Rocky Newton of LIONHEART Second Nature, Grand Slam, and More...
Interview by Ken Morton Second Nature is the comeback Lionheart album released in 2017, featuring the all-star lineup of Dennis Stratton (formerly guitarist with Iron Maiden), Steve Mann (current guitarist and keyboardist with Michael Schenker), Rocky Newton (former bass player and backing vocalist with McAuley Schenker Group), Clive Edwards (former drummer with UFO, Wild Horses, and Uli Roth), and newest member Lee Small (former lead vocalist with Shy and Phenomena). Out of print for a few years now, Metalville Records now presents a remasted version of Second Nature, complete with bonus tracks! With their third album The Reality Of Miracles being an absolute triumph for 2020, the hard to find Second Nature is a welcomed addition to the New Year as we await the next Lionheart magnum opus. Highwire Daze recently caught up with the one and only Rocky Newton to discuss the re-release of Second Nature, 38
working with Michael Schenker, Victory and Def Leppard - plus his current participation within the ranks of the almighty Grand Slam. Read on... How did the reformation of Lionheart come about for the album Second Nature? Quite simply, the band never really broke up from the early ‘80s but we all kind of went off and did different projects. Steve and I went on to play with MSG. joined Iron Maiden and it just kind of fragmented and we lost touch for a bit. But always remained friends. And, in 2016, there’s was an AOR Festival in the UK, which is sadly no longer going, called the Rockingham Festival in Nottingham, which happens to only be about 20 miles from where I live. The promoter got hold of me and he’d always been a huge Lionheart fan and said, “Would you guys consider reforming to do a one-off show at the Rockingham Festival?” which was in, I think, the October of 2016. He called me back in the summer. I phoned around January/February 2022
HIGHWIRE DAZE
