Innehållsförteckning för May 2019 från Classic Rock

WELCOME Outspoken. Larger than life. Aliens from another planet. Grown men in make-up (who probably should know better, but we’re glad they don’t). These are just a few things that have been levelled against Kiss over their nearly five-decade career. And although once upon a time there was talk of Gene, Paul and company licensing their make-up, outfits and stage show so ‘Kiss’ could go on touring forever, it seems now that that was just talk. So yes, although we thought the day would never come, Kiss are calling time on their career. But they’re doing it in their own over-the-top, larger-than-life, fire-breathing style (of course they are). The band announced their final End Of The Road world tour last year, and it reaches the UK this summer. To celebrate…

The DIRT RIP Thank you and good night. Stephan Ellis Died February 28, 2019 Steve Ellis joined Survivor in 1981 after Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan spotted him playing bass in a band in Los Angeles. It was the first of three spells with the iconic US melodic rockers. Frankie Sullivan called his former bandmate, who passed away at 69: “Well-coifed, always ready and [a man who] lived his own life in his own way and on his own terms.” Paul Williams Died March 1, 2019 Paul Williams (born Paul William Yarlett) began climbing the ladder in Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band before joining John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Juicy Lucy, Tempest, and Allan Holdsworth in IOU. In more recent years he had worked in collaboration with David Hentschel. Williams fell ill…

Mark Hollis January 4, 1955 – February 25, 2019 AS THE BAND’S lead singer, principal writer and driving force, North Londoner Hollis guided Talk Talk from synthpop to becoming a boldly experimental group, hailed as a significant influence by, among others, Steven Wilson, Marillion’s Steve Hogarth, Tears For Fears, Peter Gabriel, Radiohead, Placebo, The Mars Volta and Peter Hammill of Van der Graff Generator. Beginning during the New Romantic era of the 80s, Talk Talk found fleeting chart success with the singles Talk Talk and Today before branching out into a sound that was infinitely more difficult to define. Reviewers were left reaching for superlatives, although sales diminished The band’s fourth album, 1988’s Spirit Of Eden, was hailed as a masterpiece but despite reaching the Top 20 the band’s label…

Return To Alcatrazz Graham Bonnet putting band together again for new album. GRAHAM BONNET HAS revived Alcatrazz, the band that he fronted in the mid-80s, and is collaborating on new material with their former guitarist, Steve Vai, among others. According to Bonnet, he already has three complete songs for the album. “These guys want to write songs for Alcatrazz and without being in the band,” he says. “Steve has sent me a bunch of stuff. Chris Impelliteri and Bob Kullick are both going to as well, and there’s other great players that I’m hoping will have the time to contribute.” Bonnet formed Alcatrazz in 1983, after stints with Rainbow and the Michael Schenker Group. Alcatrazz split up after 1986’s Dangerous Games, although Bonnet did go out intermittently under the name…

MY FIRST LOVE Def Leppard PYROMANIA The former Creed singer and now solo artist waxes lyrical about Def Leppard’s seminal 1983 album. By Scott Stapp “I was at my friend’s house in 1983, and the video for Photograph came on MTV, and from that moment I was hooked on rock’n’roll. “That album connected to me in every way. I wanted to be those guys. When I saw the Photograph video I wanted a model wife and everything that a teenage boy thinks a rock star has. The music moved me; something inside me was different from the moment I heard this record. “I’d heard Elvis records, and some Donny Hathaway and Otis Redding from my mother, but Pyromania was the record that completely changed the course of my life. The…

GETTIN’ HIGH ON LOVE © RHINO The video for Love Is Only A Feeling shows the band in suitably dramatic surroundings. Shot at locations in the Blue Mountains of Australia, the main sequences show them shredding while atop a vast mesa, shirts unbuttoned and legs splayed wide. “Our director, Alex Smith, wanted to make a really epic, mountaintop, mega powerballad video,” Justin recalls. “He’s done a lot of important music videos, so he was a big deal. He did the video for us on the cheap. “Alex was in a helicopter and I was on the side of the mountain, playing my guitar solos. I had one harness; you’re supposed to have three or four, apparently. I was just in cowboy boots and prancing! But in those days I didn’t…

THE YEAR OF THE WOLE Looking for a Next Big Thing to get behind before everyone else does? Meet Joyous Wolf, all-guns-blazing proof that proper shit-kicking rock’n’roll lives on. Words: Dave Everley Photos: Steve Thrasher Put yourself in Nick Reese’s shoes: you’re playing an outdoor festival in Las Vegas with your band, Southern California rock’n’roll upstarts Joyous Wolf, and you’ve been given a measly 20 minutes to show a politely disinterested audience what you’ve got. What you gonna do? Play some songs, politely thank them through gritted teeth for being a great crowd then get the hell off? Nah. That’s not Nick Reese’s style. Instead, the livewire frontman – whose frontflippin’, splits-pullin’, hair-shakin’ act is equal parts Dave Lee Roth and James Brown – does what any right-minded showman would…

A FAMILY AFFAIR Led by arguably the best slide guitarist of his generation and a singer who oozes sweet soul, the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s ‘old-fashioned’ values are a vital element of their success. Words: David Sinclair ‘May you live in interesting times’ is said to be an old Chinese curse, the idea being that periods of peace, happiness and tranquillity are inherently uninteresting. For Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks the times could hardly have been any more ‘interesting’ during the writing and recording of the fourth studio album by their Tedeschi Trucks Band, a record simply and appropriately called Signs. “The times that music has really mattered have been times like this,” Trucks says. “It seems to be the whole civilised world is in an uproar. There’s an inflection point…

LIVE! The Struts London Shepherd’s Bush Empire ‘The charged mood and energy never lets up.’ Britain’s band of the moment stake another claim to be rock’s Next Big Thing. ★ Bodies burst out over the balconies, and even more are packed downstairs. Plastic pint glasses of Tuborg snake out from the bars and through the ocean of tour T-shirts. Every last inch of this 2,000-capacity, Grade II-listed theatre is heaving with people, from teenagers and a few actual kids to 50-somethings. In truth, tonight’s headliners could probably have upgraded to a bigger venue, but a maxed-out gig is certainly one way to reflect how in-demand you are, and The Struts know this. Last year The Struts released their second album, Young & Dangerous to widespread acclaim and the delight of…

Lemonheads London Kentish Town O2 Forum This is some kind of magic. ★ Wistful sometimes, full-blown and rockin’ more often, I do not recall Evan Dando’s Boston band Lemonheads ever sounding this mighty first time around. Maybe it’s the presence of Chris Brokaw (Come, Codeine) on incendiary harmony-drenched guitar. Maybe it’s the packed Forum lustily singing along to near-hits Down About It, It’s A Shame About Ray and the incredible cover of Mike Nesmith’s Different Drum. Maybe it’s the presence of Bevis Frond guitarist Nick Saloman for a series of somewhat bewildering guitar duets? It’s odd. Dando clearly fancies himself as an interpreter of other people’s songs – witness his band’s latest collection of cover versions Varshons 2 – but most of the sublime moments tonight come when his band…

REVIEWS The Kris Barras Band / Buffalo Summer / Jack J Hutchinson London The Garage Stars of the new wave of classic rock draw crowds in the capital. ★ In light of Greta Van Fleet’s recent column inches, one could risk overlooking the new rock’n’roll on our doorstep in the UK. Not that everyone’s overlooking it, as tonight’s packed Garage suggests… Jack J Hutchinson dresses like a man in love with Blackberry Smoke (spoiler: he is), but his blend of Southern warmth, affable banter and hirsute Zakk Wylde heaviness is very much his own. Next, Welsh rockers Buffalo Summer deal in heavier tunes than you’d expect from a band whose name screams ‘dulcet Southern fodder’ so flagrantly – with layers of dirty grunge adding protein to classic 70s tones. There’s…

Bishop Gunn / Xander And The Peace Pirates London Boston Music Room High-calibre blues rock. ★ They might come from Liverpool, but Xander And The Peace Pirates have a sound straight from the heart of Mississippi, and their quality wins over those gathered to get a first glimpse of tonight’s headline band who genuinely hail from that part of the world. Bishop Gunn take inspiration from a wide range of sources. The Allman Brothers, Georgia Satellites, Humble Pie and Rival Sons all spring to mind, but what these chaps do is fuse all of this into a sharply focused and highly melodic style that transcends all influences. Songs such as Shine and Devil Is A Woman could easily get them mainstream interest, and frontman Travis McCready is a charismatic storyteller…

Bob Mould London Camden Electric Ballroom Doing the Dü with Sugar and spice. ★ Watching Bob Mould power his way through a set that spans almost 40 years – to touch upon his tenure with Hüsker Dü and Sugar, as well as his own lengthy solo career – is to be reminded of Lou Reed and Bob Dylan. Much like those other pioneers, Mould is a songwriter of influence and distinction given to sacrificing his innate melodic sensibilities once transposed to a live setting. Not that this comes as any surprise to seasoned followers of his output and activities, but it still fails to alleviate the pain of witnessing the mangling of If I Can’t Change Your Mind and Hoover Dam. But there’s still plenty to enjoy. Happier than he’s…

This month’s contributors NICK HASTED Nick Hasted enjoyed spending an afternoon in the cells with Yngwie Malmsteen for Classic Rock this month (p72). Nick has been a music and film journalist since 1986, and his latest books are Jack White: How He Built An Empire From The Blues and a thorough update of You Really Got Me: The Story Of The Kinks. JAAN UHELSZKI As the only journalist ever to have performed in full makeup with them, Jaan was the perfect candidate to hang out with Kiss for CR one last time as they hit the road on their final tour (p26). As one of the founding editors of Creem magazine, Jaan has been hard at work on Boy Howdy! The Story Of Creem Magazine documentary which debuted at SXSW…

Keith Flint September 17, 1969 – March 4, 2019 KEITH FLINT, THE MAN who brought rock’n’roll to the hard-edged electronic music giants the Prodigy, took his own life as this issue of Classic Rock went to press. He was 49 years old. The Prodigy were scheduled to begin a new tour in early April but following concerns for Flint’s welfare, police were called to the singer’s home in Essex, where his body was found. The band’s Liam Howlett confirmed the news on Instagram stating: “I can’t believe I’m saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend. I’m shellshocked, fuckin’ angry, confused and heartbroken. RIP, brother.” The Prodigy formed in 1990, with Flint, famous for his fluorescent spiked hair, originally brought in as a dancer. But…

NEWS The fourth album from Black Star Riders is due in September. Produced by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Uriah Heep), Another State Of Grace introduces new members Christian Martucci on guitar and Chad Szeliga on drums. Bryan Ferry believes it’s unlikely that Roxy Music will record again. Saxophonist Andy Mackay had hoped the band’s upcoming Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction could inspire them to revive a shelved 2007 album. “We talked a little bit about that,” says frontman Ferry, “[but] I kind of [feel] happier being a solo artist.” The last Roxy Music album was 1982’s Avalon. Elton John’s autobiography will be published in October by Henry Holt & Co. Its title is yet to be revealed, although the 72-year-old has promised a “no-holds-barred account”. Rocketman, a film of…

BURIED TREASURE Riches from the rock underground AUBREY SMALL Aubrey Small, Polydor, UK 1971. £140 (with insert). Aubrey Small formed at Highbury College, Portsmouth in 1969 as part of the musical appreciation society. Before long they brought in former Lace guitarist, Peter Pinckney, who had made connections in London. Championed by both John Peel and Bob Harris, the band recorded numerous BBC sessions, resulting in a record deal with Polydor. Recorded at Trident Studios with future Queen & Roxy Music producer John Anthony, Aubrey Small is an excellent, consistently melodic album which covers an eclectic mix of styles and textures. Overall it’s progressive, dreamy pop/rock, occasionally bordering on mainstream, but songs are often psychedelic in treatment, with interesting arrangements and layers of sound. ‘Progressive pop/rock, occasionally bordering on mainstream.’ Opener…

Q&A Josh Todd The Buckcherry frontman on addiction, getting sober, tattoos and the death of rock radio. Words: Henry Yates Portrait: Jeremy Saffer The turn-of-the-millennium rock scene might be painted as dour and drop-tuned, but that doesn’t square with the arrival of Buckcherry. Instant stars with their selftitled debut album in 1999, this was a band with all the classic hallmarks, from the sneering, sleazing riffs of hits like Lit Up to peacock frontman Josh Todd’s storied past as a raging addict. Fast-forward two decades and Todd is a reformed character, but the GN’R-meets-AC/DC crunch of Warpaint, Buckcherry’s eighth album, sounds as dangerous as ever. Warpaint is a good album title. There’s a lot of meaning to the word. It’s a celebration. It’s about going into battle. Growing up I…

LIVE! Wilko Johnson / Glenn Tilbrook Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion ‘Wilko may play R&B and rock’n’roll, but he plays it like no one else.’ MARIE KORNER Squeeze’s singer sets the tone for a superb set from the beloved Dr Feelgood icon and his ‘extraordinary’ band. ★ “I love that riff,” says Glenn Tilbrook, after treating us to the introductory chords of Rebel Rebel. It’s one of the more unexpected moments in Tilbrook’s support slot tonight – he also has a very creditable bash at Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well, accompanied by his electric guitar only. Tonight’s set is a mixture of acoustic and amplified, old and newish, and it’s a measure of Tilbrook’s talents that he can hold an audience with two instruments – the other being his extraordinary, honeyed…

Laibach London Shepherd’s Bush Empire Cowbells, North Korea and rock’n’roll. ★ Slovenian pranksters Laibach have been ploughing a unique furrow for nearly forty years, evolving from terrifying industrial noise-niks into something much harder to pigeonhole: an inscrutable Dadaesque politics project, exploring everything and explaining nothing. So tonight we get a screening of the band’s Liberation Day documentary, telling the story of their 2015 trip to North Korea, followed by a 30-minute tape of farmyard sounds. Cocks crow, cowbells clank, go figure. The main event is a performance of songs from The Sound Of Music. The Laibach of old would have added boom and bombast to such covers, but these versions are surprisingly tender, with Milan Fras’s unmistakable bass growl dovetailing beautifully with the more traditional vocals of Boris Benko and…

The Soundtrack Of My Life Rush frontman GEDDY LEE on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him. Interview: Paul Elliott After the best part of 50 years as the multi-tasking bassist, lead vocalist and keyboard player in the world’s biggest cult band, Geddy Lee finds it weird to think of himself as ‘that guy who used to be in Rush’. “It takes some getting used to,” he says. Three years since Rush ended with drummer Neil Peart’s retirement, Lee remains proud of the band’s legacy with classic albums such as 2112 and Moving Pictures, masterpieces of progressive hard rock. He also promises he’s “not done with music yet”. The soundtrack of his life is heavy on prog and The Who, yet lightened with a little…

Peter Tork February 13, 1942 – February 21, 2019 THE ELDEST MEMBER of 60s made-for-TV pop group The Monkees has died of adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of head and neck cancer first diagnosed a decade ago. He was 77 years old. Micky Dolenz tweeted: “There are no words right now… heartbroken over the loss of my Monkee brother.” Beach Boy Brian Wilson added: “I’m sad to hear about Peter’s passing. I thought The Monkees were great and he will be missed.” Of Norwegian descent and born Peter Halsten Thorkelson in Washington DC, Tork moved to New York in the early 60s. He auditioned for The Monkees TV show in late ’65 and became the final musician to join the cast after his friend Stephen Stills recommended him to…

HIGH HOPES Spielbergs Meet the Norwegian power trio who make post-hardcore sound like child’s play. IF YOU’RE LOOKING to start a band in Norway, you could just do the usual thing: hang out at record shops, rehearsal rooms, music colleges… or you could try getting a job at a local kindergarten. Seriously, it’s where all the great bands of tomorrow are to be found. And we’re not talking about the children, either. According to Mads Baklien, frontman of fast-rising Oslo three-piece Spielbergs, half of the city’s musos are gainfully employed in charge of rampaging toddlers. “I met Christian [Løvhaug, Drummer] working in a kindergarten,” he says. “It was a real cliché, meeting band guys working there. We all needed money while playing in bands and the kindergartens wanted men to…

THE STORIES BEHIND THE SONGS The Darkness LOVE IS ONLY A FEELING Frontman Justin Hawkins looks back at how he and his bandmates created a “power ballad for the age” – and a breath of fresh air in an era when rock wasn’t exactly in fashion. Words: Hannah May Kilroy Camera Press/Scarlet Page In the early noughties, it felt like the fun was missing from rock’n’roll. The airwaves were ruled by bands specialising in the earnest, from posturing indie dudes to gloomy emo kids staring out from under heavy fringes. Then in 2003 The Darkness somersaulted into the charts and into the nation’s hearts; a spangly, spandex-wearing burst of joy that harked back to the heydays of 70s rock and glam while somehow sounding like a breath of fresh air. With…

6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT… Lovehoney Get to know the Brooklyn four-piece making “sexy, heavy rock’n’roll” with soul, whose shows are about “giving somebody an experience”. Words: Polly Glass LOVEHONEY STAND OUT – and not just because they share their name with a British sex-toy company. With their mixed roots and a wardrobe that’s part urbanite chic, part Haight-Ashbury boutique circa ’67, they’re an invigorating break from the ‘white dudes in denim’ line-ups that tend to dominate rock. “I think that’s important, the little spice that we’re bringing to the table,” says singer Alysia Quinones, a Brooklyn native with Surinese heritage, Since forming in 2016 the band have made good on that premise, stirring their histories into loud, sweaty slices of bluesy rock’n’roll. If Howlin’ Wolf and Jack…

BEST OF THE REST Other new releases out this month. Tronos Celestial Mechanics CENTURY MEDIA Three underground metal stalwarts, led by Napalm Death singer/guitarist Shane Embury, unite for this swarthy smorgasbord of subterranean beef. A strangely beguiling hybrid of sludge, extreme metal and avant-garde eccentricity. 7/10 Burning Rain Face The Music FRONTIERS Whitesnake-turned-Dead Daisies guitarist Doug Aldrich returns to his first ‘other band’. Expect satisfying AOR-meets-hard rock riffage, but mostly forgettable tunes and a conveyor belt of cliches about wimmin, midnight trains and the like. 5/10 Luna Kiss Following Shadows SELF-RELEASE Angular but melodious, impassioned affair from Coventry rockers. Broodingly gnarly alt.rock comfort for anyone missing Oceansize (who’s also partial to Muse and Katatonia), slightly hard work for everyone else. 6/10 Feels Post Earth WICHITA RECORDINGS A stylishly lo-fi gumbo…

Essential Playlist Metal Thrashing Mad Fistful Of Metal Deathrider Fistful Of Metal A.I.R. Spreading The Disease Armed And Dangerous Spreading The Disease Madhouse Spreading The Disease Caught In A Mosh Among The Living I Am The Law Among The Living Indians Among The Living Be All, End All State Of Euphoria Antisocial State Of Euphoria Got The Time Persistence Of Time Belly Of The Beast Persistence Of Time Bring The Noise Attack Of The Killer B’s Only Sound Of White Noise Black Lodge Sound Of White Noise This Is Not An Exit Sound Of White Noise Earth On Hell Worship Music I’m Alive Worship Music Evil Twin For All Kings…

REVIEWS Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators London Eventim Apollo What was that band he was in? ★ One of the less heralded but more understandable fallouts of the Guns N’ Roses reunion has been its effect on Slash’s solo career. Estranged from Axl Rose, he needed to keep his contribution to GN’R history alive by playing a clutch of their songs. Not any more, and these days Nightrain is the sole reminder of the past which made him and ensures the Apollo is rammed. After six albums under his own name, it’s a reminder that Slash clearly feels nobody needs. As a strategic move it’s brave but, tellingly, Nightrain is the most rapturously received moment of a relentless, rock-hard two-hour set. As a result, without the songs which…

Steely Dan / Steve Winwood London Wembley Arena Fagen lets the music do the talking. ★ Steve Winwood doesn’t mislead in announcing that tonight’s set contains “music that is pretty much vintage”. Over a hugely enjoyable hour he revisits his past with the Spencer Davis Group (I’m A Man and Gimme Some Lovin’), Blind Faith (Can’t Find My Way Home and Had To Cry Today) and Traffic (The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and Dear Mr Fantasy), dropping in the solo hit Higher Love. At 70 years old, the spirit is still willing and that famous blue-eyed soul voice is fully intact. An appearance at the Bluesfest in 2017 vindicated Donald Fagen’s decision to continue Steely Dan without Walter Becker. Unlike then, tonight there’s no reference to his former…

Blue Öyster Cult/The Temperance Movement London Eventim Apollo Definitely an enchanted evening. ★ Openers The Temperance Movement are not the band they were a year ago – and this is a real positive. They always had quality, but were previously rather parochial. Now there’s an obvious international class, and they win over a crowd who are initially polite but clearly excited by the end. Only Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma remain from Blue Öyster Cult’s classic line-up. And they could easily go through the motions, playing the same songs every night. But, as Bloom explains early on, that would be “just boring for us”. So they vary the set with each performance, and you can tell that the pair, along with the rest of the impressive quintet, love being on…