SONIC SHOCKS Issue 34 - March 2015

Issue 34 - March 2015

DREW MCCONNELL

a perplexed gentleman

March 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 34

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P. 3: HELSINKI Interview with Drew McConnell

P. 28: SORCERER Interview with Johnny Hagel

P. 7: DIRTY THRILLS Interview

P. 30: THE GOLDEN AGE OF BURLESQUE

by Cristina Massei

by Nelly Loriaux

P. 10: MOTOR SISTER Interview with Jim Wilson

By Matt Dawson

P. 14: EUROPE Interview with Joey Tempest

by Cristina Massei

P. 18: MOONSPELL Interview with Fernando Ribeiro

by Matt Dawson

P. 22: THE ANSWER Interview with Cormac Neeson

by Cristina Massei

P. 24: ERICA Interview

by Cristina Massei

By Matt Dawson

by Sophia Disgrace

P. 32: ROCK'N'ROLL MUSEUM PRESENTS Memories of Soho

by Paul Roundhill

P. 34: LIVE: Aaron Keylock by Nelly Loriaux Goblin - Profondo Rosso by John Morgan P. 35: LIVE: Monster Magnet by John Morgan Mariachi El Bronx by Matt Dawson 36 Crazyfists by Matt Dawson P. 35: LIVE: Black Label Society by Cat Cantlay Dirty Thrills by Nelly Loriaux CONTACT US

Contributors on this issue WRITERS: Sophia Disgrace, Cristina Massei, Matt Dawson, Nelly Loriaux, John Morgan, Paul Roundhill, Cat Finch PHOTOGRAPHERS: Cristina Massei, Nelly Loriaux, Tim Finch

EDITOR IN CHIEF & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Cristina Massei thewickedwitch@sonicshocks.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Matt Dawson - cygnus@sonicshocks.com Nelly Loriaux - nelly@sonicshocks.com US CORRESPONDENT: Denise Britt - denise@sonicshocks.com

General enquiries, review requests and unsolicited material: info@sonicshocks.com Advertising enquiries and info: advertising@sonicshocks.com PLEASE NOTE: We listen to everything but - often in your own interest - we don’t always review it...

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Interview with DREW MCCONNELL

By Cristina Massei Before opening for Baxter Dury, Drew McConnell and his Helsinki gang lead me to a fairly quiet Shoreditch bar for a coffee and an interview. I’m curious to hear more about an album, ‘A Guide for the Perplexed’, that positively surprised me with its rich textures and inspired diversity, taking steady residence on my MP3 player this week. I’m hooked. With special guests including Peter Doherty, Albert Hammond Jr, Fionn Regan and Emma Gillespie, the record is ready to be unleashed on March 2nd via Fierce Panda. The release will be marked with a launch party at the legendary 100 Club in London.

Always keeping busy, Drew is fresh from playing four sets in two days with Doherty at Brixton Jamm. You know, those chaotic yet charming affairs where the set list is regularly abandoned half way through. Why do they even bother preparing one, I wonder…

It’s more a list of songs. They’re there especially for Adam because he’s the organised one – to keep him happy we like to have a list. Invariably we tend to stray.

How did you find Peter after his Thai spell?

Well I just turned left at King’s Cross and followed the directions that he gave me! [laughs] He was fine, he seemed very vivacious, he seemed happy, he was funny. It was nice to see him.

Let’s get to Helsinki, I’ve been listening to your record, a total grower. Can you explain the reason behind the album title - A Guide For The Perplexed?

Well I guess we all feel a little bit confused by life in general so I feel like that the songs that I wrote over the last six/seven years that formed this record are kind of a soundtrack to me being a confused gentleman.

What makes you feel confused these days?

More and more I find everything is confusing. I’ve always found it hard to make plans and see further than my own nose really so as I’ve gotten older I’ve found it helps to try and make plans. Even when I make plans I find it hard to imagine myself a year from now or a couple of years from now. My friend Emma Gillespie that sings on Keys came down to visit me the other day, we stayed up late drinking and she said “After this record what are you going to do?” It worried me because I honestly haven’t thought about what I’m going to do next. It’s a question I should ask myself more often so I think the future perplexes me more than anything right now.

You’re always busy with several things, I’m sure you won’t be bored for too long after this…

I can’t remember the last time I was bored.

That’s a good thing! Back to Helsinki – it’s more a collec-

tive rather than a band or side project…

That’s a description that other people have used, I don’t reject it – it’s a perfectly fine way of describing it but…

How would you describe it?

I would describe it as a collective! [laughs] I can’t think of anything better , it’s just my friends and I; they’re my songs mostly and it’s a very flattering thing that these musicians seem willing to come with me when they’re all free, play with me live and record with me.

Would you like to introduce your friends to our readers?

Absolutely. This is our sound engineer [insert name], Patrick Walden on guitar, Matt Park who played guitar on the record and plays pedal steel, Seb Roachford played drums on the record but he’s doing stuff with Polar Bear at the moment so Adam Faulkner who’s in Babyshambles is playing drums and doing it very well – I’ve given him a set list so he’s happy and we’re going to stick to it! Jamie Morrison played percussion on the record, Jonnie Fielding played violin, Julian McGuire played violin, Peter snag on the record, Fionn Reagan sang on the record, Albert Hammond Jr from The Strokes played on the record.

A lot of fine people involved in this album – how long did it take to get it together?

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We did it in two days. We recorded it in two days and I did guide vocals, I’m not really a singer – I’ve sang live but the only thing I redid was the vocals.

How comfortable are you being the frontman?

I don’t really see it as that, back in the sixties and seventies there was a type of band where the singer was just somebody that sang. The Who was Pete Townsend’s band. I think it’s a modern thing that makes the singer the frontman; when I’m on stage with these guys I just feel like I’m another guy in the band playing my role, I don’t really feel like I’m the frontman but I feel more comfortable singing these days.

I’d like to ask you about some of my favourite tracks on the album: what inspired them, how did they come together, what do they mean to you. Since we mentioned ‘Keys’ earlier, we can start from there.

It’s about something that happened to somebody that I know very well where he was taken advantage of by a predatory younger woman, it’s kind of a girl cried wolf situation.

Cologne Hotel…

I wrote it in a hotel in Cologne – sometimes titles are particularly pertinent to the subject matter and other times you record something then you just quickly write a title so that when you find it months later you remember what it is before you listen to it. It’s not like the old days with tapes and notebooks, with a computer you end up with hundreds of little soundbites. I was on tour with Babyshambles and we were supposed to play a show, Peter didn’t turn up and I had spent the afternoon outside talking to the kids, there was people that had come from Switzerland, Italy, America, Japan and from all over the world and I was really excited to play then we didn’t.

I just felt like that energy that I had felt from the kids that day, I didn’t want it to go nowhere; I felt like writing something so I wrote a song.

Do you argue over the no-shows?

Yeah. It’s bad for the kids who spend a lot of money on train tickets, hotels, bed and breakfast, a tent or whatever but it’s a complex issue.

Talking about Peter, he’s also a guest on the album with ‘Choices’, a song about London…

Partially. I’ve always felt that song is more of a vibe. I know it’s not a funk song but take say Sly And The Family Stone or Parliament: they have jams that are not really songs more like a vibe – ‘Choices’ feels more like a vibe than a song to me. The line “People that make the choices go to sleep and dream like me and you”, that’s a paraphrased version of something that George Harrison said once about when you think about people you imagine to be monsters – the Nixons, the Reagans and The Thatchers – people that we know as perceived to be ruining everything about humanity; it’s important to remember they’re human too.

If you start from a place of love and forgiveness then it’s easier to deal with the fact that these people exist.

You were born in Ireland, grew up in Tenerife and now live in London – would you call London your home?

Yes I do. The Canary Islands have a very big place in my heart – that’s where my formative years were spent, where how I feel about music was formulated primarily – Marseille will always have a big place in my heart too

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and Tipperary which is south of Ireland is still a magical place for me and I like to go back whenever I can, but London has been my home for the last thirteen years so I can’t imagine living anywhere else, not for the foreseeable future.

How do you feel about recent decisions made in London – mainly the disappearance of music venues, the Save Soho campaign, the gentrification of it all?

I think it’s disgusting, I think it’s horrible because what was unique about London is being squeezed out of it with greed and capitalism; it’s a false economy really because we’re just going to end up in an expensive glass jungle with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

The next song I’d like to talk about is one of my personal favourites, Ampersand (feat Fionn Reagan).

It’s about a person I know that had a lot of issues and spent a long time wrestling with those issues; that stopped them from living in the moment and I think when you’re not living in the moment you’re not really alive, the years go past and before you know it you’re never really there.

Lastly – Green-Eyed Twin (feat Ray Suen).

That’s about my brother who died a few years ago, apparently from what I can tell he committed suicide, he jumped off a cliff in Tenerife.

What did that event change in you?

Lots of things to be honest. What I’ve been trying to work through is the fact that, as a youngster growing up in western culture, because of the Hollywood ideal, until something like that happens you believe that whatever happens everything going to turn out alright in the end.

My problem is I no longer believe that. My sense of naïve optimism and wonder is forever dead.

Is there any other song on the album you feel particularly close to, or you especially like to play live?

I just love playing with these guys, it makes me really happy, they all make me laugh so much and they’re all just good players that their personality comes out in what they play, so in the same way it’s great to have a conversation with them or get drunk with them, it’s a joy to play with them.

That’s good especially when you’re on the road together 24/7.

It’s essential really.

This is your second record with Helsinki; the first was self released in 2014 and featured as well a couple of Babyshambles tracks. Is that something that is going to be included in the live show?

There’s one we’re playing from the first Helsinki record which was on Sequel To The Prequel called The Very Last Boy Alive.

When you write, how do you decide what’s gonna be Helsinki, what Babyshambles, what something else?

When I write a song I don’t think this is for this band or that. If I’m writing for somebody else, which I do sometimes when I’m not working with my bands to pay the bills, that’s very different because there you have a brief, a purpose to what you’re writing for; but when I just sit down and write it isn’t immediately obvious what band.

Is your writing mostly spontaneous - when an inspiration comes – or do you sit down and decide to write?

Sometimes a melody will come and you’re just walking

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“the Nixons, the Reagans and The Thatchers – people that we know as perceived to be ruining everything about humanity; it’s important to remember they’re human too.

If you start from a place of love and forgiveness then it’s easier to deal with the fact that these people exist.”

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and sometimes you’ll sit down and write all day. Sometimes the muse strikes, others you sit around waiting for the muse… there’s an Irish musician I follow on Twitter that once tweeted “I’d just been spending twelve hours in the studio trying to write but nothing came, oh well if you want to catch the bus you have to be at the bus stop.’

You’ve got the album launch coming up at the 100 Club on 2nd March – any further plans?

I’m trying to play as much as I can but we’re focusing on that show at the moment. It’s going to be special and there’s definitely going to be guests.

You’ve been quite involved in Love Music Hate Racism; following recent events particularly in Paris, do you feel racism and Anti Semitism in particular are getting worse?

There seems to be a real issue with culture clashes with what one group perceives as blasphemy and what another perceives as protecting freedom of speech, and the problem is that these two points can be argued for months by the brightest intellectuals but they’re never going to see things the same way because they’re fundamentally different prerogatives in two different cultures: the West and the Islamic East.

I think things are getting worse – regarding what happened in Paris I think there are far more relevant people that deal with the issue that have said a lot, I don’t feel the need to add to it. I would say that Will Self had interesting things to say about it.

With The Libertines reuniting and you working on Helsinki – what does the future hold for Babyshambles? Is there a future?

We’ll see, I don’t know, I hope so! I’ve been playing music with Peter for twelve years now and in that whole twelve years I’ve never known the answer to that question!

Not the easiest guy to work with… Are there moments when you think you can’t do it anymore?

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Sometimes… up until now it’s meant too much for me to walk away from it.

What is it about Peter to make you want to stick with him?

He’s really good at blowing smoke rings – that’s probably my favourite thing about him! He can blow a bigger one than a smaller one inside it, he’s great at that.

You’ve worked with some extraordinary musicians in your career – who would be your dream collaboration?

I think I’d love to work with Thurston Moore, Kurt Vile, J Mascis, Frank Ocean – there’s so many wonderful ones.

Any good new bands to recommend?

Drew asks the others for their hot new bands, with answers ranging from Dire Straits to Motorhead, before answering ‘Slaves are quite good and Ratboy from Essex – he hasn’t put anything out yet so that’s a hot tip, you should check him out’.

Time to head back to the Village Underground. Drew managed to elegantly outwit any Doherty question with enviable sense of humour and increase my curiosity about the happy well oiled machine that is Helsinki – 100 Club, 2nd March, be there! Before leaving, he insists on getting the bar tab. Perplexed and confused he might be, but still and always a true gentleman.

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Louis: oh no, not the lifestyle, definitely the music.

Aaron: it is the music for sure. People are afraid to not only play good guitar music these days but also to perform right. We perform with full balls out energy, we love it. Our live performances are absolutely what we are about.

You have certainly done well so far: the 100 Club, O2 academy Liverpool and Shepherds Bush Empire. I know you’d like to play Madison Square Garden, anything else?

Louis: Yeah, we’d love to play Red Rocks.

Let’s say we could go back in time, where would have been your dream place to either perform at or maybe just watch?

Steve: Woodstock Jack: I would have liked to have watched Hendrix play Sgt Pepper’s before the Beatles played it and anyBy Nelly Loriaux thing pre-Woodstock.

Here we are, backstage at the Borderline, for a quick Louis: Hendrix when he first hooked up in London but chat with the boys from Dirty Thrills after their exhilarat- if we’re talking festival then it would have to be Wooding onstage performance. The band, that nearly went by stock. the name of ‘Gypsy Eyes’ (and no Steve, I wasn’t there when that was mentioned, I just did a bit of digging),has Aaron: I would definitely say Woodstock, just to be there been around for only a couple of years but the buzz that and absorb the atmosphere, don’t even have to play refollowed the release of their EP ‘Growing Young’ is well ally. deserved. Tonight’s showcase for their self-titled debut I believe you would have fitted very well; you certainly album just reinforced that this charismatic quartet is in- ooze raw rock vibes. Listening to you we can distinctly deed a force to be reckoned with in the good old world sense some influences in your music, which is perfectly normal really, but how do you intend to make your of Sex, drugs and Rock’n’Roll. sound unique?

Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, let’s just have a Louis: I think it’s a mix of everything, As Aaron said earlier, people are being afraid of guitar music but luckily it quick intro for our reader.

Louis James, the smouldering and soulful French-speak- is coming back, also there are not a lot of male vocalists ing singer Aaron Plows, the stupendous moustachioed bass player Jack Fawdry, the prodigious tattooed guitar player Steve Corrigan, the energetic beat keeper AKA the drummer Hi guys, I must say, what a kick ass set.

Having been raised on Rock’n’roll and with the music evolving in a direction that doesn’t always satisfy my ears, it is refreshing to see that Rock is not dead. You have previously said that you are determined to bring Rock back to its glory days but what does it mean exactly to you? The music, the lifestyle associated with it?

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giving balls to their songs. They are always being soft, beating around the bush; there are few singers with balls anymore and that seem to apply to guitarists and bands.

We give it all onstage. That makes us unique.

Now you have a terrific album and I do love your songs.

But let’s assume you were in the idea of doing a cover or maybe a remix, I am talking something on par with the work Rick Ruben does with his genre-bending or something leaning towards George Clinton, P-Funk maybe, what would you choose?

Aaron: I think we may have different opinions here. When you talked about our influences, they can vary a bit. I played a bit of Motown music for a year or so and I really loved it. I would love to cover something Motown and Louis would really do it justice.

Steve: We’ve all got some kind of Funk and Soul thing in us.

Louis: For me my roots vocally are like Paul Rodgers, kind of like bluesy. I like to sing Jazz, soul as well. I don’t mind doing Motown as long as I can use my range.

Future will tell then.

Talking about that, what are your plans?

Jack: Tours and world domination... I reckon that some of the gigs we have been doing for the last few months have been quite sparse because we want to make sure we’ve got a lot of impact in them.

As of that, we want to get ourselves in a situa t i o n where we don’t really care if we earn money or not. As long as we pick up fans along the way, just throw us in a van and shop us around the world, that’s pretty much it. Ultimately, we want our fans to be able to see us anywhere. As long as they want us there, we’ll be there.

Louis: Awesome gigging. We see those bands that are touring in Europe or the States, they brought back the whole concept of continuously performing so that’s where we’d like to get at and obviously get to a point where we can make some wedge from it, realistically we don’t really want to be poor for the rest of our lives.

Steve: We’re also about to write an EP as well.

Something new? I noticed you introduced a new song in your set.

Jack: Yes, it will probably be a 4 or 5 tracks Louis: Here’s an exclusive for you Anything else you’d like to add or share with for your

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fans?

Jack: Thank you for making what could have been an otherwise mediocre life very eventful and listening to us, cheers for that. When we first started writing our EP, it was just sitting in the middle of the room, having a laugh, smashing thing and being really drunk and although we are probably still doing exactly the same thing, we are now playing in front of people who really enjoy what we are doing.

Steve: Definitely, so many people were singing our lyrics tonight, so crazy.

Louis: I think I speak for the rest of the lads but tonight was a real eye opener. When I looked out and saw everyone going mental on some of our songs, that was just awesome.

Actually talking about your songs, I was a bit surprised with your last song, my personal favourite ‘Sigh’, what happened to the harmonica?

Louis: Ah yeah, sorry about that.

That’s a bit my fault Steve: Yep, that’s Louis’ fault, it’s the promise of Louis learning the harmonica Louis: Hang on, hang on.

Aaron: Let’s just leave it at that for now. Let’s draw a line, next gig Louis: I need to get a G harmonica. Harmonica people will understand that the G harmonica is quite hard to find, so that’s why Ok, fair enough but next time I come see you, I want the harmonica.

Thank you guys for taking the time to talk with me. Before you go mingling, let’s remind your fans where they can get info about you and your album.

We’re on twitter (@DirtyThrills) facebook (facebook. com/DirtyThrills) the web (dirty-thrills.com) instagram ( https://instagram.com/dirtythrills/) and Youtube ( https://www.youtube.com/user/DirtyThrills) You can get our album on iTunes (http://goo.gl/KSnRvj).

You can also follow us on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/dirtythrills)

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“People are afraid to not only play good guitar music these days but also to perform right. We perform with full balls out energy, we love it. Our live performances are absolutely what we are about.”

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By Matt Dawson Enter the journey of a man that has played with the likes of Henry Rollins, Sparks and Mother Superior as Matt Dawson hears stories about how The Beatles particularly the White Album influenced Jim Wilson, Mother Superior’s time during the era of grunge, working with Scott Ian and some news on what the future holds for Motor Sister…

I like to start with asking what was the moment when you thought that becoming a musician was what you wanted to be?

I’ve always been attracted to music, I was fortunate – even though I didn’t realise it at the time – when I was a kid my dad had a weekend top 40 country and western band because he was a nice country singer, my dad had a nice voice that he could sing Hank Williams songs and local people would have fun and drink beer, I grew up with his band rehearsing in our living room and even though I wasn’t interested in country at the time I was already a rock and roller because of The Beatles.

I caught the tail end but as a small kid I remember early McCartney singles which were close enough to the Beatles where you really thought they were not going to be the Beatles again so I caught onto them and the Stones which I loved and I loved the pop music of the seventies – the current stuff is well but something about Herman’s Hermits and even The Monkees, something about the sixties’ pop bands were my favourite.

That took me to song writing – in my high school years I was still fascinated by production, Phil Spector and I bought a tape recorder – my parents let me use the basement for a while to put my tape recorder up and do things , looking back at them now would be interesting – they’re all in my bedroom up in the closet still, never thought it would lead to all of this but I guess that was the first time I tried to make a whole song and then move to LA thinking I’ll make demos of some of these song ideas.

That turns into hanging out with your friends, I was still a kid, 20 years old and I was working at Tower Records on Sunset, my first job too – they gave me the application, I went home and filled it out, went back again and they said give it to the information booth so I did and while I’m waiting there a figure comes next to me – Elton John is next to me with a basket of CD’s – I’m a kid from Delaware and here I am in Hollywood, that kind of stuff made

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me feel like it was a magic city where you don’t know what’s going to happen and to this day from starting Mother Superior and getting noticed by Henry Rollins, playing with him, Daniel Lanois saw me playing with Rollins at the Troubadour and I’ve been playing with him for ten years – just got off a tour with Emmylou Harris.

I would have never imagined those things, I would never have been able to plan that so it’s just been about putting faith in the music and not having anything else to fall back on, it sounds silly now but it all happened in stages , there was a time when Mother Superior was playing in LA that I wasn’t making a whole lot of money playing four nights a week but it kept me away from the record store and they were asking me to be promoted to a manager but I said no because I didn’t want to be even though I loved it!

You covered Happiness Is A Warm Gun by The Beatles – was the White Album [the unofficial name for their 1968 album] a big influence? That album is one of the most experimental around I think – especially for how they were prior to it.

I still say it’s my favourite but that always changes I think because of the number of songs and the surprise element of it – not only are all four side completely different but what you hear every time you really get into the seven/eight songs that are on each side, I would never dare turn it off when it comes on and now there’s a bootleg going around where you can hear how the slow version of Revolution is connected to Revolution 9 – it’s called Revolution in your head or something like that. It’s never ending with The Beatles – whether it’s the mono vinyl or just the McCartney albums.

Now Mother Superior came out at a time where the mainstream media were into the grunge scene, what did you feel about the fan base you guys had during this time being that you were more a 70’s hard rock influenced group?

It was funny – we never really fit in LA also because by the time we came around not only was there grunge bands and all of the rock bands in LA before they were even called hair metal were cutting their hair and getting all serious being a little more like Nine Inch Nails. We had those options as well and it wasn’t like we were trying to start a “bring back rock and roll crusade” it was just who we were and most of the people that supported the band were outside of the country starting with Spain’s most popular music mag doing a feature on Mother Superior and it was at a time when you didn’t have to pay $25 as an import because you could hear it online so by the time we did 13 Violets with Wayne Kramer that record really caught on and we played a festival – the same one that the New York Dolls reunited at – we went to the grounds the night before to check out the scene and we had all these people running up to us!

Between Spain and France where we had a couple of albums released over there we found pockets of places that we could go back and forth so we always had that kind of support but it never went outside of the mainstream audience because we didn’t have major label support – weird things would happen like we would release an album in America and Entertainment Weekly would give it a B and we were “how did that end up in there?!”

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How was the UK? The UK was hard for us as well – we had nice press in Classic Rock and they included us in one of their samplers once but when we go there we would play small rock clubs and it was always with a European booking agent also so there’d be like paperwork for one show in the UK… Let me guess – London? [laughs] Yeah! Tuesday night – make it or break it! So we just never spent enough time playing there for them to realise, we did play shows as Rollins Band and we opened as Mother Superior once too for Rollins Band – opening for ourselves!

I saw that recently with Mariachi El Bronx – they had a surf rock support band that had members of the main involved…

Unfortunately it doesn’t expand your audience because you’re playing for the same people, it was more confusing I think and we had to sweat twice as much too.

Mother Superior becomes Rollins Band then there’s the gap and you get the phone call – first off was there any feelings that you would be doing those songs again at some point?

I would never say never and of course nothing in the immediate future – if you had said I would have been doing that in the next ten years I would have said I don’t think so – not because I don’t look back on it fondly but at the end of it the band kind of fizzled out because of frustra-

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tion and we didn’t have anybody saying “Oh you guys need to do an unplugged album”, we didn’t have a label to support it, the final studio album was Three Headed Dog and by that point everybody wants to put their input into everything, we couldn’t do a credits section without everybody making a big deal out of it. It’s like say Van Halen – the reason why Michael Anthony isn’t playing with them right now, the reason Chris and Rich Robinson regardless of being brothers – any band that’s been around that long.

So the idea that Pearl [Aday} wanted to have a 50th birthday party for Scott [Ian] and his wish wasn’t just to jam a bunch of covers of AC/DC or whatever – he wanted to do Mother Superior songs with me singing because it was something that he missed, him and Pearl would come and see our shows – I remember him being at our show in Denver, Colorado because Anthrax was playing somewhere close by, he not only wanted to hear it but also be the second guitarist. Every Mother Superior record I had the liberty of overdubbing a rhythm guitar but live it was always a trio so it was like I get to kick back a little and put it into the singing – not only is it a good rhythm guitarist, it’s fucking Scott Ian – sounds good to me!

I’ve played a lot with Scott through Pearl over the years but never like this level, he has asked in the past “What’s that lick?” on Mother Superior songs and if we had a guitar in hand I’d show him, Joey [Vera] has done a lot for the band as he’s mixed songs and mastered albums for us, Johnny [Tempesta] I hadn’t met before but I knew he

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was a fan of the band so that was exciting for me and another chance to play the songs in a fun way , that’s all it was the first time and then it got serious. [laughs] We just played our first New York show and we kicked ass – we did one rehearsal the night before…

Wow! We’d been playing together a little bit more and we did one in LA a few weeks ago but me and Scott went to New York to do press and we were talking about the record for days – Alice Cooper, Eddie Trunk and when we got together the night before there it is again, we just laugh a lot right now because we’re all in different bands and we know how hard it is but it all pays off in different ways: Armored Saint are just about to release a new album and Pearl’s singing on that, we’re like family so it’s just really fun, everyone’s got things coming up in the next few months but in the summertime we have more time to devote to more shows so we’re going to get on some festivals and hopefully get out your way too.

The vibe on the record is the 70’s style that I love!

We all love it and wish there was more – by no means am I comparing it to Led Zeppelin but I wish there was more that I could listen to rather than stop at In Through The Out Door – why can’t we have more quality rock and roll music? I also look at it as a way to just want kids to play guitars, even if it’s just the father playing it to his young son – my buddy at the New York show made some bootleg videos and showing it to his six year old who was mesmerised by it – if that wants to make a kid know more about the guitar that’s OK too. We see Scott and Pearl’s son reacting and he knows how to play the intro for Little Motor Sister on the drums himself and he’s not even four yet!

The lyrics as well have a feel good factor, love, relationship and in one case a cheeky bit of innuendo to do with lips that made me grin… [laughs] Thanks very much! In the original band I made sure to pay attention to the words and this’ll be the first time they’re actually printed, for some reason we felt we were always too cool to put the words but looking back on them now I’m really proud, as a singer I always told the band from the beginning that I have to write the words because it has to come from me or I won’t believe it – they’re not true stories about me at all, I’ve always learned that I can be whoever I want to be in a song, at the same time I like to write about relationships because everybody relates to that good or bad and if there’s a sexy guitar riff maybe the Kiss fan in me went to that place but that’s rock and roll too!

With the album being on Metal Blade and Scott’s involvement do you feel you’ll connect to a younger generation?

It’s a good thing with the connection, there are parallels with all the great rock and roll [bands] – people say Black Sabbath’s a heavy metal band and they’re the ultimate heavy metal band but they’re not that much different from Free or Humble Pie in the way that it’s guitars and when you ask Ozzy he’ll tell you the Beatles are his favourite band!

Take The Wizard from that album as an example.

I think people will relate in a way that there’s enough difference to draw people in the same way that the Ra-

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mones would draw the younger crowd in – I remember when being in the tail end of working in record stores in LA say the mid 90’s someone complaining about the people at the store playing too much classic rock and they put on the first Ramones album but it still seemed youthful and fresh! People have been responding so far which is different from the old band where you felt like you were doing a good job and the worst in those days was when people would say “ I wish you guys would have been bigger!” which is a nice thing to say but it felt like…

A backhanded compliment?

Yeah. I did the best I could, I think it was because we stayed true to the band and tried not to sell out the music has stood the test of time to where the likes of Scott can come up and say they could play the songs so if anything it’s true music and will stay the way it is!

You’ve also done some work with Sparks as well – tell us how that all came about!

I was part of their fan club in high school, came to LA with full knowledge – if the Mael brothers can live in LA it’s the place to be – accidentally met them through Tony Visconti who liked a Thin Lizzy cover we did as Rollins Band that he produced and he did a string arrangement for Four Walls as Mother Superior, I talked to him about how much I loved Sparks and a month later he invited Mother Superior to a birthday party, I thought Sparks might be there and sure enough they were!

Cut to: a year later and I see Russell at a Mexican restaurant where we exchanged emails and they had just put out the Lil’ Beethoven album – I got an advance copy and it blew my mind so I send him an email saying that, he tells me they’re going to perform Kimono My House in England for Morrissey at Meltdown, after reading the email I told him that if they needed a bass player I know the record, he mentioned they had Steve McDonald from Redd Kross on bass but we are looking for someone to do the guitar solos so I had to go to Russell’s house and audition, that led to me playing with them in London when they did their twenty one albums – ‘”If you can’t do this then we can’t because you’re the only other person that knows all twenty one albums!” I was a huge teenage geek Sparks fan and they are one of my biggest influences, it always taught me to not do the obvious and they gave me that vision of just because everybody isn’t listening it doesn’t mean people aren’t, that’s one band that 90% of America don’t know what I’m talking about.

Or they know one song…

Exactly or the worst is someone in London coming up to them and saying “Aren’t you guys that 70’s band Sparks?”

Aside from the Motor Sister stuff what else do you have in the pipeline?

I’ve got thirty shows lined up with Daniel Lanois coming up – I’ve been lucky to be his sidekick for a while now, I always want to do it as every night is a completely different night of music and I have great respect too as he’s the side of high class, really nice gigs, I’ve also co-written an album with Pearl, her second album and it’s more on the Eagles/Gram Parsons kind of thing, we’ve been saving up all these songs that fit together – Fred Mandel is on there who’s played with Queen and Elton John – and then I’ve made a bedroom album because I recorded it in my music room at home and through Daniel I’ve learned a lot about recording so on my last set of demos when

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I listen back I thought that it sounds pretty cool, if I can make it without rushing and Joey Vera’s going to help me finish it off by putting the analogue recording into his studio and mix it there.

We’re also planning another Motor Sister album so I’m saving up all my big rock riffs for that, rock and roll but a little more funkier, I’m about to do some quick demos for Scott and Pearl to listen to, I told him I was just going to give him a bunch of guitar riffs and choruses, pick your favourite ones and we’ll take it from there. We’re ready for more – at the first show we did the album and one more song that Scott would have included on his original

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list but he forgot about it and then we wanted to play more but we didn’t know any other songs!

Final question is what have you been listening to recently?

I love North Mississippi All-stars with Luther Dickinson who’s a big influence on me, he also put out a solo album called Rock And Roll Blues, there’s a group called The Haden Triplets as well – good singing on that – along with Jackson 5. I came home from tour and brought a ton of vinyl from the road!

“I’ve always learned that I can be whoever I want to be in a song, at the same time I like to write about relationships because everybody relates to that good or bad and if there’s a sexy guitar riff maybe the Kiss fan in me went to that place but that’s rock and roll too!”

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By Cristina Massei I’ve never been famous for my timekeeping. It’s not my

nature sound as well – in a few years you’ll listen back and be ‘that’s War Of Kings – great!’

Now is this dangerous or stimulating to think that you’ve finally done the album you wanted to do?

[Laughs] I’ll say the same thing on the next one, so don’t worry!

How did you link up with Dave Cobb?

We listen to music backstage in the dressing room a lot and we started listening to Rival Sons a few years ago, we loved the band and the way they recorded and we found out it was Dave Cobb who did it. Last year we got the courage and called him up through our management – ‘hey we Let’s talk about War Of Kings – you’ve said that this is the love your productions, could you come and work with us?’ album you’ve always wanted to do with Europe so what He said that he used to listen to us when he was a kid and did you think was that missing piece that you found with used to drum to Europe albums so he came over to Stockthis one? holm and did it.

I think we’ve found it through experience, research and He’s very creative and a fearless producer, he helped with just going on this journey – to find an album with an atmo- co writing four/five tracks, he had great melody and arsphere and a vibe like the old great albums had from first rangement ideas – he became a band member for two song to the last, we created it with some vintage equip- weeks, it was great! ment – Mellotron keyboards, Hammond organ and the So it’s been ten years since you got back together – was way we recorded the guitar and the drums – in order to this planned or was it just day by day? create the vibe we felt from those great albums like Led We didn’t know if we were going to be here today but we Zeppelin IV [and] the Thin Lizzy albums. it would take time to re-establish the band with the We feel like we’ve done it now and we’ve achieved a sig- knew media and the rock fans because the eighties was a very fault, something catastrophic always happens before I step out of the house or onto the Tube. I swear. This time, however, being late meant having to take a car ride with Joey Tempest, so bring it on London Underground! If anyone would have told me back in the day…

Anyway, Europe have a new album coming out, it’s called ‘War of Kings’, it’s their 10th and it’s out on 2nd March, so stop whistling ‘The Final Countdown’ and get on with the program, because this it’s a damn good record. Let’s hear it from the man himself.

© Cristina Massei

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‘Praise You’ is one of my favourites that represents the new emotional side of the band because it’s heavy but there’s also peace, the guitar solo is very mellow and John is playing soulful, the verses are low, the chorus is powerful and then there’s this riff. That song is really cool and where we’re at right now I think.

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Strange that we look at the States sometimes as the place where new music comes but they’re actually quite attached to the old.

They have their own thing and their own bands but yes they are traditionalists that hold on to what they got but you have to work hard too – make friends with them then you have to come back, there’s going to be some work there!

If you had to pick a song from War Of Kings that represents Europe which one would it be?

‘Praise You’ is one of my favourites that represents the new emotional side of the band because it’s heavy but there’s also peace, the guitar solo is very mellow and John is playing soulful, the verses are low, the chorus is powerful and then there’s this riff.

That song is really cool and where we’re at right now I think.

You’re coming back for a tour as well and one thing that I noticed hasn’t changed since the eighties is the energy on stage!

We get transported – we’re always eighteen years old on stage!

What’s your secret?

I don’t know! The music does that to you – it’s the vibe of being with friends and fans and the music gets you going. We’ve always been like that – we’re very excitable when it comes to music. special period and people remember it in different ways, Is there any particular ritual you do to keep in shape? you need to break away from it but you need to do it slow- If there’s a tour looming I tend to go jogging and go the ly and methodically – we knew it would take at least two gym a bit, I’m not a fanatic or anything but I want to be to four albums before we could prove to people it’s a new in decent shape before the tour because after the tour band with new visions and a new journey. you’re not in good shape! [laughs] It all goes downhill afWe’re lucky five albums in now – five in the new period ter the first gig. and five in the old period.

Once you’ve finished touring where do you go to get I do feel it is a different band to what it was in the Eight- away from everything? ies – back then you were kind of lumped together with all I just want to be with my boys – I have a seven month old the hair metal bands – was that something you embraced baby and a seven year old, I just want to be with them as or something you just found yourself put into? soon as I get off the road but we like going to California, It just happened really – the media put us all together but Florida and if there’s time I’ll do it. when we got back together we really said let’s not listen to I know that you’re based in London now – do you feel like any outsiders, let’s just do what we discuss in the dressing a Londoner? room, choose the people to work with, the direction and Yeah I do in a way because London’s a different planet everything, we really wanted to do our own thing. from the rest of England but when we recorded the album We were in our twenties in the eighties – we followed the in Stockholm I realised I was missing England so it’s turned producer and the record companies advice – we wrote – I don’t miss Sweden but I miss England when I’m in Sweour own stuff and were creative in that sense but now we den, it’s kind of weird! After an amount of time you miss have more control and it feels better. your home country, you can’t explain it but there’s a turnSo this is what you wanted to do… ing point and you don’t have that strange longing anymore Yeah, now we’re in the position where we go in and record then you miss your new country! it live with a great engineer and producer for two or three How do you feel about all the changes in London – the weeks and we go on the road to do the sound we want to gentrification, Soho disappearing and all the clubs closdo. ing down?

Was it difficult to get that label off your back?

It is changing, same in Stockholm too and I can see it clearly It’s taken some countries five albums and they’ve started there because I come and go, it’s strange but I am lucky bewith War Of Kings [to think] ‘maybe this is a new band!’, cause Abbey Road’s still there, most studios though we’ve some countries we still have work to do so yeah it is diffi- recorded in [such as] Townhouse they’ve gone, Olympic cult but it takes time. UK was getting on board quite early Studios is now a cinema and it used to be one before EMI with Secret Society, we were even getting good reviews bought it – they saved it, it didn’t turn into flats anyway so on the second comeback album. Sweden’s going well, in the music studio world it’s weird, there’s only a few big some others in Europe are going well, we’re going back to studios left really.

America now – we haven’t been there in ten years and we What venues do you have particular memories of? have some work there to do, they’re more used to our old Astoria, we had good times there, I used to see shows period.

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there as well – a good place to get a bit drunk and watch bands!

Where’s the place to go and see bands now in London?

I like Shepherd’s Bush as a venue to play and to see bands but Hammersmith is still great – great memories from there as well. O2’s okay but it’s far away from where I live and I like theatre venues.

Are there any plans for any solo material?

Europe takes up all the time – the social media, planning, touring – so no solo albums now, maybe in the future when everything’s calm down it’ll be fun to do something different.

What’s in the future for Europe? How far are you to your goal?

We’re close – we’re getting some good vibes from the rock community and people like our albums for what they are so we’re going to continue that journey but there are a few things – a documentary would be fun to do: I’ve just met Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker yesterday in Paris and they said they’d just finished a film. They enjoyed it but they couldn’t find video footage, only Super 8 and not so much of it! It would be interesting to do something like that, we get asked a lot for maybe a movie or a documentary – we say no because we’re not done yet!

No one in the band wants to write an autobiography, we don’t want to jump on the bandwagon of writing books.

So is it a case that when something like that comes out – it’s the end?

It could be a nice ending but it doesn’t have to be, we’re going to wait a few more years and collect stuff for a docu-

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mentary but we want to keep going now because we have creative time and if we can keep that up that would be great!

Any festival appearances planned?

We have booked a few with more coming in, one is Wacken in Germany but it’ll be ten to twenty festivals: UK tour now, US tour, festivals then a European tour up to Christmas.

How do you feel about THAT song by now? (The Final Countdown, in case you’re reading from a different planet) We love playing it, as you know it was written as the opening song for our show a long time ago, that belongs to Europe shows as a way to communicate with the audience – that, Rock The Night and Superstitious are ALWAYS in the set from the eighties but there’s less as we have so many new songs like Firebox that are becoming almost classics from the new albums.

What can we expect from the set list?

We’ll see how long it is with Black Star Riders on the UK tour – if it’s shorter then we’ll do an explosive set, fast songs and have a blast. If it’s longer we prefer playing close to two hours – a mixture of new and old that work together very well.

For those that haven’t heard Europe since the eighties or are completely new to Europe – why should they buy this album?

It’s probably one of the most interesting classic rock albums of this year, it has a producer that has done great recordings with other artists and it’s a link to the past but in a modern way like a history lesson!

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With the most goth orientated album of their career ‘Extinct’ on the way, Fernando Ribeiro talks about what led up to the record, working with Jens Bogren, touring with Cradle Of Filth and why the ‘UK’ date is just London…

What was the internal process for you when getting Extinct together?

Actually it ended up being a process that was different from the other albums – I had the concept in my head and one day we were putting some touring dates together: Australia and Japan but I said I think it’s time for a new album and everyone was surprised, asked why and I said I have something to tell.

For six months we worked daily on Extinct and that was the difference – this album had much more of a band presence that probably most of our albums – not the early ones because they were done differently at the time with all the band in the studio and for Extinct we had that as well so the process was working intensely because time was not on our side with Jens Bogren coming to Portugal for fifteen days I believe and I remember finishing work on the Saturday then flew to Sweden on the Sunday and start working on the Monday. It was very demanding but at the end of the day it was also one of the most interesting challenges for the band.

The release of Breathe (Until You Are No More) I thought was good as it gives a taste of the entire album and this particular chapter of Moonspell.

I have to say that song came as a surprise because it was actually one of the last songs we wrote for Extinct, we didn’t have a long time so most songs were quite old – some ideas were old but the songs were fresh – I think that song was made of so many different parts that we had trouble getting it together but when we did it started to grow on us so much that we decided to open the whole album with it, of course it’s hard for bands to pick songs and say how it represents the album and actually it wasn’t the first song – we picked one at first that divided people [The Last Of Us] but at the end of the day it worked in our favour, it’s one of the most fantastic songs we wrote – not just because of what we wrote but also because of the arrangements of the Turkish orchestra

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that added a mysterious, romantic atmosphere into our music but we’re always keen for people to listen to the whole album.

I remember that and Domina were the ugly ducklings of the album [laughs] so to say, those were songs that were challenging to make work and nowadays are two of my favourite songs – music is a lot of patience, sometimes you abandon a song if it’s going nowhere but sometimes something really keeps the songs alive up to the point where it becomes special.

You’ve also been working on a video for Extinct…

Honestly nowadays I have a… I won’t say strategy that sounds too awful but I would say an idea when it comes to video clips and releasing stuff, honestly people just have a song as a single and just do that song but in the times we are crossing with music video clips for us are an important thing because we can let loose with our creativity, we worked with Victor Castro who also did our commentary and has worked with Moonspell in the past, he came up with a crazy idea that I really loved because I like B movies, all the elements of the video definitely remind me of something apocalyptic – Mad Max meets The Warriors – stuff I watched when I was a kid.

It’s a decision that for me is important: people get a great lyric video for Breathe, a great official video for Extinct and hopefully we can make a little something with every song because we don’t just want to use one song, we know our songs can stand by themselves. We’re still a little bit conservative in that the album is the answer so we always come with a short answer when people ask what the reasoning was behind each song because we don’t want to expose them all and we’re just trying to find places and methods – Extinct is an epic song in a way and the director knew which story he wanted to do, it should be out beginning of March – I haven’t seen anything, just photos but it looks disturbing, weird and with great story and quality.

As mentioned you worked with Jens Bogren on this album – how was it working with him?

Working with a producer is always a leap of faith, you never know if it’s going to click with you or not from past

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work, I talked to a lot of people and listened to his many records he did from Amon Amarth to Opeth - we probably had the most romantic and goth orientated album because he’s worked with Katatonia but never with us so when I passed on the demos that’s when I felt we’ll be happy – both Moonspell and Jens – at the end of the production because he loved the music once he listened to the lyrics and the concept and he became more personal than any other of the great producers that we have worked with.

Jens is that kind of guy that is a true pro but if you really find the right path – the best thing about him is his human factor: his liking of music, his taste, his way of handling things.

Sometimes we’d have friends and family in the studio and it’s hard for a Swede to be involved in this Portuguese chaos – like a sitcom sometimes! It ended up beautifully not just technically but personally especially as a singer and I can speak for all the others that through Jens we could give this more personal signature into our album and there is from working with an old school producer coming over to Portugal: I don’t like this riff let’s change it, let’s fight/not fight over that and that’s exactly what we needed for Moonspell – some kind of guidance – not that we can’t write our own songs – but sometimes a band is too involved and I don’t like to see bands just

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hire someone to do what I want to do but I can’t press the right buttons, I like people also to put their personal thing into it, it works much better.

You mentioned the album as being more goth orientated, if someone wanted to discover goth itself and Moonspell which three goth bands would you pick and which Moonspell song would you pick?

For me it’s a no-brainer: Type O Negative who weren’t pure goth but were goth in their own way, Sisters Of Mercy – no goth can go without them very well, they were my favourite band for years, my wife’s as well and she likes pop and Fields Of The Nephilim so I think to understand Moonspell they definitely should be checked out. When it comes to our songs I could go the easy way and say Opium because that was the song that is our one hit wonder – even in karaoke in Portugal believe it or not! The Future Is Dark is definitely using Jens’ words at the time a gothic song, sad and heartbreaking with this hypnotic feeling, of course it has the Moonspell feel but it also reminds me of a lot of stuff that I listened to like King Diamond, Bathory, Celtic Frost along with albums on 4AD, Mute and Beggars Banquet that did a great job.

My vinyl collection of 4AD is getting as big as my metal collection – I’ve always been very bouncy between these two worlds as a listener and it ended up having the same dynamic as a song writer.

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In regards to touring you have a date in London coming up – how is it to play there again?

It feels great, obviously people are frustrated that the UK visit is just London, sometimes it’s the same in Portugal with so many places to play and they play just Lisbon. This London date was actually part of a much bigger plan, we had other dates planned including our first visit to Dublin but it all fell through, sometimes I have to say promoters just penny pinch and I was personally affected by it – I know how to deal with the business game – we’ve been doing tours since 1995 but I draw the line when it seems the promoter’s not interested in taking you there. I hate to impose Moonspell on anyone and what happens now when the tour is booked the only thing we could get was London – it was the first place we played abroad in 1995 so it holds a lot of tradition for us but I was frustrated not to do Dublin, Bradford and Birmingham so I hope in 2015 we can do a few more dates because there’s no excuses anymore.

It’s not like in 1998 in Norwich where we played with Anathema and Therion and we had twenty five people, that wouldn’t happen today, also Septicflesh won’t be at the London show due to playing Inferno Festival but we added Lacrimas Profundere to join us so it was a bit chaotic to get things done in the UK, we have a lot of touring in 2015 but I hope there’s time to do the UK – five dates possibly, in fifteen years we’ve only done London and Bloodstock and now it’s time.

What are the plans regarding festivals?

There’s a couple, we’re still booking festivals but right now there is Metaldays, we’re going to co-headline a festival with At The Gates in Transylvania, we played with

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them back in the day so it’s going to be cool to meet them all together again, we’re waiting on the offers but it’s going to be busy touring wise, our summer season starts with Wave Goffik Treffen in Leipzig but before then we have the American tour with Septicflesh and Deathstars so a hell of a year that’s for sure!

You’ve also toured with Cradle Of Filth in the past…

We’ve come a long way with them and there was a couple of years especially around Nymphetamine that we did a lot with Cradle – we’re big friends of people who stayed, people who left but when we started it was still Dani, Paul and Nick. I had the demos at the time and I was really impressed, our first sold out show was with them in Lisbon during The Principles Of Evil Made Flesh, they stayed at our places because there was no hotel, well there was – we were just ripped off – story of our lives—I remember them eating milk and cookies at my parents place!

What new bands would you recommend?

I really like Beastmilk, Alcest, sometimes bands that aren’t fully metal get my attention because metal records – we have the great new Accept and Judas Priest but they’re very old bands, I believe even gothic metal is business as usual, there’s nothing challenging out there but maybe there is and I’m not informed but there are people that are doing different stuff because in the nineties that’s how you had to prove yourself, you couldn’t just do a thrash record singing about beer unless you were Tankard but at the time there was Tiamat, Type O that were avant-garde.

One album I am looking forward to is the new My Dying Bride album.

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By Cristina Massei

‘Raise a Little Hell’ is The Answer's fifth album.

As always, it’s exactly what you would expect from the bluesy Irish rockers: their abrasive energetic brand of rock’n’roll, the love of their fans, the enthusiasm of the band’s members remained unaltered since 2006, when debut ‘Rise’ shot them to fame. Here we discuss the recordout on 9th March - with excited frontman Cormac Neeson.

You have Raise A Little Hell coming out and you did a Pledge Music campaign for it as well as it coming out in stores – tell me about which items did best in the campaign such as the red vinyl…

The Pledge pre-order campaign is as it sounds –a kind of co-ordinated pre-order but also you can pledge extra stuff which can be as small as a signed, handwritten lyric sheet or a signed drum skin to some of the more high end pieces of kit such as a guitar or we’ll come and play in your house, the whole system has intrigued us for quite some time now – being able to do that and also release the record via Napalm we’re getting the best of both worlds, most importantly our fans are able to get their hands on some really cool stuff which otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to. It keeps everybody happy and works out well for all parties.

You went back to your bluesy roots with this album as well…

I think we did, we’ve never really deserted it and never forgot where we came from but I think the attitude on this record is more in line with our earlier days, all we wanted to do this time around was make music for the sheer joy of making music – five records in you ask yourself why you’re still doing it and that’s what it boils down to, we’re the lucky few who get to make music for a living and I’ve been able to block out all the external pressure from record companies, management , the press and our fans even who have an opinion about the record – it’s not always been easy to completely just focus but this time round I think we managed to just get completely round to get into the studio, make a lot of noise and have a great time doing it [and] you can hear the vibrancy on the record.

It’s something I like about the band – you always manage to be true to yourselves without jumping on any trends.

We put out our first album around nine years ago so that’s where the timeline really begins, we’ve always

© Stefan Heilemann prided ourselves on everything that we do and not just following trends, we’re not playing a particular type of music so it can get on the radio – it’s always been about what gets us kickin’ and this record is a fine example of that. You can hear influences but also the band’s identity, I think we managed to make a fresh sounding rock and roll record.

Do you think this need of jumping on the trend at all costs is what’s killing bands these days?

It’s compromise isn’t it, I mean if you compromise your sound , the identity and principles the foundations fall away from underneath and you don’t know who you really are, we’ve always been proud of who we are and that’s not going to change any time soon.

Is there a particular song on this album that you feel personally close to?

All of them! [laughs] Every song is from the heart, every beat is there because we want it to be heard so whenever we put out an album all the tracks we’re very proud of. I would write the majority of the lyrics and a lot of it is born out of personal experience, there’s real passion and emotion there and when we take this album out onto the road I think it’ll be clear for all to see.

Is there an event that inspired anything?

It’s all experience I feed into my lyrics – I know it’s not

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particularly recent but eleven years ago I lost my own father and there’s a song called The Other Side which deals with that for the first time, it’s not a subject that I really put out there, it’s always a presence in my song writing but it’s more subtle just because I don’t want to be THAT guy who’s singing a song about his father and getting all nostalgic looking for sympathy but I’ve always wanted to write a lyric that does his memory justice – I think that definitely does it.

I look upon the music and the live show as my own kind of therapy, it levels me out because I’m able to get rid of the pent up emotions and anxieties through the music – it’s a great release for me.

Was there a change in the process from Rise to this album?

Since the first record we’ve had nine years of full on living : we’ve been around the world a bunch of times, met a lot of crazy people and had some experiences, all four of us have conducted it all with our eyes and ears open and bring it all into the studio along with all the riffs and melodic ideas.

Let’s talk about the tour – you’re known for your energetic shows, is it getting harder fifteen years on?

No, not really, we’re not old enough yet to be worried about preparing for a tour [laughs], we just get up on stage and the adrenaline gets you through the live show, if anything by the end we’re finely tuned athletes from the physical exertion of getting up on stage six nights a week but preparation is the same as it always was, we do a lot of practice before we get out there to make sure we’re ready.

We’re still tweaking the set list because we want to put a lot of new songs – it’s all about deciding what gets dropped at the moment but we’re getting there and we’re very excited about putting out the new record and getting it out onto the road for sure.

You’ve done a poll as well to let fans decide a song out of 6…

We put up a post a week ago asking for suggestions to the poll and got a great response, some suggested songs I forgot even existed such as obscure bonus tracks which is great because I feel some really good music we make gets lost in the ether when they become bonus tracks but it turns out our fans listen to the bonus material as well which is great! Out of those we put together a six song poll from our first EP to our third record for fans to have a little say in our live set.

Do you have an obscure song of the six?

I suppose the most obscure would be ‘Keep Believing’ because it was released before we put out our first album as an EP so it would be a limited edition track but it still makes me smile when ten years later fans are asking us to play that one, I think it’s currently leading the poll

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as well!

Are you planning any festivals?

We’re playing Hellfest, Wacken, Nova Rock and a bunch of others I can’t remember off the top of my head!

You toured with AC/DC, what’s your best memory from that experience?

A lot of big memories , I mean getting to watch AC/DC from the side of the stage playing to hundreds of people is something I’ll never forget, having beers and a steak with Malcolm and Angus, Brian, Cliff and Phil. We played 118 shows with those guys and some of our own as well – it was a major life experience and we enjoyed every second of it.

What was going through your mind during that first show?

It was nerve wracking because we knew it was the beginning of a long tour and an experience that would change our lives, we just knew we had to get up there and do it, once the first show was over there was no stopping us and we enjoyed ourselves every night, we got used to the bigger crowds and we learned from the best.

What do you think of the recent events with them?

I think the guys are right to keep doing what they do, their music is central to their lives and what they do – I’m sure the decision was made with Malcolm included as a band and the extended family that they are and I wish them all the best.

You did a documentary : 412 days of Rock ‘n’ Roll – how was it watching the full documentary back?

I thought it was a good representation of the spirit of that whole tour, it was funny watching it all back and reminisce of that period of our lives, I was happy with how it turned out.

Ten years ago Classic Rock voted you the best new band – who would you give that to today?

The Cadillac Three – the freshest blues rock band I’ve heard for quite some time.

What’s next for The Answer after this tour?

More touring! [laughs] UK in March, Europe in April, Spain in May then the USA until festivals kick in, by the end of the summer we go home and sleep for two weeks!

Only two weeks after all that!

Well there’s more albums to be made!

Anything else you’d like to say about the album?

If I was a rock and roll fan and I heard this record I’d like it very much.

What is rock’n’roll to you?

Daring to be different!

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By Cristina Massei

It was Halloween, I was crawling from bar to bar covering Nightmare on Camden High Street, a Festival across 7 venues with plenty of brilliant gigs and a great atmosphere. However, nothing had prepared me for what I encountered near the Lock leaving the Hawley Arms…

In front of me was a pretty good 3-piece playing on the back of a trailer, followed by a pretty decent crowd between excited and perplexed. Did these guys really really want to play this much? Or were they just being ready to take off in case the bottles started flying?

The band, as I found out after some tweets and a zoom on the picture I had taken, were Erica. Since that day I’ve been wondering if these guys were able to play on a stationary stage, face their own music for, let’s say, half hour with no escape. Finally, the other night I was invited to an actual gig in trendy Hoxton to find out. Verdict: they’ll have to give this mobile thing up or they’re going to cause some serious traffic issues… Erica are good. Really good. And if they’re playing on a stage or a bus near you, go catch them now.

We kidnapped Dalton (vox and guitar), Jason (bass) and Will (drums) for a chat, here it goes…

How did you think about getting on a truck and going around Camden?

D: First things first – were you doing your shopping at

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the time?

No, I was covering Nightmare Festival and I thought ‘here are some guys who really want to play’ J: Our mission in life is to play to people that haven’t heard us because that’s the best sort of audience because who the fuck knows!

D: That’s what we’re all about, Erica means nothing, all the songs have meanings and it’s up to you to decide what they actually mean and when you come and see us live we’re ourselves, people that are trying to do something we want to do which is play music live, enjoy it and give people a moment and something to remember!

W: We push it where we can, when we can.

D: I think the question is more: why WOULDN’T you want to play? If you’re in a band and you’re playing music why would you not want to do yourself justice? Why wouldn’t you want to do the best for yourself?

Don’t you find that there are people these days setting up bands just for the sake of it?

D: Because there’s money in it? Yeah, they want to earn a few bobs; but the reality is I have no job, I have no money, I’ve got a guitar.

Did you guys apply to do Nightmare?

D: We applied to a few venues but didn’t get any emails back so we decided to hijack it!

W: Not give them any choice! We’re going to go through it on a trailer and make everyone hear us.

D: We put a rig on the back of a truck, drove it to Camden -- three hours down the road, we set it up in a car park next to a wine store, we soundchecked briefly then set off around the High Street.

J: We probably got a bigger crowd than any band at any venue playing that night.

Probably, as the night went on every venue was completely packed and many were unable to get in.

D: There was probably 2000 at one point but it was Christmas shopping time.

J: The best bit of the night was – bearing in mind we’re driving away – seeing the audience follow us down the road, some guy is on his bicycle, just to fucking see us!

I heard from your manager that you’re not from London so how did you get it all together?

D: He texted us saying show, London, are you free? If we’re free and there’s a gig we’ll play it. We’ve played in front of a DRUNK PLASTERER with his dog, he was sat at that bar and I was watching the fucker sink into his seat but he had a great time, even bought an album!

The joy of going out there and selling an album rather than a download!

D: To be fair money is not a problem, not an issue – because we’ve never had any, we don’t know what it feels like to have some so we don’t actually care. I don’t say buy an album on the mic, all the fans give me shit because they think I should sell the album on stage but I don’t want to – it’ll sell itself. If people listen to it and

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enjoy it it’ll sell itself. If money comes with it so be it. I’ll enjoy it and invest it wisely to go out of my way to help people who have fucking been there for me.

Let’s go back a bit and make people understand what Erica is; for a start, what are your influences?

D: We don’t have any.

J: We influence each other.

D: The way it works is we listen to our own music at home and enjoy it – I like rock, Jason likes hip-hop and blues, Will likes indie – we come to band practice and we just write a song, write lyrics for it, practice it as hard as we can at the time – it may take two weeks or two minutes!

How did you all meet?

J: I’ve known Dalton since I was a child, best friends since.

W: They stole me from another band! [laughs] D: We’d been friends or friends of friends for a long time so Will’s been a good friend to my cousin for a long time.

Did you always want to do music?

D: No. Will’s a qualified plumber, Jason’s a bartender and I don’t have a job but I DO NOT claim the dole…

Rich parents?

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I’ve got poor parents – but I have parents and a home and I don’t want to claim. I could if I wanted – go down tomorrow and claim £30 a week – but I don’t want to.

Let’s try to find another way to identify what you do – if I was listening to your album what would I be doing?

J: That’s the beauty of it – nobody knows! Every individual that listens to our album is an individual for a reason, you can have the personality of a rocker or a hipster, the message we’re trying to send is we are new, we are here and we will play.

D: We don’t know what we sound like – as crazy as that sounds – when I listen to the CD on my own all I am listening to is the things I could have done better, if I’m listening to someone else’s music I can listen to it and enjoy it but I can’t do that to mine. It’s like if you’re listening to your own voice on tape, you’re like “That doesn’t sound anything like me!” Same as when you hear a song: “I swear that’s different live!”

J: All I can say is for people that do know what we sound like – Ericaband.co.uk – write a comment and tell us what YOU think we sound like and we will listen, we’ve got Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and we’re all over the internet.

D: The beauty is we actually talk on it, we are in control

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D: 50p… I’d shit outside then put a pound next to it! [All laugh] From toilets the conversation easily moves to Festivals…

J: We host our event called Funhouse Presents D: 17 acres of land, farm in the middle, countryside, the laws are our laws. Cheap beer, 5 Jagers for £10, £2 a can, free camping.

J: If you can get there we can guarantee you the most amazing night!

D: Last year Steve Norman from Spandau Ballet came down to play and there was 200 people in a barn in the middle of nowhere – him, 4 bands, loads of beer, good spirit and a great time! He was at the bar most of the night, it’s the only place we’ll ever go where there are genuine famous people you can talk to. They’re not hidden behind curtains or you’re not fucking shuffled off into a auditorium for you to watch and go home, you get up there, put a tent up, get trollied and have a good time!

Jason’s a good saleman!

D: He sold me this jacket! [laughs] In all this if people want to see you live how and are all admins on our social media, we are typing on can they find out where? that keyboard so ask us honest questions and we’ll give D: www.ericaband.co.uk We’re quite secretive, if people you replies. are interested they’ll go out of their way.

J: Forgive the spelling mistakes!

We’re playing Iron Robot bar in Eversham on the 6th W: I spelt the fucking album name wrong the other day W: March. as well, we’re all country boys with eleven toes… [laughs] J: It was a local as you come bar but the new owners Where are you based then? turned it into this amazing rock bar.

D: Cheltenham. It took us 3 hours to get here – 2 to do 80 If you want to find out more then it’s the website. miles and 20 minutes in London to do 2 miles.

Website leads to everything: Spotify, itunes, SoundDo you realize you might have to move over here when J: cloud. you get rich and famous?

D: The album [Sons Of The High Land] was released off I’d just probably parachute in! our own backs, on our own label…

What’s the plan for world domination?

J: Funhouse Presents.

W: We all do this for a hobby really and I love it, it’s the Are you up for playing the likes of Camden Rocks ‘ofbest you can get as one I think. We’re not waiting for ficially’ if you get the call? anything, we’re not chasing success, we’re doing it beD: If we’re not busy aka Will’s plumbing or Jason’s pulling cause we love it.

D: We’re doing it the right way I think, there’s ways of pints in Cheltenham we’re fucking there! doing it - if you enjoy something and you can do it for W: Anywhere, anytime, anyone. the rest of your life then you should definitely try and J: We did a competition for anyone who hit the 1000th achieve it before you get too old look back and go “What like and it happened to be a girl from Weston Super if?”

Mare, we played in her back garden to all her family.

J: We’re very much in the moment, we are the moment The smallest stage we’ve ever played is the 12 Bar in Lonmen. don.

There’s a quote, ‘Find a job you love and you’re never W: I had to halve the size of my drum kit to play on it! going to work another day in your life’.

If you had your own festival who would be your main D: Why would you build someone else’s fortune but support before you headline? not achieve anything apart from a little shitty pension J: The Chillis [Red Hot Chilli Peppers] or whatever you struggle fucking with. Everyone’s strug- W: Nirvana gling.

D: Led Zeppelin J: Even in this day and age a million quid is nothing.

Time for the boys to get back to the country and for me D: A Freddo’s 25p now! to get on the bus. Until next time, keep your eyes and I’ll tell you something worse – using public toilets in ears on www.ericaband.co.uk and… see you on the road!

Westminster is 50p!

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“the reality is I have no job, I have no money, I’ve got a guitar.”

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With their return on the horizon Matt talks to Johnny Hagel about playing with Count Raven, Kiss, Accept, working with Jens Bogren and UK plans…

What was the moment in your life that inspired you to become a musician?

It has to be two moments actually. First was when I was 8 years old and got the Kiss album “Rock´n Roll Over” on cassette. That was a magic moment for sure. The second time was when I attended my first concert which was Accept in 1983 on their Balls to the Wall tour. After that my dreams of becoming a lawyer (strange…) was buried.

In 1988 it was a time when black metal was on the rise and hair metal was the big thing for better or worse – what was it like to be forming a doom band in Sweden?

Quite good I have to say. We never thought about what other bands did or played, just did our own thing. We all listened to bands like Black Sabbath (Dio-era), Candlemass, Judas Priest, Metal Church and King Diamond so we were in our own world when it came to music.

Of course we were aware of death metal and even hair metal but we did our thing.

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One of your first gigs was with Count Raven followed by a festival featuring Entombed – describe your feelings when learning you were going to be performing with them at the time…

Actually the first gig we did was with Count Raven and it was great. I became good friend with their singer Christian and even if we don´t have the same close contact today I talk to him some time every year thanks to Facebook. When we played the festival with Entombed we were the only “doom” band on the bill. Most of the people were there for Entombed, Carnage or Mezzrow but I think some people liked us. It feels strange to look back because in my eyes it was only one gig but for people who reads about it today maybe thinks it was something historical but it wasn´t really….

Following the disbandment of the band in 1992 did you ever think that Sorcerer would get back together in the future?

No or actually I never thought about it. I thought that what we did was good and I am proud of it but that´s it. Maybe it was destined this way because of that we never made it more than to some demos.

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In 2010 the first show as Sorcerer in many years happened at Hammer Of Doom – what was your reaction to the crowd as you went out on stage and did you feel that it was time to bring Sorcerer back?

To tell the truth, we didn´t expect anything and then when we started the first song I heard people singing along with the lyrics. We were totally amazed and after the first song Ola the guitar player back then looked at me and smiled. This happened with every song and the audience really carried us through the gig. After the gig we talked to a lot of people and they all said that we were the real headliners and some had travelled all the way from Greece to see us. This made us think even more about making new music.

How do you feel it was working with Jens Bogren on the mastering of the album?

This is a funny story. Our drummer Robert said that he knew a guy who was a genius in mastering and we sent

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one song to some people including Jens without knowing it was him. Then Robert said, btw one of the people is Jens Bogren and then it was a easy choice.

What would you say is your favourite track on the album?

It differs from day to day but right now I have to say it is Pagans Dance.

Are there any plans for any UK shows?

Nothing booked right now but I hope that Sorcerer can play UK soon. With Tiamat I played in London once and it was really good.

Thoughts on doom metal in

2015?

There are a lot of bands that I think had good albums in both 2013 and 2014 so I think doom metal has a bright future. I can really recommend bands like Sorrows Path, In Aevum Agerer, Goatess and I really hope that Solitude Aeturnus can release a new album this year.

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Welcome to your one stop drop for all the news on the best burlesque nights, in the capital and beyond! I’m Sophia Disgrace, I’ve performed at numerous events in the UK and abroad, from festivals to the most exclusive clubs. I perform in a neo burlesque style and often incorporate other elements such as angle grinding into my routines. I like to shake the audience up a bit!

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by Sophia Disgrace

Burlesque - or ‘the art of tease’ as it’s also known, first rose to prominence in the 1950s; in recent years it’s enjoyed something of a revival, with stars such as Dita Von Teese helping to popularise the scene once again.

London as ever is at the fore front of this movement, which is both alluring and inspiring for men and women alike....

This month’s edition is a bit of an ‘all around the world’ affair!

Why? Well, spring is on its way (Allegedly!) and I thought it would be well, you know...nice....

LONDON! CABARET ROULETTE ‘SECRETS’ At The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, London Wednesday 11th March - 7.00pm to 11.30pm I adore the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, it hosts a wonderful selection of events, open to all and sundry - including your gran and the next door neighbour if they fancy it! Be sure to bring ‘em all to this tantalising show, which gives its performers a mere two months to create an act based around the audiences theme of choice. Acts on the bill include the mesmerising Marnie Scarlet, comic burlesque lady Missy Maybe, boylesquer Pi the Mime and an array of equally splendid artists!

The theme for this month’s acts is in case you didn’t guess ‘Secrets’ - so shhh! Don’t tell anyone....oh okay, go on then!

Tickets are from £12.00 please refer to the venue website for more information - rvt.org.uk

Photo by Alex Tsander

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PARIS! AUX TROIS MAILLETZ, PARIS Open early evenings until late, late, late!

This former jazz club is something of a hidden gem - only the coolest cats are in the know! Louis Armstrong once played here and today it hosts an eclectic menu of happenings. It’s very French and ultra hip, acts are varied and sourced from across the globe, so there’s sure to be something for even the most discerning cabaret aficionado!

A word of warning - prepare to dig dip; as a couple of drinks, a meal and the cover charge, will set you back around €200 for two people - ouch!

For more details on forthcoming events please call the venue directly on -01 43 25 96 86 NEW YORK! THE SPANKING OF THE LOWER EAST SIDE @ Nurse Bettie, NY Thursday 26th March from 9.45pm to 11.30pm This event is free!

Okay, five reasons why you need to go to check out this show: 1- The venue hosting it is a loving homage to the notorious Betty Page-how hot?!

2- It’s hosted by burlesque darling Calamity Chang!

3- Err it costs nada-duh!

4- It has a great selection of amazing speciality cocktails!

5- There are gogo dancers and dazzling acts aplenty!

So go see!!!

Find out more here at www.nursebettie.com AND Heres a ‘lil travel essential to ensure you get all the beauty sleep you need, in between burly globetrotting stuffs!

THE BURLESQUE SLEEP MASK by www.lovemesugar.com This gloriously decadent item is an absolute steal at $45.00!

It’s made of Red Dupioni Silk ‘with glamour and comfort in mind’. Elegant tulle trim and a beautiful Swarovski Crystal complete the look. Use it as a sleep aid or if you’re feeling naughty, a blindfold!

Disgracefully yours as always, Sophia xox

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rock’n’roll museum

By Paul Roundhill

presents

Memories of Soho As London prepares to reclaim its very soul demonstrating on the streets of Westminster on 22nd March, Paul Roundhill shares some of his precious memories of the area with the readers of Sonic Shocks and urges every Londoner to join the campaign to save Soho's heritage from the greedy hands of the developers...

Soho is the human heart of London. The area has Oxford Street, Regent Street, Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road as its boundaries and contains all the small businesses upon which a great city depends.

There are all the foreign food shops and restaurants, China Town has carved its own territory to the south of Shaftesbury Avenue and north of Leicester square, but north of Shaftesbury avenue no one type of business prevails.

The film and video business have made Wardour Street their own and spill over in all directions, the sex trade quite properly hugs closely Piccadilly and Eros, The Musical Instrument shops are to be found along and around Denmark Street and Old Compton Street claims the pink pound for itself. Elsewhere are the plethoras of small businesses that make the district such an essential resource with every kind of shop imaginable and if you can’t buy it in Soho you probably can’t get it anywhere.

It’s a part of London where schoolboys could disappear for the afternoon and stay for a lifetime, as so well documented by the writer Geoffrey Bernard whose column “Low Life” in the Spectator was described as the longest suicide note ever, detailing his exploits in the pubs and drinking dens which could enable one to drink around the clock whilst the rest of the country suffered the strictures of tough licensing hours.

Soho is a thriving hub of commerce with cash tills ringing around the clock but at the same time it is louche, relaxed; entering Soho is like stepping across the border out of England and into a cosmopolitan world where other rules apply. There is an almost total absence of “Chains” or the type of shop found on every high street; with the exception of Pizza Express which has its flagship Kettners on Romilly Street, almost every business is unique and a one-off, more often than not a one-man business reflecting the kind of idiosyncrasy that only an individual can impart to the concern that reflects an abiding passion, whether it be for a type of food or magazines with photos of ladies with large breasts.

Long may this continue. I have personally spent large swathes of my life in the clubs and pubs of the area and owe many of my happiest encounters and friendships to those mis-spent hours and days and night and weeks … I have been drinking partners with many of the cultural heroes of the twentieth century there, the great painters and writers and actors. That is something I cannot say about any other part of London and is I am sure true for others who love the area. Soho is companionable and two of its foremost destinations have recently come under the axe of developers. Much has already been written on this subject and so all I will say is that Madame Jo-Jos and the 12 Bar Club are national treasures, veritable pillars of a free society and they should both be saved. I urge you to research this matter and join the chorus of campaigners crying out for our much loved Soho establishments to be preserved for future generations.

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LIVE

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AARON KEYLOCK @ The Black Heart - 10 February

By Nelly Loriaux (http://goo.gl/nxNyPB for more pix) Aaron has come a long way since cutting his teeth at the legendary Charlotte Street Blues bar at the tender age of 12. With over 200 shows under his belt that has seen him take the Blues scene by storm, supporting the likes of The Quireboys, Nine Below Zero, Blackberry Smoke and performing at Winter Rocks and Planet Rockstock, the 17-year-old is already a veteran on the Blues circuit.

Ahead of his appearance at Download in June and the Blues stage at the Ramblin’ Man Fair in July, the talented songwriter, singer and guitarist is gearing up for his first headline London show at The Black Heart. Confidently sauntering on stage, long hair flowing freely, sporting flare-bottomed jean, looking like a young Francis Rossi doppelganger, we are thrown back in time into a 70’s wormhole, a space-time continuum where the soulful Blues/Rock still live on.

During his 10 songs set, classy Blues licks emanate from the constant rotation of guitars, a gutsy and powerful execution that belies his young age. Starting off with hard rocking blues ‘Medicine Man’, we are then treated to a great rendition of Johnny Winter’s ‘Self Destruction Blues’ whilst slower number ‘Just One Question’ showcases Aaron’s astounding guitar solo skills. From beginning to end, the pace never let off, right until the final chords of ‘Ain’t that Kindness’. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lead Belly, Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Winter were in the audience, looking on approvingly, wishing they could join Aaron for a good old jam session.

As Aaron said in a previous interview for Oxford Mail ‘You’ve either got the Blues or you haven’t. It’s a feeling in your soul’. After witnessing his impressive performance tonight, I can decidedly agree that this boy has got the Blues in his soul. There’s no doubt in my mind that a great future lays ahead of him so you’d better keep an eye on this guitar prodigy. Welcome to the new generation of dirty Blues-Rock as, for Aaron, there’s definitely ‘No Escape From The Blues’ CLAUDIO SIMONETTI’S GOBLIN presents PROFONDO ROSSO @ Barbican Hall, 21 February

By John Morgan After the success of last year’s live performances at Islington’s Union Chapel, tonight Mr Claudio Simonetti brings his Goblin entourage to the London Barbican for a full musical score to celebrate the 40th anniversary of cult movie horror classic “Deep Red” or, for the purists, “Profondo Rosso”.

The movie itself, displayed in all its glory on the huge screen suspended above the stage, contains large sections of dialogue, which made me question the wisdom of the choice.

However, when the band do contribute to the performance, it undoubtedly adds a certain something to the proceedings.

A post film selection of movie sound bites is for me the highlight of tonight’s show. The encore selection of music from films such as Suspiria and Tenebrae are a pure pleasure to hear, whereas the classic Zombi medley stuns all in attendance to give the band the standing ovation that tonight’s performance richly deserved.

8/10.

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LIVE

MONSTER MAGNET @ The Electric Ballroom – 15th February

By John Morgan – Photo C. Massei

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Space Rockers Monster Magnet return to London tonight to deliver a set that oozes all that is good in the genre that is known as “Stoner Rock”.

From the opening Hawkwind cover ‘The Right Stuff’ through to the (now sing along) ‘Space Lord’ ending proceedings, the drums thunder and the guitars sonically fuse together to help deliver the typical wall of fuzz and mayhem that’s become systematic of a Magnet gig.

Dave’s voice is in fine form and he comes across as a guy in a very good mood. With a set list of songs spanning the bands career, this is still one band that knows how to put on a seriously good Rock Show.

8.5/10.

MARIACHI EL BRONX @ Stoke Sugarmill - 6th February

By Matt Dawson With the tequila flowing on a cold Friday night it felt right for the sideproject of The Bronx to come to town for a headline show to warm things up before the inevitable night out down the pubs and clubs of the town.

With a few faces some might recognise from the main band of the night Pounded by The Surf do a set of instrumental surf-rock that gets a fair few excited as they probably dream of catching a big wave somewhere – and a good indication for those that didn’t realise that this night would be very different.

As Mariachi El Bronx take to the stage with tracks like ‘Wildfires’, ‘New Beat’ and more the cheers get louder as the sight of a primarily hardcore band doing mariachi delights the crowd – it also helps that the talk inbetween songs by Matt Caughthran is amusing as he mentions that Nando’s is coming to the town FINALLY and a moment where he wishes happy birthday to Axl Rose then when remembering that Slash lived in Stoke for a few years deciding to change his mind.

By the end of the night the smiles on the crowd show that Mariachi El Bronx gave some good entertainment to kick off the weekend as they all head off to drink and be merry around the town itself – maybe with some more tequila shots in the process.

36 CRAZYFISTS @ Stoke Sugarmill – 7th February

By Matt Dawson Returning once more to Stoke on this night are the Alaskan powerhouse of 36 Crazyfists and given the journey the band have been through in recent years there’s a sign that this will be an emotional show.

The crowd show their appreciation for Brock Lindow and the band’s appearance on stage, Brock expressing throughout how grateful they all are to be back in the UK even if it does take the crowd a little while to get going with the usual array of pits and the odd stage dive.

By the time songs like ‘The Heart And The Shape’, ‘Bloodwork’ and ‘At The End Of August’ kick in however we see a venue full of people reminiscing as they sing along to the songs of their youth and are receptive towards the songs played such as ‘Swing The Noose’ off Time And Trauma – in part due to 36’s plan to put them in the latter half of the set once the energy had built up in the room.

Ending on their most known hit ‘Slit Wrist Theory’ to which Brock dryly jokes how some might have lost their virginity to it as it starts it’s good to see that the fire is still alive in the band yet and to see that the crowds are still there for them.

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BLACK LABEL SOCIETY @ The Institute, Birmingham - 12th February

By Cat Finch - Photo Tim Finch

It’s not often you see three heavy weight bands tour together, but that’s exactly what we have here at The Institute in Birmingham: Crobot, Black Tusk and Black Label Society in one brutal touring package.

First up is Crobot, who have been together just three short years but arrive with a growing reputation. For sound, imagine Clutch crossed with very early Aerosmith. The pairing of Brandon Yeagley on vocals and Jake Figueroa have the crowd mesmerized. A stunning set.

Main support on this road trip is Black Tusk from Savannah, Georgia who less than four months ago lost bassist Jonathan Athon to a motorcycle accident. For the moment they seem to have bounced back well and landing the support gig with Black Label Society may just help them move from strength to strength. Their sound - a sludgy/stoner crossover - fits perfectly into the lineup tonight and they pull it off well. 45 minutes of gut wrenching riffs, and a gargantuan bass line leaves fans in awe.

Zakk Wylde doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to touring. A series of intimate venues around the UK and a stage set made up purely of a wall of Marshall amps! Opening, quite aptly with The Beginning… At Last, Zakk emerges out of the darkness on stage towering over his adoring masses. The riffs blasting out of that wall of amps takes your breath away as he and his band mates tear through Funeral Bell and Bleed for Me. It’s not all about the BLS greatest hits though, and soon tracks from the new album Catacombs of the Black Vatican are rolled out. Heart of Darkness and My Dying Time show that the band have matured from the thunderous early albums, showing that there is more depth to Black Label Society than just a barrage of heavy guitar licks. Ever the showman, Zakk rolls on into a 17 minute guitar solo. A welcome break for his band mates, but you have to question is this really necessary? There are few people on the planet who would question his skills as an axeman, and that 17 minutes could have been filled with 5 or 6 more songs.

Still it’s onwards once more and the band finish the night with The Blessed hell Ride, Concrete Jungle and Still Born. A set of alcohol fueled guitar brutality rounded off a fantastic night from start to finish.

DIRTY THRILLS @ The Borderline – 18th February

By Nelly Loriaux Hosted by Wyatt Wendels, Planet Rock first live event of 2015 (in association with Ninelives UK) took down the Borderline by storm with an electrifying showcase of British Rock at its best. If you are one of those people who think that Rock’n’Roll is dead then take a leaf out of Dickens’ book and his artful dodger’s unlikely words of wisdom ‘Where have you been all your life?’

Bad case of the ‘mystical’ man-flu or not (‘Man-flu...it can kill you, you know’), Fire Red Empress frontman Nik Taylor-Stoakes certainly demonstrated that he is a true believer of ‘the show must go on’. Cracking on with ‘Southpaw’, the quintet charged through their set bestowing upon us an earful of stoner Rock riffs from older ‘Left Unspoken’ and ‘Paint me The Devil’ through to brand new tracks ‘Black Skies Mist’ and ‘Seven Shades’ from their highly anticipated album.

Next on, we return to a bit of retro fuelled and seemingly Whisky-soaked blues with ‘Dirty Thrills’ knocking us down with an eight songs set chronologizing their past, present and future. Wasting no time with small talk, Louis leads on with ‘Shivers’, a gritty little number from their first EP ‘Growing Young’, introducing us to their undeniably infectious sound from catchy blues/rock ‘The Man Who Lost His Way’, Southern guitar licks and powerful vocals on ‘No Resolve’, dirty grooves on new song ‘Empire’ and ultimately wrapping up with my favourite soulful ‹Sigh›.

Their amazing stage presence leaves us breathless with Steve thumping away behind his sparkling blue drum kit sporting a big grin on his face, Dali-esque moustachioed Aaron displaying some rather Funky poses, Louis giving some serious hip moves whilst waving his tambourine around and Jack continuously sliding from one corner to the next, jumping off stage to join the crowd to finally lying down on the floor; it is plain to see that this band lives for their live shows. My only quibble will have to be ‹What happened to the harmonica for ‘Sigh’? but Louis reveals all on our little friendly chat later on.

Unfortunately, I couldn›t catch The Amorettes’ set as they were performing whilst I was bantering away with the charismatic boys from Dirty Thrills backstage in the Green Room (which funnily enough is actually white, go figures) but from what I’ve heard those gals rocked hard and oozed girl power.

There may be ‹no rest for the wicked› but quite frankly, eternal torment in Hell seems like a small price to pay if we can all get poked with some Fire Red Empress whilst savouring a daily dose of Dirty Thrills. Do not act like a surprised beyond belief Mr Bumble, because, not unlike Oliver, you will want some more.