoir. Though not exactly
an underpopulated genre; the road to
fame, drugged-up excess and back being
an achingly familiar narrative to anyone
who likes the sound of a guitar or indeed
music full stop, Sixx’s approach to the
drug confessional succeeds where
others fail (see Dave Navarro’s self-
absorbed Don’t Try This At Home), largely
due to his ability to step back and reflect
relatively ego-free. Soberly-written
commentaries on the original, less-lucid
entries pepper the text, and inject respite
from the grinding but entertaining
accounts of a hopped-up lifestyle
drowning in oceans of booze and silos
of smack, crack and enablement.
Loosely presented in the Neil Strauss
style, i.e. heavily illustrated text, fanzine
102 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
GALLERY BOOKS
typography, reds and blacks, ink splats,
plus grainy photos of semi-naked women
and white lines being manically caned
in every conceivable location, the design
compliments the subject matter in its
chaos. Far more personal than The Dirt,
this account of one calendar year, 1987,
reveals a man adrift from reality, locked
in a downward death-spiral from which
he miraculously escaped, although not
without technically dying on December
23 in one of rock’s more notorious ODs.
There’s definitely a “sickening allure in
his lifestyle” as Slash suggests, as dark
and hollow as it is, and it’s this perverse
voyeurism, topped with a sprinkling of
prurience that keeps the pages turning.
Bookended (literally) with a new
intro and closing chapter, it’s evident
how important the book was in Sixx’s
continued recovery and worthy of merit
in those terms alone. And while it can’t
hold a candle, or burnt spoon, to the
work of Sixx’s beloved Burroughs, as an
examination of the dangers of a life with
no consequences, cocooned in the
corporate rock machine, it delivers.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Tim Batcup
Lou Reed: A Life
Anthony DeCurtis
JONATHAN MURRAY
The waiting’s over... here’s
the man.
Lou Reed’s life was
not without its
complexities and,
in public image
terms, inhabiting
an enigma suited
Lou just fine. Even before he
learned media manipulation at
the feet of the master (he both
idolised and imitated Andy
Warhol from the moment he
adopted the pop art maestro as
an unlikely father figure) he was
customarily warping actuality to
glamorise relatively humdrum
beginnings. In 1952, when Reed
was just 10, his family relocated
from Brooklyn to Freeport, Long
Island, and Lou immediately
adopted ‘an air of urban
swagger’. He realised his NYC
beginnings could afford him
street credibility in sleepy
Freeport and he could be a tough
kid in the eyes of his peers
simply by wearing a mask of his
own making.
In many ways Lou Reed was
a dramatic construct. According
to his sister he suffered from
anxiety and panic attacks all his
life, but ask Lou, and the reason
he didn’t walk to school alone
before the age of nine was
because “if you walked the
streets, you’d get killed.” And
primary school? “It was like
being in a concentration camp.”
This, right here, is Lou. He not
only wrote, but lived his own
myth, he adopted a combative
bad-ass facade that amused
him. You’d see the suggestion of
a smile playing on his lips as he
constructed yet more of his
legend, and eventually, he came
to believe it. Anthony DeCurtis
knew Lou well, and with the
help of countless, excellent
interviewees, gets behind the
mask. An affectionate
biography that surpasses the
1994 begrudgings of Bockris,
here’s the definitive account.
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Ian Fortnam
Kiss Klassified –
War Stories
From A Kiss
Army General
Johan Kihlberg GAIN PRODUCTION
Five-star General.
As Hot
Chocolate’s
Errol Brown
once crooned
memorably: ‘It
started with a
kiss.’ And it most certainly did -
in sleepy 1970s Sweden at least.
When in May ‘76 Kiss (capital
‘K’ of course) rocked up to play
their debut Scandi show in
Gothenburg, the impact left an
indelible impression. Overnight,
Sweden became the epicentre of
sleaze and glam, and – for good
or ill - it’s never felt the need to
relinquish that status.
In Kiss Klassified we have the
memories of Johan Kihlberg,
president of Kiss Army Sweden
for 10 years, distilled into
a coffee-table book. It contains
750 never-before-seen photos
and several unpublished
interviews, and there’s
a welcome focus on ‘lesser’ Kiss
types such as Eric Carr, Vinnie
Vincent and Bruce Kulick. The
book’s design resembles a garish
1980s heavy metal fanzine,
which is a very good thing
indeed, and it oozes with trivia
so trivial as to amount to little
more than insignificant tittle-
tattle. There are facts here (like
the story behind the mysterious
symbols on Kulick’s left trouser
leg) that will astound even the
most knowledgeable Kiss fan.
A work of minor genius.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Geoff Barton
How The Beatles
Changed The
World
Tom O’Dell SYMETTRICA
The World At War with
catchier tunes.
It’s strange to see
living memory
presented in
dryly academic
historical
perspective.
Weirdly disconcerting. There are
moments during writer/director
Tom O’Dell’s 105-minute How
The Beatles Changed The World
documentary when viewers over
50 might find themselves
compelled to check their pulse.
The starkly monochrome
Swinging Sixties occasionally
look as dusty, alien and distant
as the silent Roaring Twenties
once seemed. Can we really
have been there, and still be
alive now?
A fistful of talking heads, led
by cultural historian and Fab-
mate, Barry Miles, retell the
band’s tale (with illuminating
contemporary performance
and interview footage of the
actual Beatles) and lace it with
lashings of pertinent historical
NIKKI SIXX: PRESS/DUSTIN JACK
perspective. But it’s a story so
familiar that O’Dell’s belated
cinematic recapitulation – as
adequate and accurate a labour
of love as it surely is – may leave
the average armchair classic
rock historian baffled by its very
existence. That said, wool-
gathering middle-aged
nostalgists are possibly not its
ideal audience. It would, however,
make an ideal classroom aid for
21st-century kids studying late-
20th-century history, and
a necessary one at that. After all,
you’d need to present a hell of
a lot of evidence to convince
anyone born into this anodyne,
static, complacent, apolitical
musical zeitgeist that a mere
pop group could once have
actually changed the world.
Most of today’s couldn’t change
their T-shirt without written
permission from their stylist.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Ian Fortnam
The Picnic At
Blackbushe
Jerry Bloom WYMER
by former bandmate Noddy
Holder as “infuriating, zany,
demanding and impatient, but
also very funny” and
remembered for those
preposterous outfits on Top Of
The Pops, this is probably how
few of us view Hill. However, like
his mother Dave has suffered
from depression. The writing of
this book and the unearthing of
some family skeletons have, he
says, acted as therapy.
Its contents touch upon
almost 50 years with Slade and
drummer Don Powell, almost
half of that time without Holder
and bassist Jim Lea, from
becoming the biggest band in
the land to trying – and failing –
to break America and re-birth at
the Reading Festival in 1980.
Having resumed his life and
career after suffering a stroke
onstage in Germany, So Here It Is
certainly has the human touch.   
 
  


Big book remembers even QQQQQQQQQQ
  
   
  

bigger outdoor gig. Dave Ling
July 15th 1978,
!
 



 
and 250,000 Beatles On !
  

 
 

people The Roof: The !
 

   
 

display the Farewell Concert 
 
 
 
 

negligible impact of punk on That Surprised
rock’s old brigade by trekking to The World




Blackbushe Airfield in Surrey to
watch Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton,


  

 


 
  
 




Joan Armatrading and Graham
Parker. Harvey Goldsmith calls
it his best-ever event, and
Dylan’s first UK dates in 12 years
dominate the news. Yet for all
the shelves of Dylanology out
there, it somehow hasn’t
entered rock lore like some
smaller events. This hardback
book in a metal flight case aims
to rectify that.
Compiling hundreds of photos,
anecdotes and cuttings, it’s a
devotional scrapbook recording
everyone’s performances plus
fan reaction on a grey English
summer’s day. Dylan stands
alongside Billy Connolly to watch
Clapton. Armatrading wears
a rugby shirt. Jenny Agutter and
Ringo are there. Dylan performs
in a top hat given to him by
a Savoy doorman and plays for
nearly three hours. Back to the
garden, kinda.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Chris Roberts
So Here It Is: The
Autobiography

Dave Hill UNBOUND
Tony Barrell OMNIBUS  
Excellent account of the
 
Fab Four’s legendary 1969
rooftop gig.
On January 30,
1969, the four
members of
The Beatles,
accompanied
by Billy Preston,
played together outdoors for
the first time since 1966. There
had been much discussion
about a concert intended for
a TV broadcast, which had the
feeling of a reunion despite the
band still being together, so
estranged had they become.
Suggestions for venues had
included the Cavern, a Tunisian
ampitheatre and, facetiously
from John, Manila.
The Beatles’ story has been
told countless times but Barrell’s
account feels fresh and
revealing. He is great on the run-
up to the gig, McCartney’s
impatience at Lennon and
Harrison’s apathy, dealing with
the naïve moneypit that was
Apple, which McCartney tried
to persuade Lord Beeching,
dismantler of the railways, to  
 #(
Look wot ’e did! take over. Mayfair is wonderfully

ORQGRQ 6FDOD
Just like In Flame, depicted as an area under siege
the band’s movie by rockers in the late 60s,
from 1975, this including Hendrix and Hells
autobiography of Angels as well as The Beatles –
Slade’s superyob never before, never again.
guitarist has QQQQQQQQQQ
a dark undercurrent. Described David Stubbs "$  &

 "   " %" "
"
'
 p 120
Metallica
Many bands suffer a mid-life crisis.
Their London show suggests that
this is not one of them.

p106 Interviews
p109 Tour Dates

p112 Live Reviews

ROSS HALFIN
 ing to
“I’m try P’s
take EL o
music t
t
the nex .
ion
generat her
it
You’ll e not,
r
like it o ally
but I re .”
en joy it
Carl Palmer
The newly crowned Prog God commemorates his former bandmates with ELP Legacy.
T
he final remaining member of Emerson Lake
& Palmer talks about his relationships with
Keith and Greg, “unfair” media criticism and
the latest tour by his solo band.
You were recently named Prog God at the
awards ceremony of Classic Rock’s sister
magazine Prog. How did it feel to receive that?
It was great to accept the award on behalf of Greg
[Lake] and Keith [Emerson]. The past year has been
a pretty rough time for me; I’ve lost so many of my
colleagues, the most recent being John Wetton [Asia
bandmate]. So it carried a bit of a healing factor.
ELP were so critically reviled. Did the award
represent some form of vindication?
Yeah, maybe just a little. I find that stuff [media
criticism] slightly unfair. When you think about the
ways Pink Floyd toured and the way the Rolling
Stones and U2 still do it, why were ELP singled out?
We might have laid down the blueprint, but others
were more extravagant, and we were the ones that
got clobbered.
In your acceptance speech at the Prog Awards
you said: “Keith, Greg and I were never the
greatest of friends, but there was definitely
a magic between us.”
I didn’t talk to Greg Lake for the last six years of his
life. It was my decision to end ELP in 2010. Keith
threw his arms around me and thanked me for that,
but Greg became a bit bitter. We corresponded
a little by email, but until the day he died I had no
idea of the severity of his illness.
106 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Few would have expected that. Many people might be A PALMER PRÉCIS
Well, Greg and I went out for dinner just once or surprised that your Carl Palmer was
twice in all of the time we worked together. Keith band ELP Legacy have born in Birmingham
in 1950.
and I had more in common. But the three of us were a guitarist in place of His first bands were
not friends; music was the calling and when we got a keyboard player? the Crazy World Of
in a room together. I doubt I’ll ever feel anything like I wanted to carry on Arthur Brown and
that again. playing ELP music, but hiring Atomic Rooster.
a Keith Emerson clone or even ELP Legacy are
ELP reissues have been plentiful, but the new a vocalist really didn’t appeal, completed by guitarist
Paul Bielatowicz and
super-deluxe, twenty-four-disc boxed set so I went for something niche bassist Simon
Fanfare 1970-77 is something very different. – a prog rock instrumental Fitzpatrick.
Yes. All three of us had said that we wanted metal group. Compared to
something to really sew everything up. I’m happy South America and Italy,
that it contains live recordings that were never England doesn’t get it yet, but I’m trying to take
before released plus all sorts of ‘extras’ including ELP’s music to the next generation. You’ll either like
a beautiful book. it or you won’t, but I really enjoy it.
Do the new 5.1 mixes by Steven Wilson Asia played a US tour with Journey after
and Jakko Jakszyk of King Crimson get the John Wetton’s death. Is the band likely
thumbs-up from you? to continue?
That’s something the record company wanted Those dates were offered before John died, and
to do. Some might prefer the originals, but my we did them with Billy Sherwood as a stand-in.
attitude is: hey, let’s see if somebody can put Billy had produced John’s final [solo] album
even more into the music. It was great anyway. [Raised In Captivity]. On those dates with Journey
Whether or not we’ve improved it is up to the we went down phenomenally well, and it made
individual listener, but I approach things with us realise that if we play in front of the right
an open mind. audiences then this band still stands a chance.
But Asia will continue. There are some really
Does anything remain in the vaults? interesting people who want to be in the band,
There’s a six-hour DVD [Beyond The Beginning] although obviously I can’t mention their names
released by Sanctuary [in 2008] that fell until that’s fully confirmed. But there are exciting
between the cracks. I can still add another ninety times ahead. DL
minutes to that for re-release, but the box set sews
it all together. ELP Legacy’s tour ends in Norwich on December 3.
 INTERVIEWS

Threshold
It’s all change for the Surrey
prog-metal veterans.

I
n the springtime, Threshold shocked
the world of prog-metal by severing
ties with singer Damian Wilson. The
UK group’s eleventh album, Legends Of
The Shires, welcomes back former vocalist
Glynn Morgan. Keyboard player Richard
West refuses to spill the beans.

What happened with Damian Wilson,

whose vocals were was removed from
the Legends album after its completion?
The honest answer is that Damian doesn’t
want us to explain the reasons. So we’d
rather respect his wishes. What I will say
is that the atmosphere within the band
had changed over the last couple of years.
It felt like a necessary time to move on.

Wilson had professed a desire to be

“involved as an equal” in Threshold.
Max & Iggor Cavalera
I wish I could say “no comment”. I’m not
sure what he means. Everyone has their
role within the band. That’s curious. Return To Roots
Well, you and guitarist Karl Groom Reconciled at last, they’re celebrating 20 years of a metal epic.
write just about all of the songs.
It was awkward. We often talked about it.

We never managed to fit Damian into the
process. For instance, he wrote a song for
[the last album] For The Journey on his
phone, then lost it, which was unfortunate.
But we were always open to his ideas.
You must have known it was a gamble
to replace such a popular singer?
Yeah, but we’ve done it before rather a lot
of times [laughs]. The saving grace is that
it’s an old voice and not a new one.
Is Legends Of The Shires the biggest
thing the band have attempted?
It’s the biggest and most complete, yeah.
We decided early on that it would be even
more prog than For The Journey.
T
heir long-running feud over,
drummer Iggor Cavalera
checks in as he and brother
Max continue a 20th-anniversary
celebration of Roots, their former
band Sepultura’s breakthrough.
This in-its-entirety tour for
Roots has been so successful it’s
run for more than a year. Which
shows have been the best?
It was very special to play in Brazil
[Sepultura’s birthplace] and
Download Festival. Going to Iceland
for the first time was also really cool.
Xavantes had to dream an idea
before they could put it to music.
Was it difficult for Sepultura to
surpass such a daring record?
Not really, because we also took
a lot of hate for it. For many people,
Roots is their least favourite of
Sepultura’s albums.
What else is in the set-list?
Max and I return alone to the stage
and we jam whatever comes into
moments. In Australia Max started
playing an AC/DC song and it was
horrible. He looked at me and
laughed. “Bon Scott has just rolled
over in his grave.”
Max quit Sepultura after Roots
but you stayed for another
ten years. Now that you’re
reconciled, how would you
describe your relationship?
It’s cool. We’re older and still have
the passion for music. We’ll throw
at each other ten new bands that
we’ve discovered, like a black metal

Is there a little bit of Brexit in its
concept of “a nation trying to find its
way in a troubled world”?
Yeah. It has a divorce song called State Of
Independence, and that divorce is between
David Cameron and Angela Merkl.
And yet Stars And Satellites is the
closest you’ve come to a pop song?
Yes. It didn’t feel like a Threshold song
at first but the response to it has really
humbled me. DL
Threshold play London Islington Academy
on December 10.
Two decades on, are the songs
from Roots still fun to play live?
Oh, absolutely. The energy is
different every night. I love the fact
that there are people seeing us play
those songs for the first time.
What do you remember from
when you journeyed into the
Brazilian jungle to collaborate
with the Xavante tribe for the
recording Roots?
It’s crazier than at the time and still
one of the highlights of my life. The
“It’s like we’re
back playing in
our living room,
really raw.”
our minds. It can be a cover or
something we wrote when we were
fourteen. With just guitar, drums
and the voice it sounds like we are
back in our living room. Really raw.
That sounds cool.
Yeah, but there are some really bad
band from Syria or something.
We’re still into the underground.
But on a personal level the
period of estrangement must
have been uncomfortable?
It was tough, but maybe we needed
[the break]. We had a super-
intense relationship. Now we
try to eliminate all of the drama,
things like complaining about the
[backstage] catering. DL
The Cavaleras play London The
Forum on December 12.

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 107

Uli Jon Roth
Around the world with “a mind full of music” and a Scorpions classic.
T
he former Scorpions
guitarist performs a final
run of shows based on 1978’s
Tokyo Tapes, the celebrated double-
live album that was his swansong
with the German band.
How will these dates on the
Tokyo Tapes Revisited world
tour differ from previous legs
you’ve done?
There will be a couple of different
songs but basically it’s the same.
And you know what? This has been
quite educational for me, because
I’ve never stuck with one
programme for a long period of
time. I was very happy to be invited
back to some places we’ve already
played, and also to Scotland. But it’s
also important for me to say that
because improvisation is such a big
part of what I do, no two shows are
ever the same.
Who have you got in your band
this time?
I have a pool of musicians but it’s
mostly the same line-up as on the
last leg. It will definitely be the same
singer, Nicklaus Thurman.
The songs concerned are
from 1974 to 1977. Do you
108 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
think it’s important to keep that
material alive?
The Scorpions no longer play
most of those songs, and when
a friend suggested it to me they said:
“There are still a lot of people that
want to hear songs from that era.
If you don’t do it, then nobody
else will.” It took a while to get my
head around it but it got me back
in touch with the rock side of
my playing.
Your album that started it
all, Scorpions Revisited, came
out almost three years ago.
“Improvisation is
such a big part of
this for me, so no
two shows are
ever the same.”
Is it now almost time to do
something else?
[Laughing] Yeah, I think so. At
the start I had thought that this
would be for one tour only, but the
promoters kept on requesting it and
I was surprised by how well the
show works. Next year we will do
a different programme.
And what might that be?
The plan is to return to my Electric
Sun [post-Scorpions] period, which
was a very important time in my
life. In the UK that band was quite
successful, we headlined twice at
Hammersmith Odeon [in 1983
and ’85]. And 2018 just happens to
be the fortieth anniversary of
Electric Sun’s formation.
When you play live, often
with your eyes closed in
concentration, what goes
through your mind?
Not much. How shall I explain…
I’m not wondering whether I left
the stove on at home [laughs].
My mind is full of music – notes,
images and movements. When
I play a lead solo, words become
non-existent. When I play a vibrato,
I might see the note in front of me,
very much in 3D. I become the note.
I find it best to forget about myself;
in fact I pretend that I no longer
exist. I see myself as a servant of the
music all of the time. DL
The last of Roth’s 2017 dates is
Blackpool on December 21.
Electric Boys
Swedish glamsters groove
– unpolitically – once more.
G
uitarist, vocalist and band leader
Conny Bloom previews a British
tour as the band celebrate 25
years since the release of their ‘difficult’
second album, Groovus Maximus.
Groovus Maximus has some wonderful
songs but suffered in comparison to
its celebrated predecessor, Funk-O-
Metal Carpet Ride.
Well you say that, but it’s all a matter of
taste. I know people that think it’s our
best album. I also know others that prefer
Freewheelin’ [1994, the band’s final album
before a split]. Personally I like both of the
first two records. Groovus was more like
our live show – less production effects
and more hard rock riffs.
You must have enjoyed recording at
Abbey Road?
Because we liked it so much we returned
for the third album. With Groovus we
worked in the same room as The Beatles
had done, and some said that Mary In The
Mystery World was inspired by that whole
situation. But of course the song was
written half a year earlier.
The album came out right in the
middle of the grunge revolution,
which cost the band dearly.
Yeah, but we were in our own little
bubble and didn’t really see it coming.
I wish it had come out sooner, but I was
the only songwriter and we thought we
had set the standards really high with the
first album.
Later on you had a spell with Hanoi
Rocks. Do you have good memories
of those days?
Those were four and a half great years,
a brilliant time in my life.
Have you spoken to your Silver
Ginger 5 bandmate Ginger Wildheart
recently?
We’re still friends, if that’s what you
mean. I love the guy. A great songwriter.
Could you talk up these upcoming
shows for an inquisitive newcomer?
We will preview the single from a new
album that we’re recording. We play
groove rock with pop melodies and some
psychedelia, but it’s a party gig; we’re not
trying to be political. DL
The tour ends in London on December 4.
 RECO
MME
NDS

Tour Dates
…
MICHAEL MONROE

36 CRAZYFISTS JIMMY BARNES

Glasgow Cathouse Jan 18 London Islington Academy Dec 13
Manchester Academy 3 Jan 19 Glasgow King Tat’s Wah Wah Hut Dec 15
Birmingham Academy 2 Jan 20 Edinburgh Pleasance Theatre Dec 16
London Islington Academy Jan 21 Glasgow Cottiers Theatre Dec 17
Belfast Limelight Dec 19
ACCEPT, NIGHT DEMON Dublin Whelans Dec 20
London Camden Koko Feb 8
BIG COUNTRY
BRYAN ADAMS York Fibbers Dec 8
Manchester Arena May 24 Leeds Brudenell Social Club Dec 9
Birmingham Genting Arena May 25
Glasgow The Hydro May 26 BITERS
Leeds First Direct Arena May 27 London Camden Underworld Dec 18
Newcastle Metro Radio Arena May 29
London Wembley Arena May 30 BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION
London O2 Arena May 31 Wolverhampton Civic Hall Jan 2
London Hammersmith Apollo Jan 4
AIRRACE, LIONHEART
Wolverhampton Slade Rooms Dec 1 BLACK LABEL SOCIETY
London Camden Underworld Dec 2 London Royal Albert Hall Apr 5
Sheffield Academy Dec 3 Dublin Tivoli Apr 7
Newcastle The Cluny Dec 5 Belfast Limelight Apr 8 Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm (yes, him) brings his
Edinburgh Bannerman’s Dec 6
BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL tasty rough’n’roll glam-punk to London and Birmingham.
ALIEN ANT FARM JUDAS PRIEST, NIGHTWISH,
Bristol Academy Feb 6 GOJIRA, MORE See page 106 for dates, currently December 1 and 2.
London Kentish Town Forum Feb 7 Derbyshire Catton Park Aug 9-12
Manchester The Ritz Feb 8
Norwich Waterfront Feb 10 JOE BONAMASSA London Shepherd’s Bush Empire Dec 7 ELECTRIC BOYS
Leeds Academy Feb 11 Cardiff Motorpoint Arena Mar 9 Manchester Albert Hall Dec 9 Porthcawl Planet Rockstock Festival Dec 2
Birmingham Institute Feb 12 Manchester Arena Mar 10 Southampton Guildhall Dec 10 Nottingham Rescue Rooms Dec 3
Dublin Academy Feb 14 Carlisle Sands Centre Mar 11 London Camden Underworld Dec 4
Belfast Limelight 2 Feb 15 Aberdeen GE Oil & Gas Centre Mar 13
EPICA
Glasgow
Newcastle
Nottingham
Garage
Academy
Rock City
Feb 16
Feb 17
Feb 18
Gateshead
Birmingham
Brighton
The Sage
Genting Arena
Centre
Mar 14
Mar 16
Mar 17
Recommended Nottingham
Glasgow
Rock City
ABC
Apr 6
Apr 7
THE DAMNED, SLIM JIM PHANTOM Bristol Academy Apr 8
IAN ANDERSON & JETHRO TULL THE BREW Newcastle Academy Jan 26 Dublin Tivoli Apr 10
Manchester Apollo Apr 3 Brighton Komedia Jan 25 Dundee Caird Hall Jan 27 Manchester The Ritz Apr 12
Newcastle City Hall Apr 5 Minehead Giants Of Rock Festival Jan 26 Glasgow Academy Jan 28 London Kentish Town Forum Apr 13
Edinburgh Usher Hall Apr 6 Leicester The Soundhouse Jan 27 Leeds Academy Jan 30
Liverpool Auditorium Apr 7 Oxford Haven Club Feb 1 Manchester Academy Jan 31 EVANESCENCE
Bristol Colston Hall Apr 9 Wakefield Warehouse 23 Feb 2 Birmingham Academy Feb 1 London Royal Festival Hall Mar 30, 31
Birmingham Symphony Hall Apr 10 Glasgow Nice ‘N’ Sleazy Feb 9 Leicester Academy Feb 3 Manchester Apollo Apr 2
Cambridge Corn Exchange Apr 11 Edinburgh Bannermans Feb 10 Nottingham Rock City Feb 4 Nottingham Arena Apr 3
London Royal Albert Hall Apr 17 Nottingham Bodega Feb 16 Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall Feb 6 Glasgow Armadillo Apr 5
Wolverhampton Slade Rooms Feb 17 Southend-on-Sea Cliffs Pavilion Feb 7 Sheffield City Hall Apr 6
ANVIL Cardiff Great Hall Feb 9
London Camden Underworld Feb 6 BROKEN WITT REBELS Bristol Academy Feb 10 EXTREME, DAN REED NETWORK
Stoke-on-Trent Eleven Feb 7 Bristol Thekla Dec 7 Bournemouth Academy Feb 11 Newcastle Academy Dec 13
Newcastle Trillians Feb 8 Manchester Ruby Lounge Dec 8 Southampton Guildhall Feb 13 Glasgow Academy Dec 14
Grimsby Yardbirds Club Feb 9 Nottingham Bodega Dec 9 Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion Feb 14 Leeds Academy Dec 16
Glasgow Cathouse Feb 10 London Kentish Town Forum Feb 17 Birmingham Academy Dec 17
Wigan Pure Feb 11 TYLER BRYANT AND THE SHAKEDOWN Bristol Academy Dec 18
Belfast Limelight Feb 13 Birmingham Castle & Falcon Dec 2 London Brixton Academy Dec 20
Dublin Academy Feb 14 Trecco Bay Planet Rockstock Festival Dec 3
Buckley Tivoli Feb 16 Manchester Ruby Lounge Dec 4 THE DARKNESS, BLACKFOOT GYPSIES BRIAN FALLON
Bridgend Hobos Feb 17 London Camden Dingwalls Dec 5 Stoke-on-Trent Victoria Hall Dec 1 & THE HOWLING WEATHER
Brighton Green Door Store Feb 18 Nottingham Rock City Dec 2 Birmingham Institute Feb 20
Bilston Robin 2 Feb 20 FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES Norwich UEA Dec 3 Manchester The Ritz Feb 21
York Fibbers Feb 21 Bristol Academy Dec 1 Guildford G Live Dec 5 Glasgow ABC Feb 22
Evesham Iron Road Feb 22 Birmingham Institute Dec 2 Margate Winter Gardens Dec 6 London Camden Koko Feb 23
Weston The Bear Feb 23 Manchester The Ritz Dec 3 Southend-on-Sea Cliffs Pavilion Dec 7 Nottingham Rock City Feb 24
Glasgow ABC Dec 5 Birmingham Academy Dec 9 Bristol SWX Feb 25
A PERFECT CIRCLE Nottingham Rock City Dec 6 London Hammersmith Apollo Dec 10 Newcastle Boiler Shop Mar 8
Manchester Apollo Jun 12 Norwich UEA Dec 7 Brighton Dome Dec 11 Leeds Beckett Mar 9
London Brixton Academy Jun 13 London Brixton Academy Dec 8 Cardiff St David’s Hall Dec 13 Dublin Olympia Theatre Mar 10
Bristol Colston Hall Dec 14 Belfast Limelight Mar 11
APOCALYPTICA MAX & IGGOR CAVALERA
Brighton Dome Feb 27 RETURN TO ROOTS, OVER KILL, INSOMNIUM, THE DEAD BOYS FEEDER
Bristol Colston Hall Feb 28 DESERTED FEAR Leeds Brudenell Social Club Jan 31 Bristol Academy Mar 7
Birmingham Symphony Hall Mar 1 London Kentish Town Forum Dec 12 Sheffield Academy 2 Feb 1 Norwich UEA Mar 8
Cambridge Corn Exchange Mar 2 Birmingham Institute 2 Feb 2 Manchester Academy Mar 10
Glasgow ABC Mar 3 ROGER CHAPMAN, FAMILY & FRIENDS Newcastle Riverside Feb 3 Glasgow Barrowland Mar 11
Southampton The Brook Jan 9 Glasgow ABC 2 Feb 4 Leeds Academy Mar 13
ARCH ENEMY, WINTERSUN, Leicester Academy Jan 11 Manchester Gorilla Feb 6 Birmingham Academy Mar 14
TRIBULATION London Shepherd’s Bush Empire Jan 13 Nottingham Rescue Rooms Feb 7 Nottingham Rock City Mar 16
Glasgow ABC Feb 9 Newcastle Academy Jan 17 London Islington Academy Feb 8 London Brixton Academy Mar 17
Nottingham Rock City Feb 10
London Camden Koko Feb 11 CLIMAX BLUES BAND DIAMOND HEAD FIREWIND, RAGE
Manchester The Ritz Feb 13 London Oxford Street 100 Club Jan 17 Edinburgh La Belle Angèle Dec 1 London Camden Underworld Jan 21
Bristol Academy Feb 14 Sheffield HRH Festival Dec 2 Sheffield Corporation Jan 22
JOHN COGHLAN’S QUO Bilston Robin 2 Dec 7
ATOMIC ROOSTER Evesham Iron Road Dec 7 Southampton 1865 Club Dec 8 FISH
London Chelsea Under The Bridge Jan 20 Bognor Regis Butlins Feb 2 Leeds Metropolitan University Dec 8
Reading Sub 89 Feb 9 DINOSAUR JR Manchester The Ritz Dec 9
AT THE DRIVE IN, DEATH FROM ABOVE, Cardiff The Globe Apr 7 London Camden Roundhouse Dec 13 Leamington The Assembly Dec 10
LE BUTCHERETTES London Putney Half Moon Apr 20 Cardiff Tramshed Dec 12
London Brixton Academy Mar 9 DIRTY THRILLS, BLUE NATION Bristol Academy Dec 13
Newcastle Academy Mar 10 PHIL COLLINS Birmingham Academy Dec 12 London Islington Assembly Hall Dec 15, 16
Birmingham Academy 2 Mar 12 Glasgow The Hydro Dec 1 Norwich Waterfront Dec 13 Cambridge Corn Exchange Dec 19
Manchester Apollo Mar 13 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena Dec 2 Manchester Factory Dec 15 Newcastle Wylam Brewery Dec 20
Glasgow Academy Mar 15 Birmingham Genting Arena Dec 3 London Camden Underworld Feb 28 Glasgow ABC Dec 21

BAD TOUCH, MOLLIE MARRIOTT CREEPER DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH,
KEVIN NIXON

Norwich Waterfront Studio Dec 1 Glasgow ABC Dec 3 GUNS N’ ROSES, OZZY OSBOURNE, IN FLAMES, OF MICE & MEN
Southampton Talking Heads Dec 2 Birmingham Institute Dec 4 AVENGED SEVENFOLD, MORE Birmingham Arena Dec 17
Trecco Bay Planet Rockstock Festival Dec 3 Bristol Trinity Dec 5 Leicestershire Donnington Park June 8-10 Glasgow Hydro Dec 18

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 109
 RECO
MME
Leeds Arena Dec 20 NDS Grimsby Yardbirds Club Jan 19
London Wembley Arena Dec 21 Manchester Rebellion Jan 20

FOO FIGHTERS
MASTODON Buckley Tivoli Jan 21

Manchester Etihad Stadium Jun 19 ORANGE GOBLIN, KARMA TO BURN,

London Stadium Jun 22, 23 BLACK MOTH, RIDDLES
London Camden Electric Ballroom Dec 22
FREEDOM CALL
Glasgow Cathouse Feb 22 CARL PALMER’S ELP LEGACY
Sheffield Corporation Feb 23 Fletching Trading Boundaries Dec 1, 2
Cannock The Station Feb 24 Norwich Epic Studios Dec 3
London Camden Underworld Feb 25
PARADISE LOST
THE FUZZTONES Colchester Arts Centre Feb 15
London Oxford Street 100 Club Jan 25 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms Feb 16
Bristol Thekla Feb 17
ERIC GALES, QUINN SULLIVAN, Nottingham Rescue Rooms Feb 18
GARY HOEY Belfast Limelight 2 Feb 20
London Highbury Garage Mar 17 Dublin Tivoli Feb 21
Glasgow Classic Grand Feb 22
GARBAGE Manchester Gorilla Feb 23
London Brixton Academy Sep 14
PARAMORE
GIANTS OF ROCK FESTIVAL Cardiff Motorpoint Arena Jan 11
HAWKWIND, URIAH HEEP, MAGNUM, MORE London O2 Arena Jan 12
Minehead Butlins Jan 26-29 Birmingham Genting Arena Jan 14
Manchester Arena Jan 19
GOGOL BORDELLO Glasgow The Hydro Jan 20
Manchester Academy Dec 12
London Brixton Academy Dec 14 MIKE PETERS & THE ALARM
Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall Dec 15 10,000 years ago, mastodons, heavy beasts, roamed North Glasgow ABC May 4
Nottingham Rock City Dec 16 Holmfirth Picturedrome May 5
Glasgow Academy Dec 17 America. Next month, Mastodon, heavy beasts, roam the UK. London Kentish Town Forum May 26

GOOD CHARLOTTE, MILK TEETH

See below for dates, currently December 2-10.
Recommended
Birmingham Academy Dec 1
Manchester Academy Dec 2
London Brixton Academy Dec 3 Southampton Engine Rooms Mar 11
LACUNA COIL Brighton Old Market Mar 12 ROBERT PLANT, SETH LAKEMAN
GREAT BRITISH ROCK London Shepherd’s Bush Empire Jan 19 Belfast Ulster Hall Dec 2
& BLUES FESTIVAL MARILYN MANSON Sheffield City Hall Dec 6
ROGER CHAPMAN, NAZARETH, MARK LANEGAN BAND Manchester Apollo Dec 4 London Royal Albert Hall Dec 8
LUCKY PETERSON, MORE Liverpool Academy Dec 1 Glasgow Academy Dec 5 Portsmouth Guildhall Dec 11
Skegness Butlins Jan 19-21 Aberdeen Garage Dec 3 Wolverhampton Civic Hall Dec 6 Birmingham Symphony Hall Dec 12
Edinburgh Liquid Room Dec 4 Newport Centre Dec 8
GUN Belfast Mandela Hall Dec 5 London Wembley Arena Dec 9
Glasgow Barrowland Dec 2 Dublin Academy Dec 6
Manchester Club Academy Dec 8 Leeds Church Dec 8 MARILLION BEN POOLE, STEVIE NIMMO
London Camden Electric Ballroom Dec 9 Oxford Academy Dec 9 Gateshead The Sage Apr 11 London Oxford Street 100 Club Jan 15
Southampton Engine Rooms Dec 10 Cambridge Corn Exchange Apr 13
HARD ROCK HELL NWOBHM Brighton Concorde 2 Dec 11 Birmingham Symphony Hall Apr 14 THE PRETTY THINGS
RAVEN, DIAMOND HEAD, LIONHEART, London Camden Koko Dec 12 Brighton Dome Apr 16 London Manette Street Borderline Dec 15
AVENGER, MORE Bristol Colston Hall Apr 17 Leicester The Musician Dec 22
Sheffield Academy Dec 2, 3 LITTLE CAESAR Reading Hexagon Apr 19
London Camden Underworld Feb 21 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall Apr 20 THE PRODIGY
BETH HART Milton Keynes Craufurd Arms Feb 22 Manchester Apollo Dec 14
Dublin Vicar Street Apr 10 Sheffield Corporation Feb 24 BERNIE MARSDEN, FLAWLESS CARBON Doncaster Dome Dec 15
Ipswich Regent Theatre Apr 12 Newcastle The Cluny Feb 23 London Oxford Street 100 Club Jan 18 Plymouth Pavilions Dec 16
Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion Apr 14 Bilston Robin 2 Feb 27 Glasgow Academy Dec 18
Nottingham Royal Concert Hall Apr 15 Keighley Penningtons Mar 1 MASTODON, RED FANG, Wolverhampton Civic Hall Dec 19
Oxford New Theatre Apr 18 Evesham Iron Road Mar 2 RUSSIAN CIRCLES London Brixton Academy Dec 21-23
Folkestone Leas Hall Apr 19 Grimsby Yardbirds Club Mar 3 Cardiff Great Hall Dec 2
Cardiff St David Hall Apr 21 Glasgow Cathouse Mar 4 Wolverhampton Civic Hall Dec 4 QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT
Cambridge Corn Exchange Apr 24 Edinburgh Bannermans Mar 7 Nottingham Rock City Dec 5 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena Dec 1
Blackpool Opera House Apr 26 Manchester Academy 3 Mar 8 Newcastle Northumbria University Dec 6 Glasgow The Hydro Dec 3
Hull City Hall Apr 27 Chester Live Rooms Mar 9 Glasgow Barrowland Dec 7 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena Dec 5
Reading Hexagon Apr 30 Pwllheli Hard Rock Hell AOR Mar 10 Manchester Academy Dec 9 Leeds First Direct Arena Dec 6
Portsmouth Guildhall May 1 London Brixton Academy Dec 10 Sheffield Motorpoint Arena Dec 8
Coventry Cathedral Nov 3 CONNIE LUSH, KYLA BROX, Manchester Arena Dec 9
London Royal Albert Hall May 4 ERJA LYYTINEN MATTHEWS SOUTHERN COMFORT London O2 Arena Dec 12
Cheltenham Jazz Festival May 5 Whitby Pavilion Theatre Mar 21 Skegness Great British Folk Festival Dec 1 London Wembley Arena Dec 15
Coventry Albany Theatre Mar 22 Otley Courthouse Arts Centre Dec 2
JO HARMAN, ELLES BAILEY London Chelsea Under The Bridge Mar 23 Kinross Backstage At The Green Dec 3 THE QUIREBOYS (UNPLUGGED)
London Oxford Street 100 Club Jan 17 Lincoln Alive! Mar 24 Newport (IOW) Quay Arts Centre Dec 6 Stirling Tolbooth Dec 7
Durham Gala Theatre Mar 25 Barnoldswick Arts & Music Centre Dec 7 Edinburgh Bannermans Bar Dec 8
HIM Bury St Edmunds The Apex Mar 27 Selby Town Hall Dec 8 Nottingham Rescue Rooms Dec 9
Glasgow Barrowland Dec 14 Bristol Tunnels Mar 28 London Manette Street Borderline Dec 10
Nottingham Rock City Dec 15 Keighley The Octagon Mar 29 CHANTEL McGREGOR Evesham Iron Road Dec 14
Manchester Academy Dec 16 Southport The Atkinson Mar 30 Bristol The Tunnels Dec 10 Stoke-On-Trent Eleven Dec 15
London Chalk Farm Roundhouse Dec 17 Derby Flowerpot Dec 14 Leicester The Musician Dec 16
MACHINE HEAD Barton-upon-Humber Ropery Hall Dec 15 Sutton In Ashfield The Diamond Dec 17
IQ Southampton Guildhall May 13 Leeds Brudenell Social Club Dec 16 Plymouth The Hub Dec 22
London Islington Assembly Hall Dec 9 Cardiff University May 14 Norwich Waterfront Dec 23
Bristol Academy May 15 MOGWAI Ballymena Diamond Rock Club Jan 13
IRON MAIDEN, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Birmingham Academy May 17 London Brixton Academy Dec 15 Derby Flowerpot Jan 27
Newcastle Metro Radio Arena Jul 31 London Chalk Farm Roundhouse May 18, 19 Glasgow The Hydro Dec 16 Bilston Robin 2 Jan 28
Belfast SSE Arena Aug 2 Nottingham Rock City May 21
Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre Aug 4 Newcastle Academy May 22 MICHAEL MONROE CHRIS REA
Manchester Arena Aug 6 Glasgow Academy May 23 London Tufnell Park Dome Dec 1 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall Dec 1
Birmingham Genting Arena Aug 7 Manchester Academy May 25 Birmingham Institute 3 Dec 2 Manchester Apollo Dec 3
London O2 Arena Aug 10 Sheffield City Hall Dec 5
MAGNUM MOSTLY AUTUMN Belfast Waterfront Dec 8
JADIS Bristol Trinity Feb 20 Bury The Met Dec 9 Oxford New Theatre Dec 10
Southampton Talking Heads May 3 Cardiff Tramshed Feb 21 Bilston Robin 2 Dec 10 Brighton Centre Dec 11
St Helens Citadel May 4 Holmfirth Picturedrome Feb 23 Wavendon The Stables Dec 14 Bournemouth BIC Dec 13
London Tufnell Park Dome May 5 Manchester Academy 2 Feb 24 Norwich Waterfront Dec 21
Hull Welly Feb 25 RHAPSODY
KARNATAKA Aberdeen Garage Feb 26 OPERATION: MINDCRIME London Islington Academy Feb 26
Bilston Robin 2 Dec 3 Glasgow Garage Feb 27 Dublin Button Factory Jan 11
Belfast Limelight Mar 1 Belfast Empire Music Hall Jan 12 CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD
KING KING Birmingham Town Hall Mar 2 Sheffield Corporation Jan 13 London Malet Street ULU Mar 16
London Shepherd’s Bush Empire Jan 17 Preston Guildhall Feb 4 Pontypridd Muni Arts Centre Jan 14
Birmingham Town Hall Jan 18 Nottingham Rock City Mar 5 London Highbury Garage Jan 15 ULI JON ROTH, ALI CLINTON
Bath Forum Jan 20 Leamington Spa The Assembly Mar 7 Newcastle Trillians Jan 16 Chester Live Rooms Dec 6
Edinburgh Queen’s Hall Jan 26 Cambridge Junction Mar 8 Bilston Robin 2 Jan 17 Aberdeen Assembly Dec 8
Sheffield Leadmill Jan 27 London Islington Assembly Hall Mar 9 Glasgow G2 Jan 18 Dundee Venue Dec 9

110 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
 TOUR DATES
RECO
MME
Glasgow The Ferry Dec 10 NDS London The Joint Dec 2
Bilston Robin 2 Dec 11 Croydon Festival Dec 3
London
Stoke-on-Trent
Islington Academy
Eleven
Dec 12
Dec 13
THE TEMPERANCE ROGER WATERS
Wakefield
Oldham
Snooty Fox
Whittles
Dec 15
Dec 16
MOVEMENT Glasgow
Liverpool
he Hydro
Echo Arena Jul 2
Jun 29

Sheffield Academy Dec 17 Manchester Arena Jul 3

York Fibbers Dec 18 London Hyde Park British Summer Time Jul 6
Newcastle Academy Dec 19 Birmingham Arena Jul 7
Edinburgh Bannermans Dec 20
Blackpool Waterloo Music Bar Dec 21 STAN WEBB’S CHICKEN SHACK
London Oxford Street 100 Club Jan 19
SARI SCHORR & THE ENGINE ROOM
London Putney Half Moon Jan 16 THE WHITE BUFFALO
Skegness Blues Weekend Jan 19 Manchester The Ritz Apr 15
St Helens Citadel Jan 20 Glasgow ABC Apr 16
Birmingham Institute Apr 17
SEPULTURA Oxford Academy Apr 19
Bristol SWX Mar 13 Bristol Academy Apr 20
Glasgow SWG3 Mar 14 London Kentish Town Forum Apr 21
Dublin The Tivoli Mar 15
Pwllheli Hammerfest Mar 16 THE WILDHEARTS (UNPLUGGED)
Sheffield Foundry Mar 17 York Fulford Arms Dec 11
London Camden Koko Mar 18 Sheffield The Plug Dec 12
Leeds Brudenell Social Club Dec 13
IAN SIEGAL Edinburgh Bannermans Dec 14
Nottingham Running Horse Dec 13 Cardiff The Globe Dec 18
Stourbridge Katie Fitzgerald’s Dec 14 Exeter Cavern Dec 19
Chichester Chichester Inn Dec 15
London Barnes Bull’s Head Dec 16 WILD LIES
The British blues-rockers uncork some of their 70%-proof Glasgow The Attic Dec 8
SIKTH, DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL Newcastle Riverside Dec 9
Manchester Academy 3 Dec 2 tunes in the spring. In this case drink irresponsibly. Leeds Key Club Dec 10
Glasgow Garage Dec 3 Southampton Joiners Arms Dec 11
Birmingham Institute Dec 4 Bristol Louisiana Dec 12
Bristol SWX Dec 6 See below for dates, currently February 18 to March 9. London Tufnell Park Boston Arms Dec 13
Brighton Concorde 2 Dec 7 Nottingham Rock City Dec 15
London Camden Koko Dec 8 Brighton Centre Feb 27 Sheffield Academy Mar 5
Birmingham Genting Arena Mar 1 Portsmouth Pyramid Centre Mar 7 DAMIAN WILSON
SKID ROW London Wembley Arena Mar 2 Nottingham Rock City Mar 8 & ADAM WAKEMAN
Dublin Academy Mar 2 Bournemouth BIC Mar 5 London Kentish Town Forum Mar 9 Washington Arts Centre Feb 1
Belfast Limelight Mar 3 Cardiff Motorpoint Arena Mar 6, 7 Kinross Green Hotel Feb 2
Glasgow ABC Mar 5 Manchester Arena Mar 9 TESTAMENT, ANNIHILATOR, VADER Kirton In Lindsey Town Hall Feb 3
Inverness Iron Works Mar 6 Leeds First Direct Arena Mar 10 Bristol Motion Mar 29 Wavendon The Stables Feb 4
Newcastle Academy Mar 7 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena Mar 12 Manchester The Ritz Mar 30 Falmouth The Poly Feb 9
Sheffield Corporation Mar 9 Birmingham Institute Mar 31 Penzance The Acorn Feb 10
Pwllheli Hard Rock Hell Festival Mar 10 STONE BROKEN, JARED JAMES NICHOLS, Dublin Vicar Street Apr 1 Tavistock The Wharf Feb 11
London Shepherd’s Bush Empire Mar 11 THE BAD FLOWERS Glasgow QMU Apr 2 London St Pancras Old Church Feb 15
Hull Welly Mar 12 Brighton The Haunt Feb 22 London Camden Koko Apr 4 Sandwich St Mary’s Arts Centre Feb 16
Manchester Academy 2 Mar 14 London Islington Assembly Hall Feb 24 Cardiff Acapela Feb 18
Cardiff University Mar 15 Manchester Club Academy Feb 25 THERION Solihull Core Theatre Feb 22
Liverpool Hanger 34 Mar 16 Glasgow G2 Feb 26 London Islington Assembly Hall Feb 3 Lowdham St Mary’s Church Feb 23
Coventry Kasbah Mar 17 Newcastle Riverside Feb 28 Manchester Rebellion Feb 4 Fletching Trading Boundaries Feb 24
Norwich Waterfront Mar 19 Nottingham Rescue Rooms Mar 1 Aberdeen The Assembly Feb 7 Norwich Arts Centre Feb 25
Bristol Academy Mar 20 Pontypridd Muni Arts Centre Mar 2 Glasgow Audio Feb 8 Worcester Huntingdon Hall Mar 1
Brighton Concorde 2 Mar 21 Birmingham Institute 2 Mar 3 Sheffield Corporation Feb 9 Bath Chapel Arts Centre Mar 2
Nottingham Rock City Mar 22 Sheffield Corporation Mar 4 Belfast Limelight Feb 10 York The Basement Mar 4
Chester Live Rooms Mar 6 Dublin Tivoli Feb 11 Dumfries Theatre Royal Mar 5
THE SKIDS Bristol Fleece & Firkin Mar 7 Bristol Bierkeller Feb 13
Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut Jan 10, 11 Birmingham Institute Feb 14
STONE SOUR, THE PRETTY RECKLESS
Recommended
Aberdeen Lemon Tree Jan 12
Stockton-on-Tees Georgian Theatre Jan 18 Brighton Centre Dec 1 THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS
Norwich Waterfront Jan 19 London Brixton Academy Dec 4, 6 Cardiff Motorpoint Arena Mar 23
Coventry Empire Jan 20 Cardiff Motorpoint Arena Dec 5 Manchester Arena Mar 24 STEVEN WILSON
Preston Guildhall Jan 21 Glasgow The Hydro Dec 8 Glasgow The Hydro Mar 25 Coventry Warwick Arts Centre Mar 15
Dunfermline Glen Pavilion Feb 9 London O2 Arena Mar 27 Belfast Mandela Hall Mar 17
Holmfirth Picturedrome Jun 1 THE STRANGLERS, THERAPY? Birmingham Arena Mar 29 Dublin Olympia Theatre Mar 19
Manchester Academy Jun 2 Liverpool Academy Mar 6 Cardiff St David’s Hall Mar 21
Reading Sub 89 Jun 7 Glasgow Academy Mar 8 THRESHOLD Birmingham Symphony Hall Mar 22
Frome Cheese & Grain Jun 8 Inverness Ironworks Mar 9 London Islington Academy Dec 10 Glasgow Clyde Auditorium Mar 24
Cardiff Tramshed Jun 9 Kilmarnock Grand Hall Mar 10 Gateshead The Sage Mar 25
Newcastle Academy Jun 16 Nottingham Rock City Mar 12 THUNDER London Royal Albert Hall Mar 27-29
Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms Jun 27 Portsmouth Guildhall Mar 13 Wolverhampton Civic Hall Dec 15, 16 Manchester Bridgewater Hall Mar 31, Apr 1
Bilston Robin 2 Jun 28 Bristol Academy Mar 15
Brighton Concorde 2 Jun 29 Cardiff Tramshed Mar 16 BERNIE TORME
London Shepherd’s Bush Empire Jun 30 Birmingham Academy Mar 17 Trecco Bay Planet Rockstock Dec 1
Norwich Nick Rayns LCR Mar 19 Weston Super Mare The Bear Dec 2 ANDREW WK
SKINDRED, CKY Southend-on-Sea Cliffs Pavilion Mar 20 Oxford The Bullingdon Dec 3 Cardiff Great Hall Apr 13
Norwich UEA Apr 19 Leeds Academy Mar 22 Folkestone Stripes Club Dec 4 London Kentish Town Forum Apr 14
Southampton Guildhall Apr 20 Lincoln Engine Shed Mar 23 Birmingham Academy 2 Apr 15
Nottingham Rock City Apr 21 London Brixton Academy Mar 24 TOTO Norwich Waterfront Apr 18
Manchester Academy Apr 22 Guildford G Live Mar 26 London Royal Albert Hall Apr 1 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms Apr 19
Glasgow ABC Apr 24 Reading Hexagon Mar 27 Manchester Bridgewater Hall Apr 2 Manchester The Ritz Apr 20
Bristol Academy Apr 25 Newcastle Academy Mar 29 Dublin Vicar Street Apr 4 Glasgow Garage Apr 21
Leeds Academy Apr 27 Cambridge Corn Exchange Mar 30 Belfast Waterfront Auditorium Apr 7
London Brixton Academy Apr 28 Manchester Apollo Mar 31 Glasgow SEC Armadillo Apr 8 WOLFSBANE
Birmingham Institute Apr 29 Winchester The Railway Dec 15
SWEET THE TREATMENT Edinburgh Bannerman’s Dec 16
STATUS QUO Chesterfield The Avenue Dec 14 Cambridge Portland Arms Dec 16 Birmingham Asylum Dec 17
Bournemouth BIC Dec 2 London Kensington Nell’s Jazz & Blues Dec 15 London Islington Academy Dec 21
Wolverhampton Civic Hall Dec 3 Hull The Welly Dec 16 TRINITY LIVE Pontypool The Dragonfly Dec 22
Glasgow Clyde Auditorium Dec 5 Holmfirth Picturedrome Dec 17 STEVE ROTHERY, TOUCHSTONE, Bolton Bar Metro Rocks Dec 23
Newcastle City Hall Dec 6 Bilson Robin 2 Dec 18 GHOST COMMUNITY, MORE
London Hammersmith Apollo Dec 8 London Islington Assembly Hall May 12 ROY WOOD’S ROCK ‘N’ ROLL BAND
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT Bilston Robin 2 Dec 12
STEEL PANTHER Leeds Academy Feb 18 VANDENBERG’S MOONKINGS
Dublin Academy Jan 18 Cambridge Junction Feb 20 London Camden Underworld Feb 17 YES
Belfast Limelight Jan 19 Birmingham Institute Feb 21 Bristol Colston Hall Mar 13
Glasgow Academy Jan 20 Bristol Academy Feb 22 VEGA Sheffield City Hall Mar 14
Manchester Apollo Jan 24 Poole Winter’s End Festival Feb 24 Wolverhampton Slade Rooms Dec 9 Glasgow SEC Armadillo Mar 16
London Hammersmith Apollo Jan 26 Manchester The Ritz Feb 25 Manchester Bridgewater Hall Mar 17
Dublin Grand Social Feb 27 JOE LOUIS WALKER Gateshead The Sage Mar 18
STEREOPHONICS
ALISON CLARKE

Belfast Empire Music Hall Feb 28 London Oxford Street 100 Club Jan 16 Birmingham Symphony Hall Mar 20
Aberdeen AECC Arena Feb 23 Aberdeen Garage Mar 2 Brighton Centre Mar 21
Glasgow The Hydro Feb 24 Glasgow Barrowland Mar 3 WARRIOR SOUL Liverpool Philharmonic Hall Mar 23
Nottingham Motorpoint Arena Feb 26 Newcastle Northumbria University Mar 4 Reading The Facebar Dec 1 London Palladium Mar 24, 25

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 111
 ‘Feverishly
devoted
fans cheer
every
change of te
mpo’
Marillion
London Palladium
Veteran proggers deliver career-
spanning show.
It was always going to be tough to beat Marillion’s
October appearance at the Royal Albert Hall, which
felt like a career culmination. But credit to them for
maintaining what has been an incredible year or so, since the
release of Fuck Everyone And Run (F E A R). Tonight is another
high, with a grand sense of occasion. They come onstage to
black and white footage of stars – Bruce Forsyth et al – from
this venue’s esteemed, televised Sunday night slot, and
although it’s a joke, of course, there is a sense in which
Marillion are now part-beloved mainstream entertainers,
part-cult attraction with feverishly devoted followers.
The latter cheer every change of tempo as the band
plunder their catalogue, from Fish-era classics (Market
Square Heroes, Heart Of Lothian) to ecstatically received
F E A R music (Living In F E A R, the five-part The Leavers
and El Dorado), as they do Steve Hogarth’s every change
of outfit: cool futuristic Matrix-style black coat one minute,
billowing white blouson the next.
Hogarth is the inevitable visual focus, moving from guitar
to piano, posing with his MIDI-controller “cricket bat”, then
ditching instruments to bound across the stage and bounce
like Tigger, even climbing the speaker stacks. It’s a more
scattershot show than the RAH one, but no less jubilant.
There is grandeur and majesty, and Hogarth sitting cross-
legged on the floor like the Kendal Buddha. “It’s been an
amazing year,” he says, as though he can’t quite believe it Steve Hogarth:
himself. Top that, Marillion. “the inevitable
visual focus”.
Paul Lester

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Beth Hart Tom Robinson

Brighton Dome
Vivid return for fuzz-blues veterans.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have had to fight
to stay in the ring, and yet a painfully assembled
but accomplished eighth album, Wrong Creatures,
celebrates a hard-earned twentieth anniversary in
2018. Where Jesus And Mary Chain comparisons
were once too close for comfort, the San Francisco
band’s graduation from a broader school of dissolute,
sneering fuzz-rock is now clear. Tonight they’re more
focused and distinct than they ever were in their
commercial pomp.
It’s Halloween, so a diaphanous ghost-flapper
shimmers by with two pints during the Cowboy
Junkies-esque country noir twang of new song Haunt.
Robert Levon Been’s dissipated drawl stretches
syllables out as if they’re crossing the Gobi desert, on
a track which would fit a David Lynch film as much as
his Eraserhead haircut.
Been’s vocal insolence shows a classicist’s
commitment to an attitude which also animates music
based in the blues. Another new song, Question Of
Faith, sees him pull abrasive peels from his guitar,
screaming irritants to set against the velvet glove of
Peter Hayes’ lulling voice. Drummer Leah Shapiro rolls
as much as rocks, holding an initially ragged Six Barrel
Shotgun together until it builds a fuzz-rock temple.
The closing Punk Song actually holds to 60s R&B
verities. BRMC held their ground when they could have
Coventry Cathedral
One woman, one voice, one magical night.
There’s a sign outside Coventry cathedral
which says, ‘This is a church, not a centre of
entertainment’. Clearly nobody told Beth Hart,
because she is very much an entertainer – albeit
with genuine depth to her ebullience.
There’s no band with her here. It’s just Hart with
her remarkable voice, accompanying herself on piano,
keyboards and guitar. She opens with a climactic
rendering of Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come
and builds from there.
Hart isn’t seeking perfection, but perception
and through that a real self-awareness. But she
consistently connects with her rapt audience, chatting
to them as if at an intimate party. She isn’t afraid to lay
herself bare, exuding an array of emotions. There are
songs about the death of her sister (Sister Heroine),
feelings about her mother (Mama This One’s For You),
her brother’s ex-girlfriend (Get Your Shit Together), and
fears of losing her husband (Picture In A Frame).
This could easily have made for a maudlin and
cloying gig, but her enduring sense of fun shines
through, making for a mesmerising performance. She
even finds time to pay homage to Tom Waits with
a thunderingly convincing version of Chocolate Jesus.
You get the feeling she is always drawing deep from
her well of personal demons. Like Billie Holiday and
Janis Joplin, Hart’s music is beautiful because it mirrors
London 100 Club
A politically charged 40th anniversary.
The Tom Robinson Band’s debut album,
Power In The Darkness, has lost little of its bite
over the past four decades. The same is true of
Robinson himself, who celebrates the album’s
birthday with an anniversary tour, revising its
contents from front to back with his current group
and reflecting much of its now still-pertinent
political content with updated lyrics.
“For our next prime minister it seems we have
a choice between a floppy-haired scary clown or the
reincarnation of Mary Whitehouse in Jacob Rees-
Mogg,” Tom seethes by way of introduction to Better
Decide Which Side You’re On.
Later, prefacing Power In The Darkness he lays into
nurses living off food banks and the potentially deadly
atomic “pissing contest” between Trump and Kim
Jong-un, though wrapping an equally irate monologue
before Glad To Be Gay, the bassist/vocalist’s shrug of
“let’s just remember how far we’ve come in forty
years” is bittersweet.
Robinson’s troupe are significantly more polished
than the Tom Robinson Band and the latter’s acidic bite
is missed, but while the angst has been sucked out of
these tunes the crowd care little and on the final night
(of three) at the 100 Club a cameo from TRB’s guitarist
Danny Kustow on 2-4-6-8 Motorway and Don’t Take No
For An Answer sends them home in the knowledge
ALISON CLARKE

folded, and this is the payoff. her vulnerability. A true artist. they’ve seen something rather special.
Nick Hasted Malcolm Dome Dave Ling

112 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM

Donald Fagan: jazzing
the BluesFest.
Steely Dan / The Doobie Brothers
London O2 Arena
Both of them might fit the term ‘blues’ like a very loose glove, but the
music greats’ appearance at BluesFest is a crowd-pleasing triumph.
Barely two months after the death of founder
member Walter Becker, Donald Fagen, now
the only remaining founder member, brings Steely
Dan to the capital – to an exultant reception.
They’ve titled this union of 70s/80s superstars
BluesFest, but with Chic, Hall & Oates and Steely
Dan headlining over three days it probably should
have been called Polished Studio ConfectionFest. If
this is blues, it’s of the most sublimated kind.
Of the three, the Doobie Brothers, supporting
Steely Dan on the Sunday night, have the closest
connection to the blues, even if it is hybridised: folk
blues, country blues, rhythm ’n’ blues blues. This line-
up’s connection to the Doobie Brothers is similarly
partial, singer-guitarists Patrick Simmons and Tom
Johnston being the only original members, alongside
114 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
‘Donald Fagen is
ho god,
greeted like a bo
is.’
which he sort of
the slighter later-arriving multi-instrumentalist John
McFee, although Little Feat’s keyboard player Bill
Payne, who played on many classic Doobies albums,
is also with them.
Simmons’s wispy, long silvery hair and stetson,
and Johnston’s moustache enhance the authentic
period feel, and by set opener Jesus Is Just Alright
With Me, any fears that we were going to get an
ersatz Doobies are dispelled. All harmonies and
mellifluous groove, this early-Doobies take on the
gospel standard is like the Eagles with added funk,
while the searing guitar solo breaks the soft-rock
mood. They even manage to make the lyric ‘I don’t
care what they may say’ sound like a defiant credo.
Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While), with
its chicken-scratch guitar, shows these old cowboys
are on the one. The audience – curiously quite young
– are enraptured, and at the climax to Clear As The
Driven Snow Simmons feels sufficiently galvanised to
do a scissor-kick. Takin’ It To The Street, China Grove
and Long Train Runnin’, one of their ‘biggies’, bring it,
as they say, on home, and the even bigger Listen To
The Music provides the inevitable encore.
“Keep rockin’, people. Don’t ever stop!” urges
Johnston. It’s a simple plea, one that confirms the
strangeness of this double-bill: the unreconstructed
down-home boogie boys, warming up the audience
for the cool purveyors of highbrow jazz-rock.
S
omehow, however, the pairing works (and, lest
we forget, the two bands did share guitarist
Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter). And when Donald Fagen
strolls on stage looking like a dishevelled lecturer,
he’s greeted like a boho god, which he sort of is. He
deals with the recent death, in September, of Walter
Becker, the other half of this band for almost 50
years, with the laconic lack of sentiment you would
wish for. “We are the Steely Dan organisation,”
he declares. “We are a little different from what

Purple haze: Pat
Simmons peels of some
classic Doobies licks.
we were a few months ago, but I gotta live with
that.” He doesn’t need to mention the unoccupied
microphone stand, positioned poignantly centre-
stage. Instead the band launch into the pristine
bebop pop of the up-tempo Bodhisattva, which is all
the tribute anyone needs.
The future of Steely Dan, without Becker, with
Trump, may be uncertain, but then, as New Frontier
– from Fagen’s The Nightfly, his only solo song played
tonight, which explores love in the nuclear age –
The Doobie Brothers’
Tom Johnston and John
McFee: all harmonies and
mellifluous grooves.
suggests, it always was. The question
is also begged: who were/are Steely
Dan? The musicians who made those
immaculate albums? Can the Dan exist
without Becker, or are they, like the jazz
bands Don and Walter always loved,
designed to outlive their masters?
They could do a lot worse than the
dozen members of
the SDO here tonight,
including horn players,
and three backing ‘Not even legions
singers known of seen-it-all
as the Danettes.
Among those given intelligentsia are
the unenviable task
of recreating Steely
above baying
Dan’s unimpeachable for more.’
recordings are
guitarist Jon Herington, who throughout
elaborates on the solos of previous
guitarists including Denny Dias, Larry Carlton and
Elliott Randall with intricacy and invention to spare,
and drummer Keith Carlock, who executes the
breathtaking extemporisation during Aja with élan.
As for Fagen, there’s no curbing his enthusiasm,
even now that his compadre is gone. He appears to
be in his element, scatting, singing out of the side of
his mouth, all the better to spill out those syllables
and syllogisms. He is aware of his limitations but
uses his idiosyncratic voice to expressive effect,
An expansive Steely Dan:
delivering complex
arrangements effortlessly.
swaying at his keyboard and generally
comporting himself like the reincarnation
of Ray Charles.
“This is very satisfying,” he tells us,
treating this giant aircraft hangar of
a venue like a supper club. He seems at
ease with his discomfort, occasionally
standing to play a melodica. The set-
list leans heavily towards the etiolated
jazz-rock of Aja and the supine disco of
Gaucho, and there are glaring omissions
– nothing from Pretzel Logic, no Do It
Again or Haitian Divorce – but there
are so many sublime moments that it
would be churlish to snark. Black Cow
limps exquisitely. Hey Nineteen seems
uncomfortably apposite, post-Harvey
Weinstein. Aja is the jazzy apex of the
Dan’s ambition – from the height of punk,
no less – and it’s to the band’s credit that
they make it work in this far from intimate space.
But that’s true of the whole set, and testament
to Becker and Fagen’s songwriting genius: complex
arrangements are delivered effortlessly, oblique
lyrics become crowd-pleasing chants. Even Dan
obsessives struggle to decipher the meanings of
their songs, but that doesn’t stop tens of thousands
of us singing along lustily with ‘Is there gas in the car?
Yes there’s gas in the car’, from Kid Charlemagne and
‘Guadalajara won’t do’ from My
Old School. Dirty Work is a rare
early bittersweet reverie, sung by
the Danettes. Peg, like so much
of the Dan catalogue, is so full
of sample-worthy hooks it could
keep hip-hoppers in business for
decades. Black Friday makes some
concessions towards bluesiness.
Kid Charlemagne closes the set,
but not even legions of seen-it-all
intelligentsia like the assembled are above baying
for more, especially when we haven’t heard Reelin’
In The Years yet. That, featuring an insane feat of
percussive pyrotechnics from Carlock, is the encore.
Fagen wishes he could have played for longer than
the allotted 90 minutes but, sadly, that’s all, folks.
Still, he and his Organisation turned what could
have been an evening of enervated fusioneering
refracted through a prism of nostalgia into a joyous
celebration. Very, very satisfying.
Words: Paul Lester Photos: Kevin Nixon
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 115
 ‘Wishbone
Ash play
a slickly ex
ecuted,
full-on roc
k show.’ Andy Powell: “I’ll not get
into a pissing contest.”

116 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
Wishbone Ash
London Islington Academy

Martin Turner
Ex-Wishbone Ash
London 100 Club

Two versions of Ash, each led by

a founder member, play in London
in the same week, but they’re more
likely to share a punch than a pint.
Although it’s also charged with some louder,
harder, rockier moments, the music of
Wishbone Ash is by and large crystalline and serene,
channelling the tranquillity of their song Leaf And
Stream from their 1972 watershed album Argus. How
ironic, then, that following an ugly court case over
the ownership of the band name, two rival acts have
spent the last few years vying for the attention of
the same fans – followers who appear every bit as
partisan as the warring musicians themselves. Battle
lines have been drawn on stage and off, and ne’er the
twain shall meet.
Since 2013, when guitarist Andy Powell legally
prevented Martin Turner from touring as Martin
Turner’s Wishbone Ash, the original Ash bass player/
vocalist has been forced to bill himself as Martin
Turner Ex-Wishbone Ash. In the dock for legal
challenge, Powell – Wishbone Ash’s only constant
member since the band’s formation in 1969 – found
himself up against not only Turner but also the other
co-founders: drummer Steve Upton and guitarist Ted
Turner, plus Laurie Wisefield who was their guitarist
from 1974 to 1985), yet still emerged the victor.
A toxic fallout saw the pair bait one another
via their respective blogs, yet somehow they have
found a way to co-exist on the touring circuit. This is
largely because both incarnations have very different
agendas. A firm believer in the value of new music,
Powell has released five Wishbone Ash albums in
the current millennium. In contrast, Turner released
the all-original Written In The Stars in 2015 but by
and large he sticks to the Ash classics, even taking At 70, Martin Turner’s
the potentially heretical step of re-recording Argus in voice is still one of quality.
2008 as Argus Through The Looking Glass.
With the Powell-led Wishbone Ash and Turner’s wanted to hear a new album from me,” he admits. admits that “singing songs that you wrote at twenty-
group both due to perform shows in London just a few “Most of those that come to see us love the old two, getting up to those crazy notes, can be difficult
days apart, it seemed opportune to compare their Wishbone Ash stuff. I had to be persuaded to give it – your testicles are in a completely different position –
performances and gather a few choice words from a crack.” but there’s always a way.” These days he has his bass
protagonists and fans from each side of the divide. On their 2018 tour, Turner and company are tuned down from E to E-Flat.
revisiting Wishbone’s Understandably,

I
n the praising of Wishbone Ash’s pioneering fifth album, 1974’s There’s Turner is cautious about
use of twin lead guitars in rock in the early 70s,
Martin Turner’s contribution is sometimes lost.
The Rub, and social media
suggests that tonight
“After the court case, addressing the differences
between his group and the
The way his bass playing counterbalanced the playing could be the last time there’s still a lot Powell-led Wishbone Ash.
of Powell and Ted Turner (and later Wisefield) was that the classic Argus “[Attempting to recreate]
every bit as important to the band’s signature sound. will be performed in its of bad blood.” my unorthodox bass style
Seated in the dressing room before tonight’s gig entirety in London. That Martin Turner is probably quite a big
at the 100 Club, Turner professes comfort with his suggestion causes Turner problem for Andy,” he
band’s path. Following the release of Written In The to scoff in amusement, however. “It’s the album’s suggests. “His gigs are very loud, and the other issue is
Stars they performed the album from beginning to end fiftieth anniversary in five years,” he says. “We’ll his voice – getting inside the lyrics, really living, feeling
but have gradually played less of it, and the title track probably dust if off again.” and breathing them. I don’t think he can do it.”
is its sole representative in tonight’s set-list. “I don’t At 70, Turner’s voice might now crack a little in Powell’s singing has certainly improved down the
feel creatively stifled – I wasn’t even sure that people the higher registers but it remains one of quality. He years, though.

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 117
 ‘Martin Tu
rner’s
band hold
the
audience sp
Wearing what looks like a pair ellbound .’
of pyjamas, Turner doesn’t
take himself at all seriously.

Turner puts his feet up

backstage before the gig.

“I’m not here to show off how great I am,

“Immensely so,” Turner says in agreement. “He’s
had some tuition. But it still sounds a little… insincere.
There’s a lack of emotion and melody.”
The fact that all five members of the first two line-
ups have assisted in the preparation of a massive
30-disc boxed set, Wishbone Ash: The Vintage Years
it’s all about entertainment.”
Martin Turner
factions also seems to extend to the
fans. Out in the audience, Classic
Rock canvases at least 10 followers
of Turner’s band, and none have
anything remotely good to say about
the current official Wishbone Ash.
One who has seen seen said he
found them “too harsh and lacking
the necessary subtleties necessary for Wishbone
Ash”. Another says though gritted teeth: “Even if they
[Powell’s line-up] played in my home town I wouldn’t
go.” Most of those we asked, however, are unwilling to
say anything on the record.
all seriously, and his song introductions are peppered
with the usual silly jokes and self-deprecating wit.
Back in the summer, during their performance of
Argus at the Ramblin’ Man Fair the band caused
much merriment by dropping a chorus of Monty
Python’s The Lumberjack Song into the genteel Warrior.
One would suspect that Powell might not have
approved. In the dressing room earlier, Turner said:
“I’m not here to show off how great I am, it’s all about
entertainment. When people pay to come to a gig
they’re supposed to have fun.”
And tonight they do. “We’re here for one particular
album, so shall we play Locked In?” Turner jokingly
announces mid-set, referring to the sole genuine

1970–1991 (released next spring) may have raised
some fans’ hopes of hatchets being buried and
a reunion of some kind, but according to Turner that’s
out of the question?
“I think so, yeah,” he says bluntly. “After the
court case, when you’ve had to move into rented
accommodation from a house worth a million pounds,
there’s still a lot of bad blood. I know that Steve
Upton [original Ash drummer] would find it hard to
stand in a room with Mister Powell. And he has been
[medically] advised not to play the drums any more.
Even for a million dollars, he ain’t gonna do it. And
there could be no reunion without Steve.”
Curiously, the “bad blood” between the two
T
here’s absolutely no doubt that Martin
Turner Ex-Wishbone Ash, as they are billed,
are by far the more melodic of the two.
Tonight, with Ash’s original sound man Mark Emery
manning the mixing desk, over two and half hours of
amazing audio quality the band hold the audience
spellbound. Error Of My Ways, from 1970’s Wishbone
Ash debut, sees guitarists Danny Willson and the
Serbian Misha Nikolic weave their guitar parts
seamlessly, and the sedate, mesmeric intro to FUBB,
an instrumental epic that first appeared on There’s
The Rub, is quite beautiful.
Wearing what looks worrying like a pair of pyjamas
and a military tunic, Turner doesn’t take himself at
dud album from the classic-era Wishbone canon – a
record so inferior, in fact, that it caused both Powell
and Turner to fear that their careers were over.
Argus (voted the best album of 1972 by readers
of both Sounds and Melody Maker, ahead of Machine
Head by Deep Purple, Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, Thick
As A Brick by Jethro Tull and more great albums from
that year) really is one of those records that can
almost be considered flawless, and Turner displays his
instrumental abilities with some stunning aggressive
playing during one of the album’s high points,
Sometime World.
Although his voice becomes a bit craggy towards
the end of tonight’s set, neither band nor audience

118 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
The partnership of
Powell and Mark
Abrahams really
clicks on Phoenix. The
Powell’s version of
FUBB has far more
grunt and more
groove than Turner’s.
wants things to come to an end and Turner
repeatedly shouts out “One more song!” before
they play Blind Eye, Living Proof, Doctor and Jail Bait.
Quite clearly, Powell’s Wishbone Ash will have to
be on top form to surpass this performance.
F
ive nights later, across London at the
Islington Academy, they give it a very fair
shot. However, despite early indications from
Powell that participation in this feature “sounds like
a [good] opportunity”, he eventually cites “strong
professional advice” for his decision not to be
interviewed. Instead he sends a text sent to Classic
Rock that states: “I’ll not get into a pissing contest. All
I’ll say for your story is that Wishbone Ash has truly
been one of the greatest loves of my life.”
As we did at Turner’s gig, again we try to get the
views of some members of Powell and co’s audience.
Asked whether he might be a fan of both Powell and
Turner, one guy glares and says simply: “I’m a fan of
Andy – just Andy” and struts into the venue. Another,
Richard, from Purley in Surrey, a follower since Ash’s
formative days, says: “I saw Martin when he first
returned to music [in 2004], and although his two
guitarists were good, for me they didn’t quite cut it.
Andy’s band has stronger guitar players but Martin is
the better singer.” Gary Smith from London reckons:
“Both bands are good value live acts. The problem
is that nothing Powell or Turner have done since can
really hold a candle to the first three, maybe four,
Wishbone Ash albums. Powell’s band is slightly
tighter musically, but Mart has more stage presence
and his gigs are much more fun to attend.” Which
pretty much hits the nail on the head.
The Academy is larger than the 100 Club, and it’s
reasonably full, and Wishbone Ash have an expensive
light show and plenty of smoke. It’s a slickly executed,
full-on rock show, and once again the sound quality is
excellent.
If kicking off with Bona Fide and Eyes Wide Open,
from 2002 and ’06 respectively, implies self-
confidence, then factor in that the former is an
instrumental. More recent still is Way Down South,
which features a great solo from Powell. Just as you
might think he’s trying to
make a point, they visit
Argus for The King Will
Come, with the relatively
‘The bad blood between
new guitarist Mark the two factions seems
Abrahams receiving
warm applause for to extend to the fans.’
his playing. It’s worth
pointing out that Powell’s band have also performed
Argus in its entirety in the past.
The nostalgic mood continues with Warrior, Throw
Down The Sword in which Powell really shows his
quality and a sublime unplugged rendition of Leaf And
Stream. The acoustic section also includes Master
Of Disguise, an excellent song written by Powell for
1980’s Just Testing, and Wings Of Desire, from a late-
80s/early-90s reunion of the classic line-up for
Strange Affair.
Wishbone Ash: doing
the talking on stage
rather than off it.
Powell’s version of FUBB has far more grunt and
more groove than Turner’s, and the pop-rock nugget
that follows it, Standin’ In The Rain, is proof that not all
of the best Wishbone songs were recorded in the 70s.
The partnership of Powell and Abrahams really
clicks on Phoenix, a song that can rightly be viewed
as Wishbone Ash’s Stairway To Heaven, Paranoid
or Smoke On The Water. Its 13 minutes of light and
shade tell you almost everything you need to know
of what this very often
underrated band is about.
After less than two hours,
a well-deserved encore of
Blowin’ Free – one of just
seven songs performed
by both bands at their
respective gigs this week
– brings things to a close.
Martin Turner Ex-Wishbone Ash and the current
Wishbone Ash each have their plus and minus points,
their fans and their detractors. It really is a great
shame that there is no possibility of the two band
leaders ever setting foot on a stage together. And also
that the two rival groups of followers can’t cease their
bitching and enjoy both bands.
Words: Dave Ling Photos Kevin Nixon
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 119
 ‘This is hea
vy
metal show
biz
Metallica on a vast sc
ale.’
London O2 Arena
The metal titans box clever in front of
record-breaking crowds.
It’s difficult to tell how many giant illuminated boxes are
dangling from the roof high above Metallica’s heads, because
they keep moving around. But at a rough guess, there are well upwards
of 40 of the things executing a weird futuristic ballet over the diamond-
shaped stage in the middle of this cavernous enormodrome.
Not for these one-time thrash pioneers anything so trivial as a giant
video screen on their current WorldWired Tour. As befits the electronic
connotations of the name – and that of last year’s Hardwired… To Self
Destruct album – they’ve gone the full Dixons, raiding the luxury white
goods section and using it as fragmented digital canvas-come-art
installation on which to project an cortex-scorching array of images
from their 36-year career and beyond.
So far, so Metallica. Even their most ardent critics, of which there
seem to be many more these days than there ever were during the
80s and 90s, can’t deny their dedication to spectacle. Whether
it’s the disintegrating ‘Doris’ statue of the …And Justice For All tour,
the groundbreaking Snake Pit of the early 90s or the still-incredible
collapsing Load-era stage, the San Franciscans have always refreshed
the audio-visual parts other bands can’t reach.
There have been grumbles. Standing tickets for this show weigh in at
£85, not including booking fee, significantly more than the equivalent
for Iron Maiden’s show at this same venue earlier this year (the
cheapest seated tickets are a less wallet-bludegoning £50). “£96!!!
each at The London O2 to stand… they can hardwire that up their a** at
that price and Self Destruct. Their [sic] ripping off the very people that
put them where they are in the first place,” wrote ‘GDT’ on the website
of Classic Rock’s sister magazine Metal Hammer. ‘Pete’ was even more
direct: “F**k that off. Money grabbing tw@s!!!!”
“Really?” says bassist Rob Trujillo, smiling politely though seemingly
surprised at the news. “To be honest I don’t even know how much the
tickets are.”

I t’s a couple of hours before the show, and we’re sitting in the
backstage jam room that Metallica set up at every venue in order
to warm-up, rehearse and, occasionally, work on new material. It’s
little more than a curtained-off area festooned with Metallica-related
memorabilia from around the world. Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich are
drifting around outside, though there’s no sign of James Hetfield.
In front of Trujillo is an iPad showing an image of Iron Maiden’s debut
album on its screen. Just a few minutes earlier, he was jamming along
with the classic Maiden track Phantom Of The Opera, for reasons that
will become clear later.
Despite the disgruntlement from sections of the Metallica crowd
over ticket prices, tonight’s show is sold out, as was a the previous gig
at this venue two days earlier. Both have broken attendance records for
this venue – the in-the-square staging ensures that capacity is raised
by a few thousand, taking it up 22,000 per night. For every fan who is
unhappy at ticket prices, there are tens, or maybe hundreds, who aren’t.
“Well, like you said it’s sold out,” says Trujillo, “so then obviously
people came up with the money. Back in the day, when I was going
to concerts, I was doing a similar thing – obviously it was a different
price. But in this day and age, with tour costs and production values…
we have extreme production values. I know for a fact that Metallica
is an incredibly fair band, in that we’re not going to try and rip a fan
off. It would never happen with us. These are hard-working people
who obviously appreciate live music. And that’s extremely important.
Especially at a time when live music is what it is.”
You sense that he geniunely cares, maybe because he feels even
more obliged to defend the band he joined in 2003 than Lars Ulrich
and James Hetfield, the men who founded it 36 years ago. Just as his
predecessor, Jason Newsted, was eternally tarred with the

120 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
 Hetfield gets distracted
by his own stage set…

…so Rob Trujillo tries out

a more low-key version.

You want drum licks,

Lars’s got ‘em.

Hetfield and Hammett:

having a frashback.

‘New Kid’ sobriquet, so Trujillo is viewed as Metallica’s of visual VFM, it wipes the floor with their old sparring
junior member – hardly fair, when you consider his
CV includes stints with Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label
Society and Suicidal Tendencies, while he’s arguably
the best musician in his current band.
“When I joined 14 years ago, touring with Metallica
was very complicated because I was immersed in
learning the songs,” he says. “For the first two years,
I was just trying to catch up. I always felt like I was
behind in the learning
process. They had such
a massive catalogue of
music. I’d find myself “We have extreme
constantly putting together
cheat sheets, because
production values.
there were so many We are not going to
curveballs and surprises.”
A decade and a half rip a fan off.”
later, he says that Metallica Rob Trujillo
has become deeply
ingrained in his DNA. “Every tour is a fresh universe,
even though you’ve been here before,” he says. “It’s
like a rocket ship that takes off – you’re on board, but
you’re not necessarily in control.”
The rocket ship analogy is fitting. The Hardwired
show looks like it’s had something approaching
NASA’s annual budget thrown at it. For anyone
who has stumped up the money, this is one hell of
a sensory extravaganza, even by Metallica’s lofty
standards. Granted, it’s unlikely to pacify the fans who
kicked up a fuss about the cost, but if Metallica’s ticket
prices have pushed them into the same bracket as U2
or Springsteen, then at least they’re matching those
acts in terms of sheer hard cash up onstage. In terms
122 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
partners Guns N’ Roses – this makes the Gunners’ Not
In This Lifetime stage set look like a Tuesday evening
am-dram performance.
Those 40-odd boxes are the undoubted stars of the
show, more than the band members. During barrel-
chested opener Hardwired, they look like gigantic
industrial TV sets, all stark greys and whites. The ever-
electrifying For Whom The Bell Tolls is accompanied by
fractured, hallucinatory
images of illustrated
Pushead skulls raining
from the rafters, while
One – historically the most
visually arresting song in
Metallica’s set – comes
with a gallery of WWI
soldiers, who presumably
later died in battle. It’s
dazzling on multiple levels.
Naturally, the new songs get a decent amount
of airtime. Hardwired…To Self-Destruct has held its
own in the year since it was released, even if any
latter-day Metallica album is going to stand in the
shadows of those groundbreaking early records.
Tonight, they give seven out of its 12 songs a run-
out. Atlas Rise!, Halo On Fire and Moth To A Flame
(the latter accompanied by a swarm of illuminated
miniature drones buzzing above the stage like fireflies)
are muscular and seething, while the frantic Spit Out
The Bone – aired live for the very first time – stands
shoulder-to-shoulder with imperial period Metallica
album closers Damage Inc and Dyer’s Eve. Let’s hope
the band have more long-term faith in them than
Battery! The four-man
drum-off begins.
their counterparts from Death Magnetic and St Anger,
which are completely ignored tonight.
But they also highlight a problem that’s not unique
to Metallica. With the best will in the world, those
new songs aren’t as good as the old songs. And
while those old songs – Master Of Puppets, Seek And
Destroy, Fade To Black, Creeping Death – are stone-
cold classics one and all, over-familiarity is starting
to dilute their impact. It’s not just that they’ve played
them all literally thousands of times over the years,
it’s that there are so many versions – official or
otherwise – to see or hear online that they don’t feel
special anymore.
Part of the problem is the band’s decreasing work
rate. Three albums in 20 years is a fairly poor return,
especially compared to many of their 80s peers,
leaving them with a diminished pool of songs to draw
from. Still, you’d have hoped they’d have dug deeper
into the back catalogue and pulled out an Outlaw Torn,
Low Man’s Lyric or even Some Kind Of Monster (they
appear to have scrubbed anything recorded between
1991 and 2016 from the setlist). In this context, it’s
refreshing to hear Leper Messiah four songs in – a B-list
track on album, but a breath of fresh air here – or
Frayed Ends Of Sanity mashed up with Enter Sandman
(the same can’t be said for the ever dreadful Sad But
True, a turgid Monkey’s Paw of a song that they refuse
to shake off).
M etallica couldn’t play a bad show if their
lives depended on it, but there are flashes
of undeniable badness tonight. Now That We’re
Dead incorporates a four-man percussive barrage
featuring each member battering away on individual
 Going the full …and then
Dixons… adding fire.
drums that sounds far cooler on paper than it is in
reality (how many bands can say they have four
drummers who play out of time?), while Trujillo and
Kirk Hammett’s half-baked instrumental jam on Iron
Maiden’s Phantom Of The Opera (the pre-show iPad!)
and Motörhead’s Ace Of Spades hovers somewhere
between pointless and embarrassing.
More alarming is James Hetfield’s transformation
from Alpha Male of modern metal into Embarrassing
Dad, at least if his creaking stage patter is anything
to go by. While the frontman’s numerous shout-outs
to the “Metallica family” are fair enough, if over-
egged, his two-minute conversation with a pregnant
audience member before Sad But True comes across
like Bruce Forsyth in a leather waistcoat. Didn’t he do
well? No, he bleedin’ well didn’t.
Of course, expecting piss, vinegar and 110% proof
vodka to still be flowing through their veins after
all this time is foolish. The Metallica of 2017 are an
entertainment behemoth, pure and simple. They
might not break down musical barriers any more –
they’re one of the few bands who can truly say “been
there, done that, sold the T-shirt for thirty quid” – but
they offer heavy metal showbiz on a vast scale
instead. For all the hoo-hah over inflated ticket costs,
the fact remains that a world with Metallica in it is
better than one without.
Rewind a few hours earlier in the jam room,
and Rob Trujillo is considered the future of a band
who, individually, are passing comfortably through
While Motörhead had
Bomber, James has a more
middle age. Thrash metal was a young man’s game
civilised bombilla. all those years ago, and while Metallica have long
since transcended their roots, the question remains
whether there will still be dignity in cranking out
Creeping Death and Seek And Destroy when they
inevitably reach pensionable age.
“I try not to put an expiration date on this,” he says.
“I learned from my elders, a lot of the jazz musicians
who are still going out there and doing this. It’s only
when you see someone in bad health, or even passing
on, that you start thinking about it. But even then,
I think we’re very blessed. We still care about what
we do. Me and James are jamming on some original
ideas. We’re just grooving right now, messing about
on a couple of things. A lot of it happens in this room
right here.”
It was eight years between Death Magnetic and
Hardwired… To Self-Destruct. Will it be eight years
before the next Metallica album? You’ll be in your
early 60s by then…
“Well, it wasn’t as if we were doing nothing during
those eight years. We made Through The Never, we did
an album with Lou Reed, we toured. But no, it won’t
take that long.”
If we were betting men, should we put 50 quid on it
coming out before 2020?
(Laughing) “Well, I don’t know about that. But it
won’t take eight years.”
Whenever a new album does eventually emerge,
it’s a safe bet that they’ll once again up the stakes on
the tour that accompanies it. Trujillo’s assertion that
Metallica treat their fans fairly holds water – you don’t
become one of the biggest bands in the world and
stay there without offering a maximal experience on
every level. And even the cynics and refuseniks can’t
argue that they don’t do that.
Words: Dave Everley Photos: Ross Halfin
CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 123
 Heavy Load Heavy questions for heavy rockers

Singer Beth Hart on her troubled childhood, insecurity,

singing with Jeff Beck, death and the “miracle” of life.
Interview: Nick Hasted

eth Hart began singing blues, jazz and soul in South Central but you can see the sky. And I did a Mariachi Mexican skeleton playing a violin
LA clubs when she was 15. Her childhood was traumatised the other day, with cactuses and bougainvillea.
by a violent robbery at her family home, which triggered
a bipolar condition and drink and drug addictions. But with You sang with Jeff Beck in front of President Obama at the Kennedy
the help of loyal husband Scott Guetzkow and collaborators Center Honors for Buddy Guy in 2012. How did that feel?
including Joe Bonamassa, Jeff Beck and Slash, she has carved You know the most amazing thing about it all, man? I walked out there and
out a formidable blues career. I felt so at home, like I belonged, and I felt so proud and thankful. And I could
At 45, her addictions and illness are in remission, and see Aretha Franklin, and I could see Led Zeppelin, and I saw Yo-Yo Ma, who I’d
age has lent her perspective. “I’ve come full been the biggest fan of when I was a cellist as
circle to when I was a really little girl,” she a little girl. And I’m so thankful that I wasn’t
tells Classic Rock. “I have some of that original nervous, because I never missed any of it.
innocence again.”
Where do you stand politically?
Do you believe in God? I’m not real schooled in politics. But when
Oh yeah. For example, I’m working on my I go to Europe, what I notice is that people
newest solo record, and usually when I’m at tend to get along, and have more manners.
my most creative is when my confidence is They don’t have guns everywhere, and not
at its worst. And when I’m really doubtful of anyone can get on every single drug they
myself, I gravitate to God. Because if my faith want from their doctor. I adore my country,
can’t be in me, then it can be in him. Whereas because it’s where I’m from and it’s really
when I’m feeling confident, it’s like: “‘Yeah, beautiful, but we’re basically teenagers on
thanks, God. I’m having a great day. I’ll take it drugs with guns. So I feel like, give us a break,
from here.” and hopefully we’ll evolve.

Do you get stage fright? What’s the meaning of life?

I get world fright. Going to the market or I think we’re here to love and create and enjoy
buying clothes, or anywhere, my husband’s and be grateful and just smell and breathe in
got to go with me. One of the things that the oxygen and be aware of the moment. It’s
makes me so anxious is that I think people not so important to do, do, do; it’s already
are thinking I’m weird, or not right. I’ve had been done. The Earth is here, the universe is
that since I was a kid. When I’m on stage and here. And it would be nice if we could just
my mind is doing well it’s a safe environment, enjoy it a bit more. It really is all a miracle.
and I feel really good up there.
On Good Day To Cry you sing: ‘It’s a good
Is there a time on a drug that you’re day to die.’ How would you like to go?
grateful for? My husband’s eleven years older than me,
There were some times when it was just and my manager’s twenty-two years older,
a party, you’d numb yourself out and you’d and I don’t want to live without them, and I
have fun. When I was really, really young I’d don’t want them to be hurt if I die. So I want
take off at the weekends. I’d dress in my mom’s us all to die at the same time, one night in our
clothes and I’d use my older sister Susan’s ID,
and go out to bars and try to hook up with
“I adore my country, but sleep, when we’ve all hung out and played
cards, and we’re really, really old. But I have to
guys – and I was only eleven, twelve years old.
I don’t know how much fun I was having. I was
we’re basically teenagers say I don’t believe in death at all. And I don’t
believe in heaven either – that sounds very
looking for love so bad.
When I look back on it now, the only time on drugs with guns.” boring. I think that we just change form. So
I like the idea of, when I die, maybe I’m a gust
I was having fun was when I wasn’t using of wind, that rolls through some child’s hair
drugs and alcohol and I was making music and I was focused and disciplined. that’s playing on the beach. Maybe there’s a soul in every possible thing, and
When I would paint, that would be fun. When I would go to Lake Tahoe with maybe we get to be that forever. That’s my idea of heaven.
my best friend Ron, that would be fun. But the drugs I took are so evil. It steals
your soul. Especially if you have mental health issues. What would you like to be written on your tombstone?
No tombstone. I want a big old ditch, because I definitely want to be buried, I do
MONA NORDOY/PRESS

What do you paint? not want to be burned. Throw me in with no box, no sheet. I want all the little
I actually painted a really large piece yesterday. It’s a picture of a little street in animals to eat my flesh up, because I won’t be there.
Nice, late at night, and it’s lit up gold from the lampposts, and it’s old and the
buildings kind of turn in on themselves, like they’re making a bridge over you, Beth Hart plays the U K and Ireland from April 10.

130 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM
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