WHAT’S HAPPENING DOWN TOWN?

1 Father and son Team-The Bugis at Work, Daniel and Father, John 2 Captain Sir Tom Moore 3 His Excellency The Governor, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo outside The Governor's Palace 4 Muslim Youth Donates £500 to Kidney Care Gibraltar 5 'Blast From The Past', Michael Martinez and Richard Gomila in The Studio 6 On International Women’s Day, the GHA recognised the Women of Gibraltar’s COVID-19 vaccination programme 7 Recycling message from TNP Duke of Edingburgh Award Scheme

2

4

6 7

Magik

Covers in Insolation

by Giles Ramirez and Manolo Arias

‘MAGIK’ the project arises from the collaboration of two musicians with vast experience: guitarist and music producer, Manolo Arias (formerly of Ñu, Niagara, Atlas, Arias – Barón Rojo, Iguana Tango, etc.) and Gibraltarian vocalist, Giles Keith Ramirez (of H.O.T., Ghost and Reach fame). Even though they’ve known each other for nearly thirty years, to date there had never occurred an opportunity to work together.

With this collaboration came the idea of recording ‘MAGIK COVERS IN ISOLATION’; a project of their own version of a string of twelve covers of classics from the 60’s and 70’s, always under the scrutiny of their own personal touch and vision, stamping their own personal musical criteria on them.

Giles Ramirez & Manolo Arias

The two musicians came up with this idea during the pandemic lockdown, when Giles had been recording, posting and sharing some well-known covers on social media via platforms like ‘facebook, ‘Instagram’ and ‘YouTube’. Precisely because of that, the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Manolo Arias had been compelled to delay the release of his album “No Estoy Para Nadie” and thought that it was the perfect timing for this collaboration of releasing this series of classics on a monthly basis to take place.

Having previously released, ‘Listen to the Music’ by the Doobie Brother from their second album ‘Toulouse Street’ (1972) and America’s ‘Sister Golden Hair’, Manolo Arias reviews the selection of the third song for the ‘Covers In Isolation’ project, the popular ‘Show Me The Way’ by Peter Frampton.

“There are some songs that, one way or another, becomes part of one’s musical identity and one can definitely relate to it. ‘Show Me The Way’ is one of those songs. As far as

Manolo Arias

Billy Sheehan Photo by Linda Wake-Garza

I’m concerned, I loved it from the first time I heard it and it made me realise that I had discovered one of the best guitarists that I’ve ever heard in my life.”

For this recording in ‘Magik’, the two ‘musos’ have counted with the participation of the prestigious American vocalist and former Tyketto frontman, Danny Vaughn, who has featured in many rock bands of the elk of: Waysted, Tyketto, Vaughn, Ultimate Eagles y Danny Vaughn’s Myths, Legends & Lies.

Danny and Giles first met way back in 1994 in London at the concert held at the ‘O2 Arena’ when their respective bands, Tyketto and Ghost, recorded the ‘GODS OF AOR’ for MTV’s Head Bangers’ Ball. Years later, they met again in Gibraltar by coincidence where a great friendship flourished between the two musicians, which led them to work together in the ‘Harmony Street’ project, whereby they undertook a small tour in Spain, as a duo, performing acoustic versions of popular classic songs. When Giles and Manolo embark in ‘MAGIK’, they decided to include Danny Vaughn’s collaboration in the ‘Show Me The Way’ track.

‘MAGIK’ offers a particular version of this emblematic song with Manolo Arias’ exquisite guitar playing. On the forty-fifth anniversary of Peter Frampton’s successful release of ‘Show Me The Way’ on February 1976 as the main single of the live album ‘Frampton Comes Alive’; the Song reached number six in the U.S. Billboard charts. Also, 23RD March saw the release on MAGIK of Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4 as the fourth monthly release.

On another note, Giles has confirmed to Globe Magazine of the fact that Billy Sheehan of ‘David Lee Roth’, ‘Mr. Big’, ‘Sons Of Apollo’, ‘The Winery Dogs’ and ‘Talas’ fame has actually guested on bass on one of their original tracks to be released in a forthcoming album soon.

Ñu