Innehållsförteckning för February 2022 från Classic Rock

WELCOME And so it begins… Welcome to 2022. Let’s hope it’s a year in which things start to settle down into something a little more ‘normal’. What better way to kick off the year than by talking to none other than Slash. He’s kicking of 2022 with a brand new album made in the company of Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators, and this issue he sits down with our Paul Elliott for the Classic Rock Interview. Paul was one of the first UK journalists to interview Slash back in the day, so he was perfectly placed to talk to the guitarist to run through his life story – and what a life story – to date. This month I’d also like to use this space for a spot of shameless…

the DIRT RIP Thank you… and good night. Greg Mayne November 28, 1953 - November 13, 2021 Greg Mayne, the original bassist with doom-metal pioneers Pentagram, has died from lung cancer. He was 68 years old. Mayne was a member of the US group – who inspired many bands that followed, among them Trouble, Candlemass and Cathedral and others – for two spells, from 1971 to ’76 and then from ’88 to ’89. After leaving Pentagram he played with a number of acts, including Mayne-Lyon and Medicine Man. Stephen Sondheim March 22, 1930 – November 26, 2021 New Yorker Stephen Sondheim was among the most important people in the world of musical theatre. He was mentored by Hollywood musicals great Oscar Hammerstein, and his compositions included music for West Side…

Richard Cole January 2, 1946 – December 2, 2021 ROBERT PLANT AND Jimmy Page have both paid tribute to Led Zeppelin’s former road manager, who at 75 has died from cancer. Richard Cole worked for Zeppelin from 1968 until 1980, and later wrote the controversial biography Stairway To Heaven. He was also Stephen Davis’s chief source for his infamous book Hammer Of The Gods. Although the band members publicly refuted the accuracy of both books, Cole was ultimately forgiven. Page posted: “Richard was recruited by Peter Grant as tour manager with The Yardbirds during our American touring schedule of underground venues. He was with me at the time that band folded and when I formed Led Zeppelin. From the time of the rehearsals at my home at Pangbourne through to…

THE ★ CLASSIC ★ ROCK INTERVIEW SLASH Born in Britain, made in America, the guitarist icon known the world over talks growing up, modest hopes, sudden superstardom and the good, the bad and the ugly that came with it; GN’R, Axl, Izzy, Weiland, Myles…. You could say he’s lived a life. But he’s done so much more. Interview: Paul Elliott Portraits: Ross Halfin After all this time, getting on for a seemingly unlikely 35 years, Slash still can’t quite believe what happened. “I thought the band was fucking great,” he says of Guns N’ Roses. “It would have been a band that I would have listened to had I not been in it. I would have had the T-shirt, right?” he says with a laugh. “But I saw it as…

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS A fine singer and a multi-instrumentalist, with spells with Lone Star, Uriah Heep, Gary Moore and more, John Sloman should, as the saying goes, have been a contender. But whenever it could have gone right, it went wrong. Today he’s happy being in control with his solo career. Words: Dave Ling John Sloman divides his career into its Old and New Testament: the former being from the 1970s up to the late 80s, when the Welshman bestrode the world looking, from the outside at least, every bit like a rock god. He appeared on an album apiece by Lone Star and Uriah Heep, before hooking up with Gary Moore. His lifestyle probably seemed glamorous, but really it wasn’t. Indeed, each of the bands with which he became entwined…

THE HARD STUFF the ultimate ROCK REVIEWS jection EDITED BY IAN FORTNAM CLASSIC ROCK RATINGS GETTY ian.fortnam@futurenet.com Elvis Costello & The Imposters The Boy Named If (And Other Children’s Stories) EMI Echoes of his excellent past as the excellence continues. It’s been a busy 12 months for Elvis Costello: he’s released the album Hey Clockface, a French EP based on it, and a re-worked, Spanish version of his 1978 album This Year’s Model. And now he’s back with The Boy Named If (And Other Children’s Stories). Like most artists of a certain age, Costello tends to refer to his previous musical output, and The Boy Named If encompasses many eras of Costello’s work. There’s the baroque pop of Imperial Bedroom on The Difference, there’s the passion of Blood And Chocolate…

REVIEWS Diamond Dogs Swedish rockers turn the amps up to 11 with a riotous glam-rock return. Slap Bang Blue Rendezvous WILD KINGDOM Anyone doubting the restorative power of rock clearly hasn’t stumbled across Scandi legends Diamond Dogs. Formed in Katrineholm, Sweden around a nucleus of singer Sören ‘Sulo’ Karlsson and guitarist Anders ‘Boba’ Lindstrom, they blazed a shamelessly glitter-centric trail from 1994 debut Honked to their implosion in 2015 after tenth studio album Quitters & Complainers and the tragic death of longtime member Magic Gunnarsson. With an eclectic celebrity fan club including Captain Sensible, Wilko Johnson and, inevitably, Ian Hunter, their legend precedes them, and with Sulo’s rock’n’roll addiction clearly not sated by a solo stint with all-star backing band The Crunch (featuring punk alumni Terry Chimes, Dave Tregunna and…

REVIEWS Skid Row Or the Sebastian Bach years. Three albums and two EPs, on five CDs or seven slices of vinyl. The Atlantic Years (1989-1996) ATLANTIC New Jersey’s Skid Row exploded into public view in January 1989 with the release of Youth Gone Wild. The single barely charted, but the self-titled album that spawned what became their signature tune would sell over six million copies worldwide. Skid Row’s founding guitarist Dave Sabo had been friends with Jon Bon Jovi since childhood, when the pair had promised each other that the first of them to enjoy success with their bands would help the other do the same. Hence barely two years after forming, Skid Row had management with the Doc McGhee stable, an Atlantic Records recording contract, and were opening for…

Walter Trout The bluesman on downtime, retirement, and playing like Yngwie. Following a liver transplant in 2014, Walter Trout had to relearn how to speak, walk and play guitar, and thought he might never perform again. Thankfully, since 2015 he’s been back on the road. In January this year the guitarist brings his blistering blues to the UK. Your first post-lockdown gig was a socially distanced show in Amsterdam? We played two nights at my favourite venue in the world, The Paradiso. Instead of sixteen hundred people they admitted two hundred and fifty. After twenty months of not playing, I had worried that I might forget how, but my brain worked just fine and it was a great experience. What did you learn about yourself during quarantine? I had to…

This month’s contributors RICH DAVENPORT Rich Davenport is a music journalist, stand-up comedian and musician, and has been a regular contributor to Classic Rock since 2016. For this issue he caught up with Magnum vocalist Bob Catley to get a memories-filled tour of highlights from the band’s back catalogue (starting on page 56) as they celebrate their 50th anniversary. DAVE EVERLEY We managed to keep ‘Diamond’ Dave Everley out of trouble this month by getting him to watch about a million and seven promotional music video clips as he put together our feature on rock’s greatest music videos (page 37). Dave also managed to find the time to shoot the breeze with Zakk Wylde. Read that conversation from page 22. MARK BEAUMONT Mark Beaumont is a music journalist whose work…

John Miles April 23, 1949 – December 5, 2021 TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter John Miles, best known for his 1976 top-three single Music. He was 72 years old when he passed away peacefully after a very short illness. A statement from his family said: “We will all miss John more than words could ever express. He will live on forever in our hearts and with the wonderful musical legacy he has left behind. You were our first love and will be our last. Our husband, father, grandfather and hero.” Miles was born John Errington in Jarrow, County Durham, and grew up in nearby Hebburn. After learning his trade with The Influence, who also featured Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson and Georgie guitarist Vic Malcolm, he…

David Longdon June 17, 1965 – November 20, 2021 THE WORLD OF progressive rock reacted with astonishment and dismay to the unexpected passing of David Longdon, the vocalist with Big Big Train since 2009. The Nottingham-born 56-year-old died in an accident at his home. Longdon, who began his career with the band the Gift Horse, auditioned unsuccessfully to replace Phil Collins in Genesis in 1997. But it was with Big Big Train that he found his sweet spot. From their 2009 album The Underfall Yard onwards, BBT singlehandedly reinvigorated the European prog-rock genre. With a style that mixed pastoral, often folky sounds with thoughtful lyrics, they broached the UK Top 40 with Grand Tour in 2019 and last year’s Common Ground. Their fourteenth album, Welcome To The Planet, is released…

Robert Plant Reveals ‘Sliding Doors’ Moment Unopened letter could have changed rock history. ROBERT PLANT HAS explained how, under different circumstances, a letter he was sent by his mother in 1967 might have changed the entire history of rock. Plant told Rolling Stone how he wept when he discovered the unopend letter – sent to him while he considered a career as a chartered accountant, a year before he teamed up with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham to form Led Zeppelin, realising it could have swayed him to abandon all his dreams of becoming a musician. “When I opened it in 2020, it said: ‘Robert, you should come home now. Sue is waiting for you, and the accountant’s office are happy to take you back’,” Plant reveals.…

SLASH DEATH OR GLORY Slash’s fourth album with Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators was shaping up to be the smoothest sailing of his chaotic career. Then covid blew in and rocked the boat, and “suddenly there was this dark cloud over the whole thing”. Words: Henry Yates AUSTIN NELSON/PRESS Last March, five days into sessions for his fourth album with Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators, Slash’s mobile lit up while he was in the studio. Nothing unusual about that, for a man who has spent the past five years fielding the twin demands of a reunited Guns N’ Roses and a snowballing solo career. But when he glanced at the screen he was bemused to see the caller ID of the singer with whom he was then recording at Nashville’s…

DARK MATTER After Black Sabbath called time, probably the last thing anyone would have expected from Tony Iommi was for him to launch a signature fragrance. But that’s exactly what he’s done, and he has a new instrumental track and video to go with it. Interview: Polly Glass Portrait: Ross Halfin If you thought Tony Iommi was intending to have a quiet post-Black Sabbath life, you were wrong. Among other things, he’s developed new SG guitars with Gibson, remixed 1995’s Forbidden album with Mike Exeter, and pored over out-takes for the latest Black Sabbath reissues – all of that in addition to working on his house and playing a lot of guitar over lockdown. He’s also launched his most surprising venture: a signature fragrance, made in close collaboration with Italian…

THE HOT LIST THE ESSENTIAL NEW ROCK TRACKS YOU NEED TI HEAR THIS MONTH AND THE BANDS TO HAVE ON YOUR RADAR © STEVE GULLICK/PRESS It’s strange to think that by the time you read this, Christmas will be over and it’ll be 2022, after another somewhat unexpected (but rocking) year on planet Earth. What will the next 12 months bring, in rock’n’roll terms? What will we all be listening to? Will rock still exist? (Just kidding, obviously it will.) This month’s selection brings you some of the names to watch out for. Some are rising stars, some are totally brand new, all are well worth your attention – from the 90s fizz of Brits The Hot Damn! to the strident classic melodic rock of Germany’s Kissin’ Dynamite, and all…

THE HARD STUFF ALBUMS Saxon It’s business as usual for the British metal institution, and business is good. Carpe Diem SILVER LINING MUSIC So far, Saxon’s industrious career in metal has essentially unfolded in three stages. In the first of these they released eight albums of note, between 1979 and 1986. The first five in particular were awash with enduring gems such as Wheels Of Steel, Princess Of The Night, 20,000 Feet and Strong Arm Of The Law. Then came the ninth, 1988’s Destiny, a soft-boiled misstep that sounded very much like the band’s last-ditch attempt to sell enough records to appease their label EMI, shortly before they were dropped. We’ve been in Stage Three ever since, with Biff Byford and co. presumably abandoning any dreams they might have of…

SAVE UP TO 50% WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TO ★ CLASSIC ★ ROCK Choose your package PRINT ONLY Every issue delivered to your door £38.93 FOR 12 MONTHS, SAVING 50% • Save money on the shop price • You’re in control – manage your subscription online via our dedicated self-service site • Never miss an issue DIGITAL ONLY Instant access on your iPad or iPhone £25.93 FOR 12 MONTHS, SAVING 50% For more info and to subscribe go to www.magazinesdirect.com/crk/A11S or call 0330 333 1113 and quote A11S TERMS & CONDITIONS Offer closes February 1, 2022. Offer open to new subscribers only. Direct Debit offer is available to UK subscribers only. This price is guaranteed for the first 12 months and we will notify you in advance of any price changes.…

BACK TO LIVE Wille & The Bandits Bandleader Wille on their new album, upcoming dates, covid concerns and bumbling Boris. “I don’t mind being called blues rock, but we also have elements of country… We’ve got a very earthy vibe.” As West Country rockers Wille & The Bandits release their fifth album, When The World Stood Still, and prepare to hit the road, we catch up with guitarist and vocalist Wille Edwards. Cornwall must have been a good place to hibernate during the past two years? For me, the whole first lockdown felt like a blessing, as the band had been so busy. I was living by the beach and there was no one around, I was paddleboarding and surfing to get my mind in the right place to write…

The Soundtrack Of My Life Massive Wagons frontman Baz Mills on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him. Interview: Henry Yates “Sometimes when I listen to AC/DC I get goosebumps. It’s pure elation.” Massive Wagons are on a roll. Formed in 2009, the Lancaster rockers have blossomed from local concern to national conversation, with the goodtime anthems of 2020’s fifth album House Of Noise hijacking the UK Top 10. That breakthrough year will be tough to top, considers chatterbox frontman Baz Mills. But with new album sessions starting this month and talk of a victory lap through Europe, there’s no reason why the Wagons can’t get even bigger. THE FIRST MUSIC I REMEMBER HEARING When I was a little kid I was bang into Shakin’…

Mick Rock November 21, 1948 – November 18, JOHN MILES: GETTY; MICK ROCK: KEVIN NIXON MICK ROCK, THE photographer whose iconic images of David Bowie, Queen, Lou Reed and many more lit up the 70s, has died aged 72 of as-yet unknown cause. Rock was born in West London in 1948, and took up photography as a hobby while studying Medieval and Modern Languages at Cambridge University. Among his iconic portraits were the covers of Syd Barrett’s The Madcap Laughs, Iggy And The Stooges’ Raw Power, Bowie’s Pin-Ups and Lou Reed’s Transformer. “I had a degree in modern languages, and I had an obsession with crazy poets – Shelley, Byron – and also the beats,” Rock told Classic Rock in 2004. “I aspired to that life – sex and abusive…

Hank von Helvete June 15, 1972 – November 19, 2021 HANK VON HELVETE + RICHARD COLE: GETTY THE FORMER LEAD singer with the influential Norwegian death-punks Turbonegro has died at the age of 49. Born in 1972, larger-than-life singer von Helvete (real name Hans-Erik Dyvik Husby) joined Turbonegro when he was 21, and appeared on their albums Never Is Forever (’94) Ass Cobra (’96) – which featured Denim Demon and I Got Erection, later covered by Therapy? and Satyricon respectively – before heroin addiction and von Helvete’s depreciating mental health caused them to disband after 1998’s Apocalypse Dudes. However, in 2003 Turbonegro returned, to great acclaim, with Scandinavian Leather – No.83 in Metal Hammer’s 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of The 21st Century list – and consolidated their cult status with…

I FLASHMEN Pensando, Kansas Records, Italy, 1972. £4,000. Italians I Flashmen started out as a melodic pop band, and released their debut, Cercando La Vita, in 1970. While a competent album with progressive leanings, it’s a relatively tame affair with no real standout tracks. But that failing was corrected with 1972’s Pensando. With so many bands pushing the musical envelope during Italy’s prog-rock era, many were barely recognised. As a result, Pensando is an extremely rare artefact, and many of the world’s leading dealers and collectors have never actually even seen a copy. Presumably pressed in very small quantities, it now commands a very high price. Musically it has all the ingredients of classic Italian prog of the time: emotive vocals, haunting melodies, loud guitars, tasty organ sounds etc. While…

Q & A Zakk Wylde The guitarist/vocalist on loving lockdown, opening a dildo boutique, Ozzy, and ‘Jesus Christ’ playing his Les Paul. Interview: Dave Everley “Hello deeeeaarrrr,” drawls an elderly woman’s voice on the other end of the phone. Except it’s not an elderly woman, it’s a characteristically high-spirited Zakk Wylde calling from Biloxi, Mississippi, where his band Black Label Society are playing a show this evening ahead of the release of their eleventh album, Doom Crew Inc. “It’s good to be back out on tour,” says the singer/guitarist/sometime Ozzy sideman, reverting to his gruff Noo Joisey accent. “You have pictures of guys like Jimmy Page on your wall growing up, cos this is what you want to do.” What’s been the best thing about being stuck at home for…

ROCK’S 50 GREATEST VIDEOS Words: Dave Everley On August 1, 1981, the switch was flicked and the revolution began. “Ladies and gentlemen,” intoned a deep male voice, “rock’n’roll.” That was the moment a brand new channel named MTV – short for Music Television – was launched in New Jersey. Its remit was simple: to deliver the visual equivalent of a radio programme, except singles were replaced by music videos, and DJs became VJs, or video jockeys. The first promo to be played on the channel was loaded with irony and intent: Video Killed The Radio Star by boffiny British new-wave duo The Buggles. It fired the starting pistol on the golden age of the music video. MTV didn’t invent the concept of the music video; everyone from Gallic crooner Serge…

STORIES OF OUR LIFE Magnum vocalist Bob Catley looks back at the album catalogue the band have built up in a career of half a century, and offers some insights into the making of some of them, reminisces about what was happening at the time, and offers thoughts on what they mean to him now. Interview: Rich Davenport Portrait: Rob Barrow Formed in Birmingham in 1972 by vocalist Bob Catley and guitarist Tony Clarkin, Magnum began their career playing as the house band at the city’s renowned Rum Runner club. A desire to follow their own musical path eventually cost them the Rum Runner gig, but spurred Clarkin to reveal a gift for crafting the kind of majestic, uplifting hard rock songs that made them a much-loved band among their…

Communication Breakdown Send your letters to Communication Breakdown, Classic Rock, Future, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London, W2 6JR or email them to classicrock@futurenet.com. For more comment visit www.classicrockmagazine.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. KIND WORDS FOR WORDSMITHS I just needed to write in to express my sorrow at the recent deaths of Malcolm Dome and Peter Makowski. These two, among many others, fuelled my early years of rock education with their excellent writing. For me it was in the amazing (at the time) Kerrang! magazine, which I devoured from cover to cover. Among the seemingly never-ending list of musicians who have sadly passed on in recent times, these two will surely hold their place in the rock afterworld, maybe ‘ghost writing’…ahem. They will be missed. On a…

REVIEWS Various Excellent and varied collection of tracks from an exciting and pivotal year in music. Revolt Into Style: 1979 CHERRY RED There are those – pretty much everyone included – who would say that 1979 is one the great watershed years in music. Like 1956, like 1977 or 1988, 1979 was a year when a lot of bands and artists appeared as if from nowhere and exploded all over the place. Unlike those years, most of which were characterised by adherence to one or two musical styles, 1979 was also a year of extreme variety. The reasons were simple: on one hand there was the air-clearing explosion of punk rock, itself much more than just a musical style. Punk – as you may have heard mentioned from time to…

BACK TO LIVE Halestorm Lzzy Hale on getting back on the road, album number five, and keeping in shape mentally. “To be back in our happy place – to reclaim our identity – felt incredible, because it had been stolen from us.” R TROUT: ALEX SOLCA/PRESS The Pennsylvanian band have four albums under their belt since their 2009 debut, and won a Grammy for 2012 single Love Bites (So Do I). A fifth album is at the mastering stage. For a band renowned for virtually non-stop touring, getting back out there after lockdown put them back where they most like to be. It must have been a relief when Halestorm began touring again in the US in November. To be back in our happy place – to reclaim our identity…

BACK TO LIVE ★ CLASSIC ★ ROCK RECOMMENDS Tour Dates WILL IRELAND See below for dates. Currently February 11 to 19. GETTY See previous page for dates. Currently January 30 to February 8. KEVIN NIXON See opposite page for dates. Currently March 11, 13, May 11.…