SONIC SHOCKS Issue 35 - April 2015

Issue 35 - April 2015

Roger Miret speaks to Sonic Shocks

Plus interviews with MABEL GREER'S TOYSHOP HARDCORE SUPERSTAR NATIVE CONSTRUCT THE GENTLE STORM JACK BROADBENT STEVE HACKETT THE TANGENT KOUDLAM APOPHYS

DELIVERANCE TO TIME KILLERS Our exclusive interview with Reed Mullin

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 2

P. 3: CORROSION OF CONFORMITY Interview with Reed Mullin

P. 28: NATIVE CONSTRUCT Interview with Myles Yang

P. 7: AGNOSTIC FRONT Interview with Roger Miret

P. 30: HARDCORE SUPERSTAR Interview with Jocke Berg

by John Morgan

by Matt Dawson & John Morgan

P. 12: STEVE HACKETT

By Matt Dawson

P. 14: KOUDLAM

by Nelly Loriaux

P. 16: APOPHYS Interview with Kevin Quilligan

By Matt Dawson

By Cristina Massei

P. 34: THE GENTLE STORM Interview with Anneke Van Giersbergen

By Matt Dawson

P. 36: STEAK NUMBER EIGHT Interview with CIS Deman

by Matt Dawson

By Matt Dawson

P. 18: JACK BROADBENT

P. 38: THE GOLDEN AGE OF BURLESQUE

P. 22: MABEL GREER'S TOYSHOP Interview with Clive Bayley

P. 40: ROCK'N'ROLL MUSEUM PRESENTS The Juke-Box

P. 25: THE TANGENT Interview with Andy Tillison

P. 42: LIVE: Europe/Black Star Riders by Cat Finch Jack Broadbent by Mark Fletcher

by Mark Fletcher

by Matt Dawson

By Matt Dawson

by Sophia Disgrace

by Paul Roundhill

Main cover photo credit: Cristina Massei - Agnostic Front: W. Craig

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

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...

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 3

By John Morgan The first time I met Reed Mullin we were in a random bar in New York, 1994. ‘Deliverance’ was about to be released. Both a bit wankered, we had a debate on why Trouble should be as big as Black Sabbath. 21 years down the line, we catch up backstage at the Electric Ballroom before the show that sees them back in London with original vocalist Pepper Keenan…

So 20 years since Deliverance and back with that lineup!

Yeah, Pepper [Keenan] and I started talking last year about maybe getting back together for some shows or something like that and he was still doing Down stuff and was like “ we shouldn’t rush it” so yeah it ended up working out that we did this.

How did the logistics work out for that – you’re still a Carolina based band I take it?

Mikey and I live in Raleigh, Woody lives close to Raleigh in Virginia and Pepper lives in New Orleans, it’s only really been this one time since we got back together – Pepper flew up for three days of rehearsals – stayed at my house round the corner from the practice so that worked out fine!

First day I was a little tight – just “How does this go?

Shit!” but the second and third day the reptile brain

kicked in, muscle memory! [laughter fills the room] then we had a day of rehearsal in Manchester.

How easy was it to slip back into it with the four of you in a room?

I guess one of our biggest challenges was to figure out what songs we were going to do, it’s kinda being presented as mostly a Deliverance thing so we’re doing most of that album but we’re going to do stuff from Wiseblood, America’s Volume Dealer and they wanted to do some off In The Arms Of God which I didn’t play on and at first I was like I don’t mind playing some material but I’d rather concentrate on Deliverance material, they were like let’s do two songs, I was “I’d rather do one song.” then in rehearsals I had so much fun playing them particularly ‘Paranoid Opioid’ that I was let’s do both of them!

We learned twenty five songs then trimmed it down to a compatible length with regular headline shows as opposed to a Metallica or a Foo Fighters show or something – people that play for three hours which we weren’t quite ready for!

Was it a lot of fun to play songs that had been missing from the live set for a while?

Oh yeah! It was similar to when we were playing the

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 4

three piece punk stuff where there was a lot of people that wanted to see us perform the old punk stuff and either saw it a long time ago or never got to, so very similar where people were like “get Pepper back!” It’s been a blast, shows have been great – fucking crowds have been really loud!

Tonight’s sold out as well.

I think that sold out a week ago when we first got here so that’s cool.

There’s a lot of people coming tonight who weren’t even BORN when Deliverance came out – how does that feel?

I still think like I’m a sixteen year old in my brain, a lot would say I still act like one! I can relate to the enthusiasm of folks coming, it’s funny because I remember seeing Black Flag when I was a kid and remember thinking they were old because they were in their thirties! Charlie Harper and the first time I saw UK Subs – god, he’s really old and this is like in 1982 or something! They’re still playing right?

They are! He’s just had his 70th birthday celebrations and still up there doing it.

That was one of the best club shows I ever saw, I think it was Anti Nowhere League who I thought were OK, Animal was kind of funny looking with his codpiece and all that stuff but then the Subs came out and killed it.

When Deliverance came out at the time it was one of the major pinnacles for the band – you were signed to a major label, heavy rotation for the Albatross video – what was it like around that time?

It was weird for us because we started as a DIY thing then we were on Metal Blade, Blind we were on Relativity in the States and Roadrunner over here so indies but kind of bigger indies but when Sony gobbled up Relativity and we got put on Columbia – the obscene amount of money they’d throw at us which was cool but we were so frugal at the same time too then we came to the conclusion that we should just go ahead and spend the money! [laughs] I remember seeing you guys at Donington in 1995 [The Escape From The Studio all-dayer headlined by Metallica]…

We opened – I think we brought a kid out with us too, we were doing that two chord punk song, there were all these kids at the front with the signs ‘Pick Me!’ as we’d been doing that on the Megadeth tour over here. Deliverance and Wiseblood were on the big label, I remember the Albatross video being a couple hundred grand or something.

It was weird to see a big budget video – there was the Vote With A Bullet video from Blind – then Albatross and Clean My Wounds…

The guy who did Albatross was the guy that did the

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 5

“...I thought I’ll get Jello Biafra to sing it, instead of 5 we did 12 songs and as I’m leaving at the airport I see this tall guy with a COC shirt on and sunglasses – ‘Hey man nice shirt!”. It was Randy from Lamb Of God, I told him why I was out there and he wanted to do a song too so it went from them to Dave [Grohl], Lee Ving, Pat Smear, Corey Taylor, Neil from Clutch... around 35 people...”

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Smells Like Teen Spirit video – Samuel Bayer – he did it for $200,000 but I remember when Columbia were like we’re not doing another album with you guys, they flew us up to fire us basically and I remember a statement this thick of costs – 3.8 million dollars they spent, the Deliverance video’s CATERING (sandwiches and hot dogs) cost $20,000!

How many sandwiches did they need?!

Somebody made some money on that man!

That album elevated you, there was also the stoner rock movement going on –everyone was obsessed with Sabbath sounding bands – was that something you really wanted to embrace at that time or was it accidental?

It was organic for us as that’s what we were into, we were Trouble and Sabbath fans obviously. [Reed then points to Senor Limpio on the vinyl copy] This right here is Symptom Of The Universe sped up, Co-exist also starts with Cornucopia so we were always Sabbath fans.

I’ve always noticed when speaking to people that COC divide opinion – the hardcore punk fans that love the early stuff, others that love the Deliverance stuff. Do you think that’s hindered the band in any way or makes it special for you?

I guess we’ve remained true to the name huh! Some

Page 6

of the people that were into the punk stuff, Blind was more metal, the Pepper stuff was more Peppery – we like it all! We weren’t necessarily writing for people other than ourselves.

What’s the scene like back in the States at the moment?

We finished up a month long tour with GWAR and we did a lot with the three piece stuff, the reaction for that was great but it’s hard to say, I think people are going to trip when we do this in the States for sure, it’s going to be massive!

So that’s the plan?

I hope so! This is like the litmus test to see what people thought and so far the reaction has been massive, amazing and it’s been fun.

You all have had your periods away from the band – does it make it more special now then when you’re doing things like this- I think it’s really cool.

It’s cool for us and I couldn’t imagine us doing it with anybody else.

There’s a special chemistry there.

Absolutely. Mike and I really learned how to play music together when we were first starting out doing hardcore punk, from my perspective I just needed to know the ‘Ramones beat’, that was it then you could start a band and we did – two months later! Pepper as well.

Will this manifest into new material?

We’re talking about it now, it’d be sweet to write some stuff and document it, put it out in a format that people might actually buy, I guess people are buying vinyl again – things are different, it’s difficult to make money doing music.

The goalposts seem to be changing year after year, you see bands going on tours that haven’t been promoted properly…

We’ve seen a lot of different sides to that.

If you had the chance to construct your own band – with you on drums – who would you pick?

Already got it! [laughs] When COC was just me and Pepper for a while we recorded Deliverance with Phil on bass and Karl singing, there was a period where Pepper and I were trying to keep it together. In one week Trouble called me, GWAR called me – I asked Brockie if I had to wear the mask and all that get up and Kyuss called. Josh [Homme] sent me Welcome To Sky Valley on cassette, I would have loved to jam with them. Mike did with John [Garcia] and Brant [Bjork].

Eric brought The Skull over a few months ago at The Underworld, Trouble played two weeks after!

I got to play drums on one of those Soundgarden tours in the nineties. On the Metallica tour we did the last show in Copenhagen James said you’re going to play the Misfits song with us tonight and I was like OK. I knew how it went: [starts singing the beginning of Last Caress with added drum sounds] hitting so hard the drums are all over the place, they did that then Master Of Puppets and I’m about to click off thinking holy shit, now I’m doing Master Of Puppets and I turned around there’s Lars going you’re not doing that

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

one!

Did you have any hand in music when you were away from COC? Nah, my back was too fucked up.

[Talk then turns towards Teenage Time Killer…]

I did it at Dave Grohl’s studio, I’ve known Dave since he was a kid -- put his first album out actually called Dain Bramage so he and I have been friends since then and we did the COC self titled album out there, I became good friends with the engineer out there and he was always like “we should record an EP of hardcore stuff with my friend Mick [Murphy from My Ruin.”

Six months after that he called me about doing the EP, we had five tracks – one of which is a John Cleese poem about Sean Hannity [Fox News talking head] that read like Discharge lyrics and I thought I’ll get Jello Biafra to sing it, instead of five we did twelve songs and as I’m leaving at the airport I see this tall guy with a COC shirt on and sunglasses – ‘Hey man nice shirt!”

It was Randy from Lamb Of God, I told him why I was out there and he wanted to do a song too so it went from them to Dave, Lee Ving, Pat Smear, Corey Taylor, Neil from Clutch, Phil from Sacred Reich, Brian Baker, Nick Oliveri, Woody, Mike Dean, Karl from the Blind album, Mike Williams from Eyehategod – around thirty five people and it’s out in July on Rise Records.

Do you find having more than one outlet gives you more freedom?

Well this was the first thing I’ve done outside of COC and it was just calling up people I knew, it turned out pretty cool.

What are the live plans?

We’re talking about a show where we could get as many people that performed on it as we could – if it was Randy’s turn we’d do a couple of Lamb Of God songs then his TTK song, Jello we’d do a couple of Dead Kennedys then his TTK song, same with Corey or whatever then we can do a full night so we’re talking about LA, New York, maybe Chicago then maybe down here.

You’ve got quite a lot of work then coming up, how is the back holding up?

Page 7

Last time COC was here at the first show in Cardiff I ripped my rotator cuff in half, first show, first hit of the first song and I finished the damn tour!

Do you find you have to pace yourself as you get older?

Of course, fat old fuck like me – hell yeah!

Is it difficult with some of the stuff?

The hardcore stuff was at first particularly because when we started doing it Mike and I were in a band called Righteous fool and we were doing shows together – forty five minutes then a hour of punk rock songs so that was a little challenging but the tempo of the Deliverance/Pepper stuff is medium paced – hitting hard rather than fast.

It reminds me a lot of Thin Lizzy- heavy blues rock thing.

We used to call Clean My Wounds the Thin Lizzy Song before it was called Clean My Wounds actually.

Drums are the main staple of a band really, you see a lot of these bands doing reunions and the drums are off then it doesn’t matter…

If the drums are fucked up, everything’s fucked up.

Have you played the Electric Ballroom before?

No, we did the Astoria in the old days, I miss that place – that was a cool joint.

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

By Matt Dawson and John Morgan - Photos Todd Huber Agnostic Front’s vocalist Roger Miret isn’t afraid to speak his mind; the band’s album proves it abundantly, with tracks on police brutality, mainstream media and other hot topics. We talk about the dangers of gentrification in New York, the return of Matt Henderson on ‘A Wise Man’ and the hardcore community in 2015.

Freddy from Madball produced the new album and he’s been involved behind the scenes for many years, does having someone like him make the recording process run smoother than a producer who has less knowledge about the culture and history of the band?

Absolutely. Nobody knows the band better than my brother Freddy, he grew up with the band and we’ve had him on stage since he was seven years old! He understands us in its entirety –who we are musically, lyrically and as people. It keeps the record very intimate, very personal, very passionate. Sometimes you’ll bring somebody who if he doesn’t know anything about the music it’s kinda wild you know? If you don’t understand my culture and my movement how are you supposed to understand what I’m trying to come across with?

To me that’s why tracks such as ‘We Walk The Line’ really come across well along with Never Walk Alone because you’ve got Freddy, Toby Morse from H2O and Lou Koller from Sick of It All.

Page 8

That song is a big song because it talks about bridging the American hardcore movement – especially the New York hardcore movement – worldwide and we’re in this together all of us not just the bands [but] the people involved.

When Agnostic Front were starting out which bands were the most influential to you?

Directly we were into punk – Ramones, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Sham 69 all of the early stuff of course but as we were developing our own style of music we were influenced by our peers: Minor Threat, SSD (Society System Decontrol), Negative Approach, Circle Jerks, Black Flag and local bands like The Abused and Urban Waste so we were just kinda doing it at the same time making our own style and sounds just not knowing it would be what it would become.

Of course there were also Discharge and UK Subs.

Absolutely! They were a big influence to me, I was always a Brit punk kind of guy.

On the track ‘A Wise Man’ we see the return of Matt Henderson – can you tell us how this came together?

It’s pretty simple – a friend of ours called Ricky Singh from Backtrack, he approached us and said he’d wrote this song that was a one voice song and was amazing, I want you guys to have this song and record or do something with it. When I heard it I was like he’s on point – it does have that one voice edge to it. While we were recording it I thought the icing on the cake would be to get Matt Henderson to play guitar, as it turns out he only lived ten miles away from the studio,

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 9

should be prosecuted like a criminal because if I choked a guy out like that and it was caught on camera I’d probably not be here having this interview with you.

There’s also the very hard hitting track ‘Social Justice’.

Social Justice is about a child molester who got caught in south America – I have the photo, I actually posted it once and they closed my Facebook account! The truth of the matter is it’s just a disgusting act being provoked on children, the community got social justice on that particular case.

What are your thoughts on social media?

I believe in freedom of speech so when shit like that happens (the photo being taken down) it makes me angry. It’s the truth man, if people want to have a hard time really taking a look at the truth then they should have no business complaining about it, how could anybody not get with the program. If you’ve got kids and experienced anything like that in your family or to you, you would think differently. That’s the way I feel, that’s the way I think!

Talking about ‘Reasonable Doubt’ which is your thoughts on mainstream media today – he said he was busy but could do it on this date, the date he could do that was the date we were already done and back home so I just said show up to the studio, don’t worry about it.

When he showed up to the studio I had a clean slate – there were no guitars on it – and when he got there he mentioned there were no guitars, I said I’m giving you your own creativity here, it’s your song at this point, just do whatever you want. He went in there at six o’clock at night and by midnight he had this thing done. I asked him if he was happy with it, he said yes.

It shows as well – it’s a very good track.

It’s a standout track, totally his style.

‘The American Dream Died’ is highly political in places particularly on tracks like ‘Police Violence’ and ‘Only In America’. With what’s happened in regard to the events with the police - Ferguson and the Eric Gardner cases - what are your opinions?

If anything the song takes more of the Eric Gardner side than what’s going on in Ferguson – that song speaks about what you and I see in the media, it’s no mystery that the police have been acting the way they’ve been acting for hundreds of years but we live in an era where the internet is huge, everyone’s got a camera now – you see it, I see it, the whole world sees it and they get away with it. That’s the frustration in the song, I’m talking about stuff that you and I visually see. Now with Ferguson that’s a he said she said situation so it’s harder for me to make an honest opinion but when I see it and you see it it’s easy and that’s what we’re talking about.

I’m not telling people to go out and kill cops that’s ridiculous, there’s good cops out there too, I’m talking about the bad criminal cops that act like criminals and

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

“they pass all these laws while you’re asleep kind of deal. Here’s Kim Kardashian’s ass – enjoy that while all this shit’s happening.”

Page 10

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

do you believe the media need to tell more sides of the story?

The only media that I do like to look at is BBC, some of CNN and RT news, as for the American channels – your MSNBC’s and Fox News – that’s definitely controlled by political parties and you’re going to get some that are heavier Republican and some that are heavier Democratic plus the point of them trying to scare you all the time and keeping you comfortable with the government taking care of you, they pass all these laws while you’re asleep kind of deal. Here’s Kim Kardashian’s ass – enjoy that while all this shit’s happening.

What changes to the hardcore scene have you seen outside of the US and how has the scene evolved?

It’s very different y’know? It was a very personal scene to me when we first got into it, it was a very small, intimate scene – truly a group of maybe twenty kids and it was no different than that when I read all the old books like when The Clash and Sex Pistols started at the 100 Club. I’ve been to the 100 Club, it’s a tiny club! It was a passionate scene with maybe thirty to forty people and it got big, with growth everything gets watered down up to a point – there’s always passionate people there too so I focus on those passionate people and those people who are welcome to our show the first time they came to our show.

Look, not everybody’s born cool or knows everything but it’s cool to see new faces and getting turned on to something new, something good, a good movement.

That’s how I met my wife! [laughs] Nice! Which new bands would you recommend?

Backtrack is one from New York, Coldside from Florida. There’s a lot of great newer bands out there like Old Firm Casuals for instance that are newer in about a four year period.

Do you still enjoy touring and what balance does it have on your home life?

Well we’re not on the road as much – it seems to look that way because our activity’s different! We used to go on tour for twelve weeks, we used to do nine months out of the year prior to 2006, obviously with family, children and jobs we can’t do that anymore, we need to keep what keeps us grounded at home and too much touring can make an effect on that, we’re all fathers now. It looks like we’re touring a lot but we’re doing it less – two weeks here, three weeks there – but we’re giving it sufficient time to go back home and having that time with our families and keep maintaining jobs at some level. What may look like a lot is broken up into little pieces but you’ve gotta do what you gotta do. There’s a lot of demand for us worldwide and people need to learn to be patient with us and we’ll get there.

Page 11

You’ve always had an affinity to CBGB’s – which also ties into another track ‘Old New York’; since that venue closed how has it affected the hardcore scene in the area?

I haven’t lived in New York in nine years so I can’t make a real judgement on that but I’m pretty sure that the closures have made a big impact on the hardcore scene as it’s harder to find places to play at; it’s unfortunate but it’s the truth, that’s how it goes. What blows my mind you move into an area there’s a venue that’s been there forever and you’re going to complain about noise?

Why don’t you go and fucking move into the fucking suburbs – you’ll find no noise there and it’s happening all over the world – London, Amsterdam, Berlin – all these people with money move in, venues have been there forever and they’re now complaining about the noise, it’s unbelievable!

You also have developers trying to move in with gentrification as well…

Absolutely. That’s unfortunate.

‘Cause For Alarm’ is approaching 30 years, last year the original line up got back together for the ‘Black And Blue’ shows – how did that come together and was it enjoyable?

That was a very magical show for us, it just happened to fall in place. It happened that Decibel magazine inducted us into their Hall of Fame and we were slated to do the Black And Blue ball so out of nowhere I simply asked them and they were excited, it was cool the way it all came together and you can all tell they missed it and loved it, that was the most important thing of it all – it was that record to a tee!

What do you feel –if any - is the biggest misconception about Agnostic Front?

I think all that crazy shit about racism is ridiculous – from day one with our single United Blood, we come from New York City man where we learned to live with everybody of all different races and religions, same with homophobia – we don’t live in caves, we’ve been around gay people our whole lives, it doesn’t bother me – members of my family are gay. That’s their life, their choices – I don’t judge people by their colour, race or what they decide to do.

It’s always people trying to start some shit, anybody that gets to meet us sees the real passion there. The secret to our longevity and legacy is the fact we are genuine, all those accusations fall apart really quick.

Don’t forget a lot of that stuff comes from when we were kids – at sixteen years old you don’t think right either, nobody clearly thinks right, mistakes happen here and there but from the minute we did our first single people need to understand it’s all there in the lyrics, quit the bullshit.

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 12

By Matt Dawson - Photos Tina Korhonen several tracks plus I was talking to our photographer friends who live in Switzerland - they’re the ones who put together visuals for our booklets in the past - they’ll go to the ends of the earth to get a shot and they said they’d discovered real wolves an hour outside of Rome.

I got to meet these wolves and it was great; my Kevin moment frankly, we put a couple of them on a I’ve been listening to Wolflight and it is a very inter- Costner wall at one to get some shots and I was worried esting listen particularly since when we talked last it might fall point off, as I was steadying one it started to lick time you mentioned some of the musicians you were me, you show concern you befriend them. It was getting together at the time – how did the Wolflight an extraordinary day forand me and the one on the front concept happen? [cover] is a daytime shot but it’s made to look like night It started off as a symbolic idea – the first reference to time but I was there with the wolves so everybody that Wolflight is Homer talking about Odysseus, the hour said it was photo shopped – partially as it’s day for before the dawn being the time traditionally when night but the moment’s real. wolves hunt and so it started a whole bunch of things: There’s just something about the bond animals can my wife Jo many years earlier had done an article about have with pictures that’s quite powerful… the Wolflight for a magazine, it led to us exchanging ideas about all things ancient, the track ended up talk- It is powerful and you think of the old adage ‘a dog is ing about all the ancestors, the early nomadic tribes a man’s best friend’ and of course before that it would before agriculture became a possibility. The idea of have been wolves so a lot of stuff about ancestors on conflict and freedom has been an important part of the album – primal stuff but exotic regions as well, a bit like a travelogue so wherever we’ve gone it tended to throw up a song.

There’s tracks like Black Thunder which actually is quite topical because of the treatment of the film Selma at the Academy Awards.

All of that and along the way I did get to visit the birthplace of Martin Luther King, I also visited the slave museum in Liverpool which is also equally interesting and harrowing, I was also given a two pound coin which I thought at first was a foreign coin, it was actually something celebrating the end of slavery – William Wilberforce 1807.

Another song that garA chat with Steve Hackett can always be a relaxing one and full of his global adventures – from discovery of new musicians to times with wolves it’s interesting to see how life has been. This time we find out how the Wolflight concept came to be, his memories of Battersea funfair and his thoughts of the upcoming tour which recently announced the addition of Roine Stolt.

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

nered my interest was The Wheel’s Turning – how the opening is with the idea of the funfair, it feels like an escapism song.

It is, it’s purely nostalgia and escapism. As a child I got to work at the funfair when I was twelve years old probably for a pittance but I didn’t mind because it just felt so great to be part of it at Battersea funfair. It’s really about that and the ones that got away, unfortunately it got closed down as there was a terrible accident on the rollercoaster. All the renovations they’re doing to Battersea – it’s a real shame that you can’t take people back to the world I enjoyed as a kid: the rock and rollers, That’ll Be The Day, the ball of death with the riders that would go round on motorbikes.

You also have quite the collective of guest musicians on the album as well – Nick Beggs, Roger King, Gary O’Toole and Chris Squire…

Chris is on Love Song For A Vampire, I have regular guests as it were or people that are part of the regular band but there’s also people from Azerbaijan or Hungary like Malik Mansurov who plays the tar – the word means gut and is the root of the sitar, working with him is a cross between Ravi Shankar and John McLaughlin and a girl called Sara Kovacs who plays the didgeridoo.

A lot of it’s a learning curve and I also used the duduk from Armenia which I know Peter Gabriel has used before played by Rob Townsend – the first time he was playing it – he sounded amazing on it.

There’s also a tour later this year and you announced Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings, Transatlantic) will be

Page 13

joining you…

Yes he will and I’m looking forward to that, normally I work with Nick Beggs and Lee Conroy – Lee’s been working with Take That and ELO, Nick sometimes works with me or Steven Wilson and it’s Steven’s turn this year. Roine offered to step in on bass, 12 string and also some guitar as well, I’m getting excited thinking of what we might do together, quite the bandleader as well!

The work Roine can do is just amazing!

He’s been part of three bands that I know of, all of which have been impressive: The Flower Kings, Transatlantic and Angels Of Mercy with Nad [Sylvan] who is going to be part of our touring team as well so we will do some Genesis things as well as forty years of Acolyte.

The promoters have asked for a substantial amount of Genesis so I’m trying to keep everyone happy, it might be 60% mine 40% Genesis.

Last time we talked it was getting near the end of the Genesis Revisited II cycle and the plan was to take a step back from that catalogue at the time.

It was, frankly I’ve got a very nice problem, my band was probably a little too good at doing it! I’m putting that to bed for a while – the idea of going out and being Genesis – because I think it’s important not to keep the doors of the museum open but also to have new stuff and have vital players in it. I love doing the old stuff but there is a Genesis afterlife and I want to get that across to people.

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

By Nelly Loriaux Can you tell us more about who KOUDLAM is?

With pleasure but it is not an easy task. I could say that I am a musician producing a sort of sombre techno-rockabilly on which I sing the ruins of mankind, inspired by the Nazi-utopic architecture of the 60’s and the poetry of the 19th century. But it wouldn’t be entirely true.

Were there any particular artists that really inspired you in your youth?

Charles Baudelaire and Jim Morrison were my muses.

When or what made you realise that this was the path you wanted to pursue? Your Eureka moment shall we say.

By discovering John Lennon, the Doors, Bowie, Pink Floyd, Nirvana at the age of 13. I knew then this is what I wanted to do. A little later on in life, after spending a season in Mexico, I came to live in Paris. I found out that quite a lot of people were exchanging my music on CD, even though I didn’t even have a label. That was great and I thought this could very well work; I wasn’t the only one who needed music. I was working in a bank in the Paris’ suburb at the time, I was scanning papers all day next to hysterical call centre operators and that was my last ‘fake’ job.

Your new album encompasses many different musical sounds but what would you say are your musical roots?

I honestly don’t really know. My roots dig deep and their territory is widespread but 70’s music does have a more important part than others. However I have also delved into techno, hardcore, reggae, hip-hop, classical and electronic music at different stage in my life, every time in a very frenetic fashion. When I hear something I like, I want to do the same but in my own way, and I think that’s natural.

Page 14

What are you trying to portray with your new album ‘Benidorm Dream’?

Nothing in particular: life, death...I followed my instinct.

Why did you decide to choose Benidorm as a ‘muse’ for this album?

A friend of mine, who knew my love for the posh district, had invited me to stay there, describing it as an Eldorado that may inspire me. The name itself made me dream, I imagined a fat Buddha sitting upon the town on a metal and glass throne. Benidorm is a vision, a modern mirage that has grown at the speed of light.

In the UK, Benidorm has a reputation for British lager louts and binge drinking; summers of decadence for the 18-30 and winters of saga holidays. Wasn’t there another place you could have chosen as inspiration?

Indeed there is a freaky British quarter (very ‘Springbreak’ type) where you can find dwarves and strippers on the street, sex shows and Chinese bordellos which give it a certain charm. Nevertheless I didn’t plan my album as a guided tour or Benidorm’s life in 2015. I went to live there because I wanted a fantastic décor for my new album, and the architecture is simply unique. The concentration of skyscrapers to the m2 is just phenomenal.

The Benidorm I speak of is the one from my dreams, a little bit in ruins but also futuristic. I didn’t live in a basement or a house on a hill but rather on the top floor of a demonic tower with view on other towers shaped like men’s perfume bottles. I mainly stayed indoors, rarely going out apart from getting some churros. The rare occasions when I threw myself in the mire are memories that autodestructed themselves quickly, replaced by the vision of the moon that lulled me to sleep when I was falling asleep on the terrace whilst listening to the screams of the young girls 33 floors below.

Was it a deliberate effort to choose a town that represents consumerism and corporate drive as a back-

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

ground for your musical opus?

I certainly didn’t go there for sunbathing or nursing a hangover on the beach [laughs]. This is the world we live in, what interest me is our civilisation. Every day I say to myself that we live in a world full of idiocracies, it does scare me but at the same time I enjoy the spectacle.

After Benidorm, could Magaluf or Ibiza be next? Make it a trilogy. [laugh] After Benidorm, I think that would be lacking panache …I can already tell you that the next album will be very different. I don’t like to repeat myself!

Incidentally, I would very well envision your music under the stars at Dalt Vila.

I have never been to Ibiza but if it is like in the film ‘More’, I wouldn’t mind going to learn yoga under the sun.

I really enjoy that you are not following a particular trend and are building your own identity. After all, trends come and go and following them may not get you anywhere. So what are you trying to achieve with your musical projects?

I am very selfish; first and foremost I make things for myself. I find 90% of the art produced hideous and incredibly it is swallowed by 90% of the humanity. So I believe that I sort of have the right to try to produce something beautiful and make it known. The mediocre and underachievers work days and nights to impose their shit upon us therefore we can’t abandon the whole ship just for them.

Your album echoes like a grandiose symphony befit-

Page 15

ting for a musical extravaganza in a mystical place. Are you planning to bring it on stage? If so, where or what would be your ideal setting?

Thank you. In fact I‘d like to put a show together on a skyscraper in Benidorm or in the town’s arena but this requires a lot of time and money. In the meantime I just play it on stage surrounded by legendary musicians.

You have a special bond with Cyprien Gaillard, your music seems to blend perfectly with the criminal and social topics that he is exploring. Would you maybe plan to use ‘Benidorm Dream’ as a score for one of his project?

No, not this time, even though Cyprien knows and appreciates Benidorm as much as I do. On Benidorm I worked with Jamie Harley who is an artist and director of Fantastico’s clips.

Are there past ventures that have left memorable marks in your heart and soul? Maybe your collaboration on Scratch Massive album, your remixes of Turzi or Mohini or what about the awesome concert at Teotihuacan?

Teotihuacan, Mexico, the agave, Gael, the real city of gold… Indeed I miss all that. As for the remixes mentioned I wouldn’t say collaborations as such, after all a remix is rather brief and there isn’t an exchange really.

Regardless they are all artists I know very well, good friends.

What are your future plans? Any hope you may cross the channel to bring us your new album live?

For sure, very soon, it is under discussion Thanks for taking the time to talk to Sonicshocks.

April 2015

By Matt Dawson

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 16

Another one is called Miscreants. Again starting off with a Morbid Angel-esque groove, turning into a whirlwind Comprised of people from renowned Dutch death metal of blast beats near the end. I think these songs showbands such as God Dethroned Apophys combine a love for case the diversity that is Apophys, and the importance death metal and science fiction effectively – Kevin Quil- of good song structures. I think both of these songs are ligan explains the formation of the group, his thoughts quite memorable so it would be a fine introduction. on AI, his favourite concepts in Science Fiction and- if the Apophis asteroid was to hit Earth – how he would spend What are your thoughts on the growth of AI in recent years? his last day.

Kevin: I think the progression of AI is of vital importance to the progression of our race, for two reasons: Given the bands that all members have been involved The first being that everything that has to be sysin through the years what led to the decision to all work tematically done, and cannot be subject to human together? error should be done by AI. For instance, medical Kevin: Apophys developed really naturally as a band. procedures, quantum physics and the science of parSanne (guitar) and myself started off by working on some ticles which has been all the rage over the past years. demo’s. We didn’t really have the intention to start The second and much more exciting reason is I think that something new, but we found this material to be some the growth of AI will help us discover more of the uniof the best stuff we wrote up to then. So we decided to verse. The recent explorers on Mars for example are so record them and make a free promo out of it. Michiel well built that they are able to provide us with so much was the obvious choice as a drummer because he is one information about the planet. It’s only a matter of time of the best drummers in the Netherlands. We’ve known before one of these will even go beyond the boundaries each other for years and have played in bands together of our galaxy, it’s Sci-fi happening right in front of our before. I always knew I wanted to have Michiel come in eyes. to record some tracks, and he was anxious to get started. Which science fiction concept do you feel is vastly unRight, so you have the songs, a splendid drummer. Now der rated? we needed someone to complement Sanne’s style of Kevin: Without a doubt, the Serenity/Firefly series. I replaying. I have been writing music with Sanne for years cently heard it got pulled because it showed a perspecand I’m familiar with his rhythm orientated playing style. tive of our future that was both too grim and too realistic, So we were looking for someone with more of a melodic which is exactly what makes it so good. The colonization approach. We found just that person in Koen, known of different planets to gather resources, which starts out over here as being the mastermind of Detonation. Koen fine but ultimately reaches a divide. On the one side you would be the perfect addition to our line up, he gladly have a government type organization that tries to cenaccepted. Mickeal came in after we released the promo, tralize power, on the other side there’s the ‘’rebels’’ who blew us away with his skills on the bass guitar and was refuse to become a part of that centralization and fight added immediately. So, I would say a pretty natural evo- for independence. It’s basically the history of the entire lution, never forced, yet it came together real good. human race, in space ships, perfect!

What are your favourite science fiction movies/books?

Which song would you consider your favourite on the album and which would you recommend to anyone Kevin: I absolutely love the 90’s era sci-fi movies. The ones where special FX weren’t as good as they are now and wanting to discover Apophys? everything was totally over the top. The 5th Element, Kevin: I personally am a huge fan of grooves. I love fast Dark City, Event Horizon, The first Stargate series, which paced, blast beat filled tempos. But I feel a good groove is kind of a must, considering the villain is called Apophis! is more challenging to achieve. There’s a lot of feel that is Star Wars: A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back are needed to get yourself a good groove, I see a lot of metal among my top sci-fi flicks also, before they decided bands failing to grasp that notion. It’s not just playing that the best way to have the story continue was by something slower or having a good off-beat in the drum having a second deathstar in the sky with a force field patterns, it’s all about the feel. being it’s only means of defence. That force field genWith that said, there’s two songs off the album that I erator being guarded by 5 guys on a planet inhabconsider my personal favourites, one being Humanity’s ited by midget bears. This is where I draw the line.

Epilogue. This is actually the very first Apophys song I I need to get into reading more sci-fi novels, I’m still lookwrote, before it even was Apophys! This song came to ing for a series I could get into, so if anyone has any tips, me so naturally that I don’t even remember writing it. It feel free to send them over. was just there, everything made sense right off the bat. How is it working with Metal Blade to release the debut

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

album?

Kevin: So far it has been incredible. Throughout my years as a singer I came across a lot of people that stated they would rather be a bigger band on a smaller label than a relatively small band on a bigger label. Considering the attention being focused more on the major bands on that label.

I can now tell you from personal experience that if you get the chance to release your debut album on a label like Metal Blade, you should totally go for it. They have been so good to us already, I have the feeling they treat us the same way as they would Cannibal Corpse.

They take the time to explain why it is they make certain moves towards releasing the album, we have loads of input in the presentation of the music, it’s a true cooperative arrangement.

What are your plans regarding the UK? Kevin: I can’t wait to come over and do some gigs in the UK! We are working towards a European tour somewhere later this year, hopefully this will include a UK date or two. If not, we will make it happen some other way, there’s a lot in the works.

Thoughts on the modern death metal scene – any new bands you would recommend?

Kevin: It seems to me modern death metal has become a little darker. Gorguts released a fantastic album which gave some other ’darker’ bands a boost.

Bands like Svart Crown, Artificial Brain and Nero di Marte. Even the last Job for a Cowboy album, my personal favorite release of 2014, has gotten to the stage where things are a little gloomy, yet so technical still.

One more recommendation for those who want to be

Page 17

blown away in the first minute of playing an album, check out Hideous Divinity from Italy. Their music is a gigantic steamroller in the way Hate Eternal would do, just to give it a small comparison.

If you have to listen to one genre other than metal for a period of time – what would it be?

Kevin: I’ve never listened to one genre exclusively. Sure, there’s a lot of metal in my playlists but even within metal the diversity is pretty vast.

I think if I would have to list some of my non-metal preferences, it would somewhere between 70’s and 80’s blues rock and the hard rock period after that. I have a live album by the Allman Brothers (At Fillmore East) which I could listen to every day. I have some stuff by Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy and Led Zeppelin that make frequent rounds on my playlists too.

Honorable mention to Karnivool, I love that band. It just oozes musicianship. I would be more than happy listening to them instead of metal, plenty of times.

If the Apophis asteroid was to hit Earth and you had 24 hours left – what would you do in that period of time?

Kevin: That’s an interesting question. Right, here we go.

I’m assuming Apophis hitting the Earth will mean the extinction of the human race as a whole right? Which would mean trying to secure any kind of future would be senseless.

I would get the best whiskey I could find, buy some of the finest weed our lovely country has to offer. Pick up my girl and my cat, find a nice and quiet spot, somewhere up high, with lots of nature. Chill out and welcome oblivion with a smile on my face.

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Interview and photos by Mark Fletcher A busker from Lincoln playing some phenomenal blues, now playing some of London’s top venues. Let’s find out more…

So Jack, let’s set the scene with some background on you, where you’re from and what you do.

Well, I’m from Lincolnshire, my father’s a musician as well and he will be joining me on stage tonight. He’s a bass player and it really started with that. I’ve been brought up around music, live music, going to gigs, a lot of blues gigs. I started writing songs when I was about thirteen and my playing had to change with what I wanted to write, so I kind of got into playing a lot more jazz and more and more blues, where I’ve found myself really comfortable. I was brought up watching the Blues Brothers movie, listening to John Lee Hooker, Peter Green, and a lot of British blues bands.

So where did you get your taste from in terms of picking up a guitar and learning to play something? Was it driven by your father or what you listen to?

I think it was the writing side, I used it as a form of expression, I needed some kind of outlet. I used to like drawing and painting a lot but I’ve played instruments from a very young age. I play the drums and piano in fact a bit of everything but the slide guitar thing is where I’ve ended up being really happy.

Where is your heart at? Is it busking or venues?

Page 18

Live performance. Irrespective of the context.

There’s not much out in the world about Jack Broadbent the Blues performer, but what I have read is interesting. One article has you labelled as a ‘World Class Busker’ and the YouTube clips I have watched are very good but what do you think of that label?

Erm, I think it’s really nice that there is a lot of recognition coming from what is essentially my bread and butter. Busking is so personal and personable it’s helped me get a lot of people interested in my music, because you’re hitting them on the street in the middle of their day while they’re walking around doing their stuff. It’s not like you’ve got them in a room or a venue and they’re all pissed up, you’re hitting them in their everyday life so I am delighted that it has prompted that level of recognition.

Busking is back to basics, there’s no smoke and mirrors, there’s no bullshit. If people come and turn your amp off, it’s off. They can see you doing it in front of them. It’s not like a recording where you’ve spent five weeks in a studio mixing an album, which is why all my recoded stuff is done live. I’ve just done an album and it’s all raw, it’s live and real and it was released yesterday. It’s called ‘Along the Trail of Tears’.

Tell me more.

I recorded eight of the eleven tracks on a hand held recorder. On a Zoom H4n which has a four track function so

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 19

“Busking is back to basics, there’s no smoke and mirrors, there’s no bullshit. If people come and turn your amp off, it’s off. They can see you doing it in front of them”

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

I recorded some tracks in my garden at home in Lincolnshire, you can hear birds in the background and a plane flies over in one track and I’ve done minimal mastering on the album I’ve pretty much kept things as they’ve been recorded, apart from me getting the volume levels of each tract the same. I recorded one track in the back of my Volvo in France outside Mont Saint-Michel which is great, because I’m on the road all of the time and the album is built up from tracks as I’ve been moving around.

It’s a little diary of the last year really.

Is there a reason you take that approach rather than the glitz of a plush recording studio?

Yes, I’ve done recording with producers and stuff and I just don’t like what comes out of the speakers because it’s not my sound, it’s their interpretation of my sound.

My sound is acoustic guitar with vocals, not acoustic guitar with tons of compression on it and other effects. It’s not how I operate.

What drives your passion in terms of the Blues genre? I read somewhere that you picked up a guitar similar to the one Robert Johnson played…

Well I suppose it all comes back to when my father used to go on tour with Rock‘n’Roll bands in America a lot and he toured Europe with his band and supported Rory Gallagher amongst others; when it came to my dad settling down to have a family, of course he starts playing in blues bands again. So even from my existence in the womb, I was going to gigs where a lot of Motown, a lot of soul and a lot of blues was being played. I only have to go to a gig where my dad is playing and hear a bass line and it chokes me. By the time I was six, me and my sister could quote the whole Blues Brothers film because we used to watch it nearly every day.

I’ve seen how infectious Blues can be when people see it live. It’s such a simple formula but it’s what you do with that formula that turns it into something magic. Anyone can play a riff, anyone can play three chords but only some people, like Peter Green and people like him, are not technical people but they make every note count.

So what was the first thing you learned?

I started off on drums and then I started playing the piano and then guitar after that. It’s interesting that I play slide guitar lap style and I hit the thing quite a lot and because my dad’s a bass player, I’m always playing bass lines with the slide on top to create what I do.

Why a hip flask?

Because I was playing a pub in London and my mate went down to the basement and came back with these three hip flasks. Before that I was using a clipper lighter, because I couldn’t afford a bottle neck, and I realised

Page 20

that the small hip flask that my mate brought up was the same diameter as my clipper lighter and that’s where it started. But this one (pulling his hip flask from his pocket – looking a little worse for wear) I got from my sister. I played at her wedding and this has had three years of use which has ground it all down and it doesn’t even work as a hip flask anymore because I broke the lid the other week, which is why it’s all strapped up.

The album is out, is it available to buy, download etc.?

Yes. I’m in the process of making up some physical CD copies but it is on everything: Band Camp, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and all of that stuff. And it’s all self released.

What kind of places are you playing?

It’s getting bigger all the time. It’s all coming from the busking whether it’s people seeing me busking and asking me about gigs or people seeing videos and emailing me about it. But I have four gigs in London over the next couple of months and then I’m playing a big venue in Germany called Rock Fabric doing some support for some pretty big blues guys. Then I’m playing a couple of festivals in Holland in the summer called the Zwartcross motor cross festival and it’s huge. I can’t wait for that one.

Where’s your favourite place to busk?

Anywhere. I’ve busked cities, big towns, little towns, Australia. It doesn’t matter where you are the reaction is always the same. The enjoyment is always the same, the crowd are always the same. It’s great.

It’s like action and reaction. If you go out and play, smile and be nice, what are you going to get in return? You can’t lose can you?

I’m sure everyone reading this is going to want to know, what do you make out of a busking session?

I’m not telling you. But you can play somewhere for six hours and earn x amount of money and then you can go somewhere else and earn t h e same amount in two hours. It depends on the day, the crowd’s mood, my mood, there is no fixed formula. Obviously if you play Portobello Road on a Saturday and there are thousands of people, your odds are slightly better. It’s what you give is what you get with busking.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Well I’m listening to Steely Dan. I listen to them all the time ever since I was young. But I really love Peter Green and John Martin and Rage Against the Machine, Jimi Hendrix and big vibe people.

Would you ever play in a band?

They’d have to be fucking good! www. jackbroadbent.co.uk

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 21

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 22

By Matt Dawson A gap of 45 years between albums is probably one of the longest – if not THE longest – in the world of progressive rock, but thanks to a friendly meeting, Mabel Greer’s Toyshop have returned with ‘New Way Of Life’. With the likes of Tony Kaye on keyboards and Billy Sherwood as producer alongside Clive Bayley and Robert Hagger, the album evokes memories of the first wave of prog rock, especially given that the first album predated Yes. Clive chats to us about what he did during the 45 year gap, the meeting with Robert along with the moment Mabel Greer’s Toyshop did their first gig in years plus what the future holds…

How is it to be back in the music business after forty plus years away?

Feels great! Really exciting to put the band together with Bob and it’s just growing really, we kicked it off with just rehearsing then we got the album out and now we’re going to try and get a few gigs so yeah it feels nice to be back?

What led to the new album coming together, I believe it was something like a chance meeting?

Bob tracked me down a couple of years ago and we both ended up in Nice and we just felt let’s put the band together, let’s go to a rehearsal room and see what it’s like playing again then we got our bass guitarist Hugo (Barre), we just went in there and played and it sounded good. I hadn’t seen Bob in forty five years so it was funny when he walked into this restaurant – he looked kind of the same but a bit older! [laughs] So what had you been up to during the gap?

Oh crikey, I went into nightclubs – I owned one in Chelsea but before that I was in the fashion business, marketing: I invented the Screwball Glass with a friend of mine and marketed that all over America and did that for a long time, Bob similarly ended up being the CEO of a NASDAQ American company.

Did you ever have that feeling in the back of your mind during that time of just wanting to make music

again?

It was difficult, when I left the band I left it for a while – I went completely out because if I didn’t I’d go straight back in so it was a forced exile from myself to myself! I didn’t really play much music then in Iran I started picking up Persian classical music and that got me back playing something, from there I had another break then picked up a guitar about ten/fifteen years ago, finally I took the plunge: bought an electric guitar, put an album together about the First World War four years ago which I did with a guy called Matt Davis, my son Richard engineered it and I produced it so I guess I’ve been dabbling more in the last four to five years back into music. Now it’s like ‘let’s take this seriously’, so I’ve been getting pulled into music more with Mabel Greer which is great.

On this album you worked with Tony Kaye – how was it after all this time?

Well we went to the Paris studio to record it – Hugo, Bob and I – we put down all the tracks and built it up, Alex Keren was doing the engineering, then Bob thought we really need keyboards on this. Having completed guitar work and vocals we sent it to Billy Sherwood asking if he could get someone to do keyboards like Tony Kaye for instance, Billy was working with Tony, we didn’t go to LA to finish the album – they did it by remote which is great as he did a great job, Billy also re-engineered what we’d done in Paris and added some bass lines here and there. It kind of evolved but we haven’t actually met up to play yet, we’re going to try and do that this year.

We’re going to do the next album in Billy’s studio hopefully later on this year.

With this album you rearranged some songs from the past – what led to that decision?

We thought let’s relaunch Mabel, we had six songs from the early days which were on John Peel and we thought we had to do those plus two of the other songs we did – we opened up with Beyond And Before which also was the opener on the first Yes album and

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

“We’d been out for 45 years – I used to know the head of Atlantic, they’re dead so I can’t call them up, same with John Peel! We really just need to get it out there and see who picks it up.”

Page 23

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Sweetness which I co-wrote with Jon [Anderson] and Chris [Squire], it was near the end of Mabel and wasn’t psychedelic prog but we thought we’ve just got to do it. We’ve got six Mabel songs and five new ones, one was written in the studio, Oceans is completely live in the moment and three other which were written in the last two/three years.

It ends up psychedelic/early Yes/new stuff so three different genres if you like which is progressive rock really – moving forward and the new stuff is different again, how we feel in the moment is what we’re going to record.

How has the prog scene evolved then to you?

Well Bob and I have been really busy – him more than me probably – I love listening to and playing music but I have been absorbed in the last 45 years. Has it evolved? It was psychedelic, flower power that went into prog rock really and it means exactly that progressive rock. It has changed; I know people want to keep it a particular sound which is fine and personally I think you should keep trying new things.

When we launched Mabel in 1966 and played live we used to invent things in the moment so I think what we’re about is doing that, for instance when we did a gig in a small club in Nice we did all the songs but the bit we really liked was let’s make something up then!

Just making that happen was how we used to do it in the sixties, I think we really want to get into that as well – if the audience like it then you do it and keep going!

Any bands that have caught your attention lately?

I think my favourite band is still Muse, they’re absolutely fantastic because the musical composition is great, I like arranging a lot so how they’ve arranged a lot of their stuff I think is progressive rock for me, I know people will argue that! To me they’re trying to make a musical piece like a rock opera so that’s for me where it’s at, I think you need to do a thing where it’s structured then blow it apart with improvised as well, if you play like that you get a rapport with the audience.

You mentioned plans for some gigs – I presume that’ll be more late on in the year?

Yeah, we’re going to do a couple of showcase gigs – trying to organise one in London – and then we’re open to ideas, if people like the music then we’ll do some live shows. We’ve got the album, now it’s part II. How was the reception in Nice?

It went down really well, the first time we’d played together in 45 years so we were shaking down the rust, polishing ourselves up a bit, we’ve even got an acoustic gig there in a couple of weeks time. We’ve been invited back which is a good sign! [laughs] There was talk about the gap possibly being a world record as well – has there

Page 24

been any chance to get that confirmed by the Guinness world records people?

RSK approached them so we might get it but I don’t know if that’s a cool thing, at the time it was really funny. Bob and I really want to communicate the music out there so how do you do that? We’d been out for 45 years – I used to know the head of Atlantic, they’re dead so I can’t call them up, same with John Peel! We really just need to get it out there and see who picks it up. We’ve got the second album ready; I’ve got them written but need to go into the studio again, we need to get it out there but how is tricky because the music business has moved on so we’re hoping it just spirals and gets bigger. We’ve had a lot of downloads and a lot of positive feedback from the Yes fans, who knows?

We know we’ve been out of the business and are coming back in, we can write songs and we can play, we just need it to evolve a bit.

There’s also the new generation that have discovered prog through crossover bands…

I’m really keen on that because we can come up with crossover music, the title track dare I say it is almost country and western, we can do different genres, it will be progressive but won’t be stuck where we were in the sixties. The music we’ve got – there’s Persian riffs, Balkan riffs, blues riffs, a country and western thing going on, if you come up with a nice thing to listen to that’s great – the audience can pick up on certain bits!

What do you do in your downtime?

Play music! Bob and I work pretty hard – we’re old hounds when it comes to marketing. Playing music was my downtime, I like to enjoy myself and I like working!

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

By Matt Dawson We catch up with Andy Tillison and talk about how prog is thriving in 2015, why Yes were so important to his upbringing and visions of America…

The new album is a sequel to the debut album – what led to you carrying on that concept?

I think it was a case of as I was doing the album I realised that it was a similar kind of feel to the way we were playing, recording it, lyrical theme. It was just a similar kind of feeling and that first album we made had a very light sound, a joyous open – a big smile on its face – and I feel this has the same smiley vibe, it’s a very up for it album. Do you think it sounds upbeat?

Yeah, it sounds like a celebration of the genre again.

That’s exactly it, I wanted to celebrate the genre, it’s something I like a great deal I make no bones about it I’m a major fan of this kind of music , always have been since I was twelve years old. I don’t like to hide that under the coolness of shame that many other people do, I wear my heart on my sleeve.

What was the album that got you into prog rock then?

The first one was Close To The Edge by Yes – I just heard that when I was twelve and was sold immediately. I was sat at the top of a staircase in my own house, I’d been sent to bed – it was a vicarage and kids used to come round to our house who were about seventeen – they were allowed to play records on our hi-fi downstairs but I wasn’t allowed in the room but I heard this music and it made me walk out of my bedroom and sit on the stairs thinking I want this record and as it happens they all walked out of the house carrying all different records – how was I supposed to know which one was which? I saw this green one and thought that’s the one! [laughs] It was the first record I bought with my pocket money, I absolutely loved it. The next group I discovered was Van der Graaf Generator which was a whole different ball game, it’s just been a long time listening to this kind of stuff, I listen to all sorts of different music but the one that grabbed my heart was progressive rock music.

For me it was metal when growing up followed by prog but both took an equal hold.

Yeah, so many people take the piss out of it saying it’s boring or crap or self indulgent and to me they just don’t know what they’re missing. So many people eat fish and chips or cheeseburgers every night and there’s so many different things to eat than a cheeseburger. Progressive rock is this varied taste, like a fantastic tapas! Is it going to be jazz or metal or finish off classically? You just don’t know, it’s an amazing thing, a great big melting pot of all sorts of stuff and I just love fusion, putting ideas together and seeing what happens if you get a three piece rock band with a organist and try to play a major classical work like Mussorgsky!

That to me is on the edge music and that’s where I like music to be.

Codpieces and Capes has what I believe to be a snippet of John Peel correct?

Yes he is, he remembers his first Emerson Lake And Palm-

Page 25

er gig - how he went to see them and just thought it was a load of bollocks.

The thing is that the song itself accepts the fact t h a t Emerson Lake and Palmer were a bunch of post-pubescent teenagers who were just out on their own being stupid a lot of the time. I wrote a book once and in that I sort of claimed that 65% of everything they did was really shit, it’s just the 35% that wasn’t was so unbelievably amazing that it justifies their position at the top of the table on its own! It doesn’t matter about the shit, the 35% they got right was so fucking right.

You mention Pictures Of An Exhibition – that and Brain Salad Surgery seem to be the two that capture people’s minds…

Brain Salad Surgery – when I talk about it I’m primarily talking about Karn Evil 9 in all its glory, it has to be one of the greatest pieces of music I’ve ever heard – I can sing you it all the way through, organ solos the lot!

I’ve often joked that I’ve always really wanted to learn Karn Evil 9 and every time I do it I completely and utterly fail but whilst I try and learn to play it I come up with an idea and I write a song so actually the entire Tangent output is a failed attempt to play Karn Evil 9 which I’ll never be able to do it’s too amazing! Keith Emerson’s ability with the keyboards – it’s like his right and left hand are completely different that his left hand could go solo and still make an album it’s just remarkable!

The biggest part of A Spark In The Aether is The Celluloid Road and it feels like a road trip through America and remembering through pop culture what they know, I believe you have been inspired by the prog scene coming from America in the last decade.

Yeah I guess so, America is probably the widest viewed country on Earth in that more people have an idea of what America looks like than anywhere else because the American media industry has expanded so far, it’s a remarkable thing. I’ve actually spent three weeks in my entire 55 year long life in America which is a very short period of time and certainly not long enough to get a picture of this enormous country. The thing is we have such amazing ideas – if I mention the Arizona desert you get a picture immediately in your mind of what the Arizona desert’s like, there is just a chance you haven’t been to the Arizona desert have you?

No. You can immediately visualise it though can’t you?

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Yeah.

You can probably visualise LA, Las Vegas, New York and Chicago. Of course the thing is the Americans have started filming in different locations; Louisiana for True Detective, the Dakotas in Fargo and Albuquerque in Breaking Bad, we’re starting to see more of the place. I just found it fascinating that I could go on a road trip across America in my own imagination then the light came on – ding! Song! The big question is to the Americans: Did we get it right? Of course it goes through the superheroes, I tend to like the detectives , the secret agents, the Thelma and Louises, the Easy Rider kind of people. It was a very interesting song to write, that’s why we felt we had to bring in some different kind of influences from outside.

I’ve always been a bit of a funk and disco fan so I thought this is where we need the brass and looking at television signature tunes like Kojak and Shaft, the guitar had to have a different kind of take on things not the traditional prog guitar so Luke [Machin] went off and studied Steely Dan for quite some time and he did an amazing job, came back with an amazing arsenal/library of new sounds that he’s not used before which really was an impressive feat.

As a result of which we’ve got a Tower Of Power/Earth Wind And Fire groove going on from time to time, a bit of Steely Dan all mixed together with progressive rock which the Americans are very good at doing. I hope that these work for a lot of people and I really want to make sure I don’t offend the Americans although I don’t think I have – they seem to be quite happy to have a song written based on what they’ve shown about their country.

There’s the San Francisco bit that’s also been given a

Page 26

radio edit on the album…

Wouldn’t that be amazing if we ended up having a disco hit? [laughs loudly] It’s not gonna happen but you can fantasise about that can’t you! We suddenly end up on the TV in Funkadelic costumes with all the brass section, I can just imagine it. My other love is the disco/funk stuff – the good stuff: Earth Wind And Fire and The Commodores who were in so many ways prog’s sister, they were playing the same kind of stuff: Instrument driven, they used fantasy artwork like pyramids on the front like Yes did, big stage shows and were into synthesisers in a big way, they were just children of the same time.

Back in those days black and white people were separated more than they are now, we live in a much more united world, I think that those two musical movements back in the day would be closer now than they were then.

There’s also the part with the Shaft line that had me smiling!

We had great fun doing that bit – a rather shall I say cheeky joke in the middle of it – when I did it we all laughed and thought we were going to take it out but in the end we just thought oh fuck it let’s just stick it in.

People are always prog music is too up its own arse and it can’t laugh at itself – well we can! It’s about producing music that people are going to like and we want to enjoy doing it.

You’ve got Jonas Reingold, Luke Machin, Theo Travis but you’ve also got Morgan Agren – how was it working with him?

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Brilliant! We went out on tour with him last year and I must say he was absolutely a great bloke, what really got me was he liked so much of the music I liked – Henry Cow, University Zero, Magma – all the Canterbury bands and to find out Morgan was into these people I was delighted! When I asked him to do the album I asked if he could get that 1970’s sound, he said yeah so he sent this dry drum sound with the snare down low and I absolutely loved it, I’ve wanted to work with a drum sound like that for years – that isn’t to say every drum sound I use for years after this will be like that – it’s just for this album it was so right, I love the way he plays all these grace notes that remind me of early King Crimson and of course when it came to the funky bits it just has so much groove and feel to it and it works so well with Jonas. One of the best drum performances I think I’ve ever had.

This album it can be said carries on the healthy state of prog in 2015 – how do you see the genre five years from now?

I would sincerely hope it is still going, the future of prog music is not in our hands – this is something that I feel that the future is in the hands of younger people, our audience is aging but the fact that we have the Maschines, the Hakens and The Leprous’ they’ve got the future in their hands because they can still be developing it and taking it further. That to me is really important and I think that all of us that are into prog music now really do need to throw ourselves behind those bands to encourage them to carry on and bring a new generation of fans into

Page 27

the equation. At the moment we have a new generation of bands but we need the fans to go with that, it’s up to us as older people to support them because the first generation of progressive rock didn’t support us, there’s very little history of old and new mixing together – it happens of course – I think that if those guys from the old days have a legacy: the Tangent, The Flower Kings, Big Big Train, Magenta and Spock’s Beard – we are the legacy of what they did because we’re certainly doing it.

I’m hoping our generation helps the new generation a bit more so that the fourth wave can be successful spectacularly.

What’s also good is that bands like Haken and Leprous are also crossing over onto festivals that are tech metal as well.

This is part of their own upbringing , this is true progressive rock music because if you go back in time and look at what Chris Squire, Bill Bruford and Jon Anderson were listening back in the day you can hear their influences of the Beatles and the television theme tunes that were going on around them, the influences they were picking up from their youth mixing it together and creating their spearhead into the future but Maschine and Haken are doing that now and of course metal is a part of that, hip-hop will be part of that and that’s a crucial thing.

There’s a load of dubstep which has got some amazing techniques and I’m looking forward to seeing what progressive rock bands do with dubstep because that would be very interesting

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 28

By Matt Dawson As part of a new wave of progressive rock crossed with metal, Native Construct combine technical proficiency learned at Berklee College of Music with their own twist on the Hero’s Journey in their debut Quiet World. Guitarist and composer Myles Yang mentions what it is like to study at Berklee, juggling studying and creating the album and how Between The Buried And Me was a major inspiration.

You all came from the prestigious Berklee College of Music – what is it like studying there?

Studying at Berklee was a highly immersive experience. It’s a bit different than attending a normal university. Even when you aren’t in class, you’re still surrounded by musicians. It never stops. We lived and breathed music. At first, it was quite daunt-

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

ing being surrounded by so many talented people from all over the world, but eventually you learn that it isn’t a competition, and that you don’t need to constantly compare yourself to your peers.

And then it becomes a truly enriching experience, and you really can learn from and grow with these people.

Who came up with the main concept and what inspired it?

Developing the concept for the album was a collaborative process.

We started out just writing some music, and the concept sort of came more and more into focus over time. There wasn’t any specific direct inspiration, but surely our appreciation for musical theatre, drama, and fantasy influenced us greatly.

What are your favourite concept albums?

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles), The Wall (Pink Floyd), Colors (Between the Buried and Me), and anything from Trophy Scars’ and Coheed and Cambria’s discographies.

What led to the signing with Metal Blade and how is it working with them?

We had a bit of luck on our side while we were searching for record labels. Tommy Rogers from Between the Buried and Me heard our music and liked it enough that he offered to do us the very kind favour of helping us shop the album around to labels. He was able to get us in contact with Metal Blade Records, and we went from there.

Being on a label of this size is a very new and unfamiliar experience for us so far, but they’ve already been able to support and promote us in ways that we couldn’t possibly do independently.

Quiet World was self produced and recorded while studying – were there any moments where the balance was a struggle to maintain?

Getting through the super involved writing and recording processes while balancing heavy course loads was very much a struggle. There was never nearly enough time in the day to do everything we wanted to do. Since there were immediate deadlines for our school work, whereas Native Construct was just a personal passion project, the band ended up having to take a back seat and be put on hold many times. This, combined with our fancifully elaborate vision for the album and our nearly-nonexistent college student budget, meant it took us much longer to get the album done than we initially thought it would, but we’re really glad we took our time with it and gave it our best effort.

There is a hint of Between The Buried And Me in

Page 29

your sound – would you consider them a major influence?

Yes, I would. Their Colors album was my first real encounter with progressive metal. I [Myles] was 14 years old when it came out. I was listening to mostly metal and hardcore music at the time. I had no idea you were even allowed to do the things they were doing on that album. After hearing that stuff, I went deeper down the rabbit hole and eventually wound up a progressive music enthusiast. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that album singlehandedly opened me up to an entirely new world of music and way of thinking.

What are the plans in regards to touring?

One of our biggest goals of the near future is to get on the road to support this album. We’re currently working with some musicians around the Boston area to nail down a live lineup. We’ll be starting performances once that’s all squared away.

What albums have you been listening to recently?

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.

Garry Schyman - Bioshock Infinite OST Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs Toto - Toto IV Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (‘) Jon Hopkins (with various artists) - Late Night Tales

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Interview and live photos by Cristina Massei Flowers are in bloom but spring is still a distant dream in London. On a cold March day, I don’t instantly recognize Jocke Berg, his long dark hair hidden in a hat as he greets me outside the Garage. We find a warmer place and catch up on all is happening in the world of Hardcore Superstar.

Their upcoming album, out in April on Gain Music, is simply called ‘HCSS’. A stripped down title for a record in which the Swedish rockers dipped back into their roots, mixed by Joe Barresi (Slipknot, QOTSA, Soundgarden) and produced by the band itself.

After a well received return to the US with a sold out show at the Whisky A Go-Go, Hardcore Superstar land on our always welcoming shore to give us a taste of HCSS before it hits the record stores’ shelves.

Page 30

You just played in LA after a decade at the Whiskey A Go-Go – why did you wait that long to go back to the US? I don’t know, we have been concentrating on Japan, Australia and Europe, I mean the US is such a big country to take on and we don’t want to go around in a van – we’re too old! [laughs] You played with Steel Panther as well.

We did – at the NAMM convention in Anaheim in a place called the Groove. It was cool.

Let’s talk about something closer to home – this is the first date of your UK tour in London. Are you looking forward to it?

Of course, can’t wait to get up on stage especially when we’re doing new songs as well. We’re doing seven new songs mixed with the old ones.

I found it quite strange because the album’s coming out in April [22nd to be exact], normally you tour AFTER the album’s out.

We’ve been thinking about instead of me going to London and doing interviews and someone else going to Paris or whatever let’s just do like a promotion tour where we play every night – a more relaxed tour, maybe I’ll say something about the new song we’re going to play instead of going alone to London and talk to journalists, because I think the fans want to hear them as well.

Do you feel that this album works best live?

I think every album we put out works better live, even if it’s good on CD as well; but I think this one it’s a little bit different from previous albums we’ve released. Two songs in particular - Touch The Sky and Fly - are not so typical Hardcore Superstar.

I read you went back to your roots for this album…

Actually we found old demos back from 1994 – at that time we [Martin and I] played in a band called Link, we listened to the songs and said that they were too good to throw away. They’d never been released publicly

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

“I love it when I’m on stage for 90 minutes; all the waiting – I fucking hate it! But I’ve got my running shoes with me”

Page 31

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

before, so we rearranged the songs (Fly, Growing Old and Glue) and now we have the results on the album with seven new songs as well.

So it wasn’t a conscious effort, you just happened to stumble across these demos…

Yeah, these were such good songs that we couldn’t refuse one more try with them.

Growing Old – is it how you felt at the time about growing old?

Yeah, it’s also about having youth inside you, your body’s growing old but in here [points to head/heart] you’re still fifteen!

Do you still feel that way?

No. I’m forty now so I got better, but I’m in better condition than most twenty years old. I’ve got a young wife as well – she’s ten years younger than me – I have to stay young!

You’re doing well!

Thank you.

Give us an idea of what we can expect from the album…

It’s not a typical Hardcore Superstar album, I’m singing on it but like I said especially Fly and Touch The Sky are standing out on the album. The first two verses on Touch The Sky have a Jamaican girl singing in reggae style because we thought that every sleaze band put out the same records every year I think, so it’s like ‘OK, I’ve heard this before and we want so much more

Page 32

than that’. We listen to Led Zeppelin and the first two albums are not the same, we wanted to develop ourselves and become better songwriters so why do the same thing all over again?

Considering you worked with Joe Barresi should we expect this record to be a bit heavier…?

We worked with him because we liked what he’d done with Queens Of The Stone Age and bands like that, it turned out to be a good thing to do because we got along really good and hopefully we will work with him on the next album as well.

It’s your tenth album – what do you feel are the highlights of your discography?

The highlight for me personally is that on every album I become a better singer. In this kind of business there’s drugs and shit I have never taken any drugs besides beer and whiskey, because you see so many singers who are drug addicts that have lost their voices and that’s not the thing with me. I’ve never been curious about it as I’ve seen so many friends go down – my Swedish tobacco is my ‘drug’. I seldom drink when I’m at home, I’ve got three kids (10, 4 and six months) and a wife.

Aside from running after the kids what do you do in your downtime?

Last night I ran ten kilometres, I do that two times a week – push and sit ups as well.

What else do you do for show preparation?

Vocal warm up for an hour before every show.

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Ten albums, 17 years – was there a time you felt like a change of scenery at all?

You think that sometimes – if you’re talking about touring I love it when I’m on stage for 90 minutes but there’s all the waiting – I fucking hate it! But I’ve got my running shoes with me, I try to run 5 kilometres every second day.

Where do you want to go from here?

We talked about this a couple of weeks ago, we’re going to do this until we don’t think it’s fun anymore; right now we love what we do, we’re married to the music – that’s my second wife! [laughs] Music is something in your blood, of course if you tour a lot it’s nice to come home and be with your family but after three weeks it’s like I have to do something!

Favourite songs on the album?

Off With Their Heads and The Ocean.

What’s The Ocean about?

People having secrets from each other, if someone is unfaithful or lying to you with a little irony to it – all our lyrics have that.

Are you coming back in the summer?

We have booked some festivals but I don’t know if we’re coming to England – I love Download, it’s awesome!

Hint hint Mr Copping…

Page 33

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 34

when we got working on the Gentle side it took a life of its own because there’s so many instruments on it, way more than the other one and this side became really layered and deep, so much that people have said “Ok, I’m a metalhead but I really like the Gentle part of the album.”

I love both because they have different approaches but I like the Storm side because as you said it’s symphonic.

Can you give any info behind the story

By Matt Dawson of the album itself?

It takes place in the 17th Century – the Dutch golden age When the news of a collaboration between Anneke Van – our country was at that time blossoming with everyGiersbergen and Anthony Arjen Lucassen came to light thing: art, music , philosophy and we had this company fans of both artists were overjoyed – with a combination that were sailing with large boats all over the world to of the acoustic and the symphonic it was right to talk to get spices, fabrics, food and everything. This way Holland Anneke about the concept behind the album, the special- especially Amsterdam became very rich and flourished ness of Arjen doing a brief return to the live stage re- and we thought why not do something about this golden age? cently and her work with Devin Townsend…

You’ve worked with Arjen on a couple of Ayreon albums We came up with a sailor who was going on a journey for two and a half years and his wife, the basis for the whole so tell us how The Gentle Storm came to be…

We’ve known each other for a long time, when I was still thing is the ten songs are the letters they write to each singing in The Gathering he asked me to participate on other; because in those days you didn’t have an Iphone, In The Electric Castle and I love his music, his composing; everything now is in seconds but in those days when you he’s very nice to work with as well. We stayed in touch – I wrote letters you had to send them through another ship sang on the 01011001 album, he played guitar on one of so it took at least half a year before it arrived to the other mine. Arjen was working on some songs a year ago and person and that’s so interesting. was thinking of an album with two different sides – a Lots of stuff happens in these people’s lives: he’s at sea, heavy part and a softer part. I mailed him about some- she’s at home, she gets ill, and he gets caught up in a thing completely different and my last sentence was storm. There’s lots of drama and love so there’s a well of should we do something together? He said that he had inspiration in this era. been writing songs with me in mind for the vocals.

It’s what kept people together in those days I suppose…

So he sent me some demos which were only strings – so Exactly! Imagine getting a letter from your guy at sea classical orientated – but very open for ideas and I loved and in the meantime he could be dead and you wouldn’t it, together we came up with the concept and it turned know! It was a crazy time. into this massive double album with the concept and ev- There are live dates planned for The Gentle Storm… erything but it went super smooth, it was a very inspired some of the dates have a special appearance – a rare work. one from Arjen as well.

Out of the two interpretations (Gentle, Storm) which I asked him to join me in Europe for two weeks of acouswould you say is the strongest? tic shows just to be out there and talk about The Gentle Arjen had the idea prior to me coming along, he asked Storm [Editor’s note: These dates have already occurred his fan base what they wanted to hear and he thought as the interview took place prior] then I go out on the why not do both? For me in my personal career I had road for the rest of 2015 and 2016 with a band I formed made albums like Drive which were very pop/rock orien- : people from Stream Of Passion, Ed Warby is drumming tated and I was really ready for something more heavy of course so I’m going to be doing the Storm side, also again so I really loved working on the Storm side but

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Devin Townsend and Ayreon so it’s going to be this massive rock show!

It’s been quite a few busy years for you: not only have you been working with Arjen but you’ve gained a new fanbase via your collaborations with Devin as well, I presume you’ll be part of his deal at the Royal Albert Hall?

I don’t know yet because there still making the production but I’ll hear soon enough from his management.

I’ve spoken to Devin and he always speaks highly of you so how do you feel when working with Devin?

Likewise because I love working with him – he’s super serious when it comes to his music, when I’m in the studio he’s super focused and I try to keep up. He knows exactly what he wants, I love his vocal parts along with solo and choir as well – sometimes he’ll give me carte blanche on one or two pieces but for the rest he knows what he wants and I try to deliver!

I have to ask what your experience was like doing the Retinal Circus show…

It was mind-blowing, normally if you do a show like that it would be a massive theatre thing with months of rehearsals, of course the rehearsals were two days but you have fireworks, all the music, props and it was really crazy but when we’re on stage you’d be running around doing your bit as well as you can!

How are plans going in regards to solo work and the Sirens?

Of course I’m going to really focus on Gentle Storm but I’m working on something for 2016 – a theatre production, more classical/folk. Possibly a follow up Gentle Storm album. As far as the Sirens it’s very much a live

Page 35

project.

Who are your three ideal collaborations?

Mike Patton, Mastodon who are my favourite rock band in the world and I’d also love to sing with Maynard James Keenan or Chino from Deftones.

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 36

Both All Is Chaos and The Hutch have been rightfully acclaimed due to the sludge/post-rock influence within CIS Deman (Guitars) chats to us about touring the UK, an - have any ideas begun on the follow up to The Hutch? update on the follow up to The Hutch and why the Mel- Yes. We are currently fine tuning our writing process vins, Neurosis and even Mastodon are bands for sludge which means a lot of playing and changing little bits. This is the phase in the progress where some small things can metal novices to check out. change a song into something really good. Also we work on this as a band together which nourishes our team Recently you’ve been on tour with Marmozets and spirit. The next album will be a lot more spaced/psychemaking a return to the UK next month with Prong what delic. But still in an organic sounding way. We can say is it about the UK that appeals to you the most? this is an album we worked very hard on. We have some Seeing fans that we’ve seen before means a lot to us. For little complex about our previous albums (sound wise). me that’s the biggest part. The other thing is how easily With this one, everything has to be perfect no matter those UK-fans spread the word and bring new people to what. Will it still be sludgy? Hell yeah! Different, but in a our gigs. UK-fans are generally very loyal to us. Of course spacey way! we also like the country itself. There’s some nice districts For anyone wanting to get into either sludge metal we love to drive through (peak district, Highlands,…) Also which bands would you recommend and which track by the food is amazing. yourselves would you recommend to someone wanting

By Matt Dawson - Photos Tom Verbruggen

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

to check out Steak Number Eight for the first time?

Sludgy bands have really dirty sludgy riffs so I’d recommend The Bit by The Melvins (This is a proper riff). If you like it faster go for a Colony of Birchmen by Mastodon.

If you like it really slow go for The Doorway by Neurosis.

Although I believe you cannot listen to Neurosis just by one song. You have to listen to the whole album. They are stories.

I’d suggest always a few songs. Why? Because some of our songs are dreamy and some are sludgier. Here’s a few Cryogenius (The Hutch) Black Fall (All is Chaos) Push/Pull ( The Hutch) Photonic(The Hutch) Recently there was a post in which you revealed the origin of the track ‘Dickhead’ - feel free to elaborate more on this.

I think we pretty much said everything about it on our wall. We stick to what we’ve said. We didn’t mean to bring up a big commotion on the Belgian media. Although a lot of people think that, we actually don’t give a single fuck about Belgian newspapers. Our message has been delivered to the people we wanted to inform. That is also the reason we post this on our facebook wall. We were certain we reached those people via this source. If you want to have a look, it’s still on.

Page 37

At the time of winning Humo’s rock rally in 2008 your average age was 15.5 – seven years on, how do you feel you have matured both as a band and an individual?

A lot. As a band we work more together now as in the past it was mostly Brent that made stuff. So that’s a very good thing. We also experienced a lot during touring and being on the road so we don’t have any surprises for each other.

Individually: We were 15 now we are 23. I think it’s mostly common that everybody makes a change in life. We’ve been through serious shit and through sweet pie.

The biggest advantage of being a band starting so young is that we never fall in a big argument and we get along very well. All these little things makes the writing process and touring so much more fun. And that’s what counts.

What are your plans regarding festivals this summer?

We don’t have really big festival plans as we are gonna record the album in the summer. Next year should be packed! It’s always nice to get in the studio while it’s sunny outside. Who wants to be in the sun anyways?

Name three albums that you have been listening to recently.

Fever ray- Fever ray Coffin wisdom- Generation of Vipers Mass III- Amenra

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

April 2015

Page 38

by Sophia Disgrace

Burlesque!

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!

Burlesque-or ‹the art of tease› as its 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 I don a jolly Easter bonnet (You wish!) and bring you my top picks for festive burly treats!

© Susan Grace Hinman

THE BLUESTOCKING LOUNGE PRESENTS ‘SIDESHOW’ @ The Grand Theatre, Swansea Saturday 18th April - 8pm ‘til late This sell out event promises a very welcome flirtation with the dark side of burlesque!

The sultry Raven Noir headlines, acclaimed boylesque artist Lou Safire and the delightfully named Deadly Nightshade will also be joining her for a night of illicit wonderment. There will also be a prize, for the best dressed member of the audience - so go get your glad rags on pronto!

Please contact Swansea Grand Theatre box office on 01792 475 715 for ticket info.

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 39

THE MINISTRY OF BURLESQUE’S TWISTED CABARET @ Komedia, Bath Friday 24th April - 6pm ‘til late Right, put those choccie eggs down for a mo and prepare yourself for a rip roaring evening of deliciously debauched entertainment!

Highlights include a menagerie of dancing girls, burlesque temptresses and a witty repertoire of comedy cabaret. You can also dine a la carte prior to the show and settle into the sumptuous surroundings with a glass (or three!) of the bubbly stuff. Decadent performance at its very best!

For further info and bookings please refer to www.komedia.co.uk

THE VELVET BURLESQUE PRESENTS ‘CUPID STUNTS’ @ The Library Theatre, Sheffield Friday 1st /Saturday 2nd May 8pm ‘til midnight This event is put on by The Velvet Burlesque aka ‘The longest running Burlesque & Cabaret Show in and around Sheffield’, so prepare for greatness… ‘Nuff said! A whole host of Vaudeville, Circus and cabaret artistes from around the globe will be stirring things up for you beautiful lot over not one, but deux night; so don’t delay, book your ticket today!

Tickets only available from www.VelvetBurlesque.co.uk

Now, before I go and parade the streets, daubed in chocolate, Easter bunny style (Don’t ask!), have a gander at this!

Image by Chris Andruskiewicz I stumbled across this rather talented lady’s work, courtesy of my dear friend google. Check out more here: christie-andruskiewicz.artistwebsites.com

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 40

rock’n’roll museum

By Paul Roundhill

presents

The Juke-Box THE POINT OF THE JUKE-BOX WAS ITS ROLE DURING THE YEARS 1958-1965.

Wurlitzer’s factory was in Tonenawada outside Detroit, the car town, and you can see the influence of automobile design in the Chrome front “bumper”, the radiator style front grille and the “windscreen” behind which the mechanism could be watched. There are elements of the carnival or fairground and there is even something of Native American, Navaho perhaps or the thunderbird in the machine’s iconography.

The industry and fierce competition was driven by the popularity of music by the young and the realisation that these economically empowered youth would pay cash to hear a record. Wurlitzer at least had some background with its history of building spectacular organs and Seeburg were the Rolls Royce of the bunch. They were the first to replace the carousel mechanism with the Selectomatic which had the deck sliding along the rack of records on rails. AMI as their name suggests had a background in musical instruments, but RockOla were pure bandwagon jumpers, stealing and copying the new designs as each company vied to produce the new model each year. Old machines were smashed up to encourage purchase of each new design.

Rock and Roll sprang from white boys playing black mens’ music, because years of oppression and suffering had informed the music with a power and feeling absent in most white culture. Music was the one outlet through which the African American could express his grief and his sexuality so it’s no coincidence that the term jukebox comes from Juke - joint . Juke or Jook is a term still used by Jamaicans to mean stab or poke so … juke joint? Use your imagination.

In Britain jukeboxes had been imported onto USAF air bases for the flyers in World War two, but the introduction of the 7’ single in 1958 lead to their rapid spread into every town in Britain within a year. The new young post-war generation was emerging from rationing and hardship with the new music emerging as the dominant cultural

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

Page 41

medium. The older generation had fought the war (as they insisted on repeating endlessly) for our freedom and music was the authentic voice of youth enabled by the new technologies of recording and amplification. There was almost no rock or pop music on the radio, no television for most people and the appearance of Italian cafĂŠs with Gaggia expresso machine and jukebox caused a phenomenal cultural change. The young could not afford gramophones and so there sprang up a cafe culture which drew the new teenage demographic like bees to a hive. This young generation appeared in public

and the fashion and youth culture formed around it. The young became for everyone else a kind of reality live theatre show as well as the motor of the economy and model for the modern style.

Society had never seen anything like this economically empowered peacock younger generation which became increasingly confident and bold.

Tribal divisions of mods and rockers emerged with musical style the anchor point.

Rock-Ola, Wurlitzer, AMI and Seeburg were in full production and thousands were imported. Balfour electronics of Ilford imported AMIs and adapted them into the British Bal-Ami while Wurlitzer began to mass produce carousel mechanisms in Germany to be brought to Britain, where their casings were built to produce a smaller more compact Wurlitzer - The Lyric.

European companies began to manufacture the machines which dented the American dominance and British manufacturers such as NSM continued through the 70s ultimately producing CD machines; but after 1965 economic growth permitted the young to acquire record players in their homes and the industry slowly declined.

Rock and Roll was perfect and sounded its best played on one of these machines. They were democratic, with later machines holding up to 200 singles. It is probably no exaggeration to suggest that the jukebox played a dominant role in ending racial prejudice.

Article and photos by Paul Roundhill professorro@gmail.com

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

LIVE

Page 42

EUROPE – BLACK STAR RIDERS - THE AMORETTES @ Civic Hall, Wolverhampton 14th March 2015

Review by Cat Cantlay, photos Tim Finch In a male dominated industry, such as rock music is, it is refreshing to see an all female trio on the bill of a high profile tour. The Amorettes from Scotland open proceedings to a rapturous welcome. The tour poster outside the venue describes them as “Airbourne crossed with Joan Jett”, but in truth they are far more than that. Their balls to the wall hard rock aggression is enthralling to watch and captivates the crowd for an all too short half an hour.

Black Star Riders, the super group born out of the touring line up of Thin Lizzy’s latter years, are up next. This co headlining tour gives the band the opportunity to showcase their two studio albums and enough stage time to do them justice.

Their newly recorded material under the BSR banner brings a new flavor to the classic Thin Lizzy/Scott Gorham sound.

Opening their set with the radio favourite Bound For Glory proving Scott Gorham’s hasn’t lost his song writing talents over the years. The whole band is visibly enjoying themselves and that is reflected by the audience who are lapping it up.

The set is also littered with Lizzy numbers, including Jailbreak, The Boys are Back in Town, Rosalie and as the finale Whiskey in the Jar. Whilst some are obviously here for the bands past heritage it’s safe to say they can stand on their own as an independent band for years to come.

Some may say Europe are the classic one hit wonder, after all how many people can name any of their songs apart from “The Final Countdown”? But to classify them as such would be unfair to a group whose career has spanned the best part of 40 years.

Whilst most of tonight’s set is unfamiliar to many, Europe’s hardcore following are here in force worshiping at the temple of Joey Tempest. They come out guns blazing with the title track of new album War of Kings and follow with a career spanning 70 minute set. Even those not so familiar with their back catalogue cannot deny Europe put on one hell of a show.

A fantastic evening all round is rounded off with Rock The Night, Day of of Rock and Roll and of course The Final Countdown, proving some things only get better with age.

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

LIVE

Page 43

April 2015

Sonic Shocks - Issue 35

LIVE

Page 44

JACK BROADBENT – TARQ BOWEN – JOE CORBIN TRIO @ The Borderline, London - 11th March 2015

Review and photo by Mark Fletcher Nine Lives UK presented an evening of Blues at the Borderline club on Wednesday 11th March headlined by the so called ‘world class’ busker Jack Broadbent, supported by two very competent blues acts, Tarq Bowen and Joe Corbin Trio.

Opening act Joe Corbin Trio gave a very solid delivery of some quite soulful blues with gravel vocal tones and heartfelt guitar, setting the scene for the evening.

These guys are tight and deliver a relentless set, even as bass player James Macphail leaves the stage to seek a new guitar lead to replace his failing cable, leaving Joe and drummer Sam Clifford to continue alone.

Next up is local boy Tarq Bowen with his own following showing great support for this slide guitar blues player who begins his set with acoustic guitar, stomp box and a powerful pair of lungs to up the stakes in the delivery of timeless and faultless blues. Tarq takes to the resonator for the second half of his set and continues to up the ante with continued vocal power and audience participation to aid the slide blues delivery to an energised climax.

Headliner Lincoln lad Jack Broadbent takes to the stage next to deliver his inimitable brand of slide blues. This time however taking his dad with him! Bass player Mick Broadbent accompanies Jack as the headlining duo open the set with ‘Black Magic Woman’. Jack, using his Hofner and hip flask slide, does not disappoint in the presentation of his style.

Brought up listening to all of the blues greats and first learning to play the drums, Jack uses this background to provide a slapping rhythm to enhance dad’s bass whilst the technical and accurate slide completes the delivery of well rounded roots blues.

There was a good level of support for Jack coming from Skegness as he polls the audience and is quick to point out that the numbers from Skegness were more than the numbers from London. Maybe this may be because half the crowd left after Tarq’s set was over! However, this did not stop the delivery of quality music with the odd cover like ‘Moondance’ and the finale ‘Hit the Road Jack’ keeping the crowd entertained.

Jack has done his apprenticeship by busking in cities across the world, he is not shy at taking on a challenge (hence Black Magic Woman et al) and can certainly turn his trade to entertaining from the indoor stage, although the techniques for commanding your audience in these two situations I suspect are very different.