TrashPit Magazine Issue 3

. a T S H R T PI magazine

issue 3

ÂŁ1

RaSH.PIT

T

Contact us....

TrashPit 95 Flamstead Ave, Loscoe, Heanor, Derbyshire DE75 7RP ENGLAND Mobile: O77O3 884l96 Email: rob@trashpit.co.uk Web: www.trashpit.co.uk

RaSH.PIT

T

. a R SHPIT

T

Okay, I've tried to avoid giving my opinions on them since I started TrashPit but seeing as almost every band who I've had the opportunity to interview has had something to say then I can't not avoid it any longer. Of course I'm talking about The Darkness.

It's a really strange subject and one that seems to have divided rock fans throughout the UK and the world over.

Yes, I've got the album and to be honest it's really good even though the first track 'Black Shuck' stinks big time, other than that it's pretty cool. You either love or hate Justin's voice and it's this along with the fact the band seem to be such a stereotypical image of what Glam Rock was that's grating a bunch of people.

What gets me more than anything though is the way the general public, people who don't give a shit about rock music are praising the band as being the

issue 3

best thing ever. The fact that Glam Rock, Hair Metal or whatever you want to call it is a style of music that just didn't go out of fashion it was something that became a joke and was scourned upon by most (even though the rest of us really 'got it') and for the public and certain radio presenters to be kissing their arses every second makes me puke.

That aside, when I see really young kids at concerts suddenly light up when 'Growing on Me' kicks through the speakers and see their genuine enthusiasm then I know that The Darkness themselves are doing something right. Forget the hype, for most of us it comes down to music and if they can continue to write quality tunes maybe we'll all be fans one day. (I'll go for Poison or Van Halen any day though!)

• TRASHPIT Issue 3 - Spring 2004 • Editor - ROB LANE • All Articles, Reviews & Photographs by ROB LANE unless otherwise stated. © 2004 For What It’s Worth Promotions Skid Row Promos - Work Harder PR / Chipster Ent. • Ky Anto Pics - James Wright, R. Lane, Adam@kyanto.com • AAR Pic - Dreamworks AntiProduct Pic - Daz Lawson • HCSS Promos - hardcoresuperstar.com • 40ft Ringo Photos - Jim Desalvo / Netwave Designs

TRaSH.

IT

C

w e v i D Re s Blink 182 Blink 182

Dog Days Broke in Hollywood

Geffen

Sonic Anvil Records

Mature and serious were never really words used to describe Blink 182 but reviews of this new self titled album have suggested that everyone's favourite punk pop band have headed more towards the sound and feel of Tom DeLonge's Box Car Racer and shed the tongue in cheek style of the past. Certainly justified, but for once this shows a band that have taken a left turn, moved in a slightly new direction and managed to pull it off with style. Blink have built on the ideas shown on earlier tunes such as 'Adam's Song' and 'Stay together for the Kids' and delivered an album that twists and turns, constantly throwing endless ideas into the mix. Lead single 'Feeling This' was without a doubt one of last years best songs and it's in great company alongside the powerhouse 'Go', the infectious hook of 'Always' and riff laden 'Easy Target, all with this new creative direction in mind but still delivering awesome melodic choruses. Whatever you thought of Blink 182 in the past, you should reconsider and take notice. Highly recommended.

8/10

Brides of Destruction Here Come The Brides Sanctuary / Mayan Records Rock supergroups rarely live up to the potential they promise but the Brides of Destruction have come along to prove this wrong.

Bringing together the talents of Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx and LA Guns guitarist Tracii Guns, they've scoured the back streets of LA to find session drummer Scot Coogan and unknown vocalist London LeGrand to create an awesome modern day hard rock album.

'Here Comes the Brides' will have fans of the Crue's Corabi album and Sixx's excellent industrial rock project '58' drooling with grinding epics such as 'I Don't Care' and '2 Times Dead'.

The songs thump along with attitude and a sound cleverly combining the very best elements hard rock, splashings of grunge and great vocals on tracks like 'Brace Yourself' and definite future radio hit 'Life'. The Brides of Destruction hold nothing back on an album that delivers on all levels and is a definite cause for celebration in the rock arena!

8/10

A real match made in heaven here. Who better to produce an album of dirty, bar room rock and roll than Gilby Clarke from Guns n Roses? Hollywood rockers Dog Days drip with the Sunset Strip attitude of Faster Pussycat in their eighties heyday adding in a healthy dose of crunching AC/DC riffs ending up sounding similar to Jackyl without the chainsaws. The more you play this album the more it draws you in with some real cool tunes clawing their way from the speakers. 'Misery' chugs along solidly building into a chant along punk chorus and Dog Days certainly don't hold nothing back on 'Fuckin' Games' which I doubt will be heard on radio for a while but it's horn backing and fist punching hook rocks big time. Things end on the bizarre 'Nikki Sixx You to Death' which I'm not sure if it's a tribute or a big fuck you to the Crue legend? Who cares, Dog Days are dirty, raw and unpolished - just as they should be!

6/10

Enuff Z'Nuff Favorites TB Records It's a testament to the songwriting strengths of Donnie Vie and Chip Z'Nuff to how well the nineteen tracks on this 'Best Of - Retrospective' have stood the test of time considering they span a career of almost twenty years. Classic '80's Hair Metal anthems' such as 'New Thing' and 'Baby Loves You' prove they were much more than throwaway radio rock of the time and still sound fresh, relevant and demand the volume be cranked up. The Beatles tag the band have always been associated with is very much in evidence on tracks such as 'My Dear Dream' and 'There Goes My Heart' and the late nineties psychadelica pop of 'Wheels' shows the band continue to deliver quality hooks to this day. 'Favorites' is a strong overview of a band that has never quite fitted into any specific rock bracket and maybe sacrificed long standing mainstream success because of it. In return they can be proud in the knowledge they've always stayed true to themselves and the fans who believed in them.

7/10

40ft Ringo Inside Your Head EP

Harmful Sanguine

Atenzia

SPV

A real treat for fans of New Jersey's hottest power pop outfit following last years outstanding debut album comes in the form of this brand new EP, bursting with new tunes and unreleased tracks. Kicking off with a revamped, sugar coated 'Atomic Pop Remix' of 'Inside Your Head', easily one of the albums finest moments with it's infectious guitar line and now boasting a great highly polished chorus. This new version loses a little of the raw edge of the original trading it in for a great Leppardesque sheen. Of the other tracks it plain sailing rock territory on real grower 'Shakedown' and the Danger Danger crunch of 'Sober'. Pick of the extra tracks is 'Jerk Off' with it's cool punky bassline and feel good teenage bounce which should appeal to fans of Good Charlotte style pop punk. No real surprises on show here just good quality rockin' as 40ft Ringo continue to deliver the goods and reinforce their claim to the nu breed crown.

7/10

Gingersol The Train Wreck Is Behind You Rubic Records I thought this band were no more, I really should pay more attention and look a little harder!

This re-release from 2001 is the first I've heard from singer/songwriter Steve Tagliere since I was in awe of the 'Extended Play' EP back in 1995. That was and still is one of my favourite CD's and for me literally defines 'Power Pop', so this full length album which is re-released just prior to yet another new record, 'Eastern' was a fairly exciting prospect to say the least. Initially I was disappointed finding it more acoustic than electric, and full of more 'mid pace' than 'in your face' pop tunes. Thankfully the more instant, up beat tracks such as 'Where Do I Stand' and 'Make it Stick' hold things together long enough for the album to work it's magic and the beauty of tracks such as 'Sleep Alright', 'You Fall Off' and the hypnotising title track take hold. Imagine all your favourite aspects of Wilco, The Jayhawks and the softer side of the Foo Fighters and you capture an idea of how good Gingersol are.

8/10

RaSH.PIT

T

CALLING ALL UNSIGNED / NEW BANDS TrashPit will be running a new column featuring unsigned and new bands in future issues.

Send demos / CD's to the address at the front of the mag.

One big sounding, no frills rock album from Frankfurt trio Harmful. 'Sanguine' is the fifth release from a band that channel all energies into their sound instead of their look and image. The band who have been together since 1993 have continually used the same producer, Guido Lucas, and have grown into a power house three piece delivering songs that speak for themselves trudging, powerful Metallica and Pantera like tracks with a fair injection of melody. This has allowed them to cruise along on their own wave calling their own shots and it's a fresh sounding album that holds no preconceptions which could see them draw some loyal underground success. Solid numbers such as 'Open End', 'No Matter' and 'Dumb' hold no prisoners in their execution with cutting riffs and harmonies reflecting elements of Alice In Chains. Harmful don't hold much for those who like bright, breezy choruses but if you crave solid uncompromising power rock then this is for you.

6/10

Lost Prophets Start Something Visible Noise Every generation needs an album that reflects their feelings and emotions, capturing elements that they will take with them for many years to come.

Well, I'm gonna stick my neck out and say that this may the album for today's young rock crowd that will be occupy that position - the fact that it's a British band only makes it more special! The Lost Prophets have ditched their 'nu-metal' edge instead favouring a much fuller sound which has 'anthemic' stamped all over it. The first singles 'Burn Burn' and 'Last Train Home' immediately set the standard for the rest of the album to follow and it totally delivers, living up to the almost untouchable challenge those two songs set. Right from the start with opener 'We still kill the old way' through 'Make a Move', 'Goodbye Tonight' and the brilliant 'Last Summer' the group's songwriting and arrangements are pretty much unmatched and it's refreshing to hear a band that has produced an 'album' instead of a collection of singles and fillers. Other than an obvious Faith No More feel with the keyboards, guitars and vocals (check out the title track) the band have cleverly created their own niche that makes 'Start Something' sound so fresh and exciting.

Many people are saying the Lost Prophets have sold out, if so they made one hell of a deal! Challenging, emotional and damn right brilliant - is it too early to say album of the year?

9/10

TRaSH.

IT

Eric Martin Destroy all Monsters

The Millions Million Dollar Rock

Frontiers

Z Records

One of rocks finest voices returns with a new solo album of timeless sounding, smooth hard rock. Always held in high regard both as a solo artist and as the unmistakeable voice of legendary rock supergroup Mr. Big, Eric Martin could make any song sound classy and this new album is backed up with some quality songwriting that only reinforces the singers talents. Described as 'distorted pop', the new album opens strongly with the Bowie feel of 'What's the worst that can happen' and the Thin Lizzy vibe of 'Kansas'. Martin is on fine form throughout managing to work magic on some of the weaker, easy listening tracks before stepping things up on the radio friendly 'Something There'. 'Destroy All Monsters' is a mixed bag of great rock tunes and ballads but maybe holds one too many forgettable numbers to make it really essential.

6/10

. a R SHPIT

T

Bridging the gap between hard rock and power pop, The Millions deliver some high octane tunes on Million Dollar Rock. Mixing a variety of influences and styles based around strong hooks which swing in and out of territory occupied by bands like The Wildhearts and the classic trademarks of Cheap Trick and Enuff Z'Nuff. They have managed to brandish this with the cool nineties alt-rock of The Posies and Redd Kross to great effect on tracks like 'Heather' and 'No Good Without you' and they even try their hand at KISS style big, brash arena rock on the pyro fuelled title track. Even with so many varied comparisons and influences on show you may expect The Millions to lack a little direction, and I initially thought the band were old school rock trying to be modern, but 'Million Dollar Rock' holds together really well with some tight, classy arrangements, sweet harmonies and some real potential hit singles, making for a great debut from a band to watch out for.

7/10

Visit the TrashPit Website

www.trashpit.co.uk MEST MEST

Maverick / Warner Currently riding high following supports with Good Charlotte and a hit video doing the rounds on the alt-music channels, MEST are another in the seemingly endless line of young punk rock bands. It's always the same, one band hits it big so you we get shed loads of carbon copy bands churned into the spotlight which causes many good acts to be written off without getting a real shot. MEST have the opportunity to rise above this with their new album thanks to some cool tunes and a great production thanks to John Feldmann. Instant comparisons to Good Charlotte and Simple Plan are evident from the start, particularly vocally, but MEST have a darker edge to their sound which is used well on tracks like 'Your Promise' and this deserves to be built on to give them some longevity. If you can look past the somewhat factory-line aspect of punk pop at the moment and take MEST on face value, then songs like 'Rooftops', 'Burning Bridges' and feel good 'Paradise' can't help but satisfy.

7/10

Mr Big Influences & Connections Frontiers There's seems to be a bottomless pit of these tribute albums around at the moment but it's obvious this one (the first in a whole new series of releases) is something quite different and features one of the most impressive line ups of artists for sometime. With Mr Big members Billy Sheehan and Pat Torpey at the production helm as well as adding drum, bass and even lead vocal duties on numerous tracks it results in a musical treasure trove and one that has been done with a lot of thought and care to create a special tribute to a much loved band. Highlights on show here are endless- 'Take Cover' featuring Doug Pinnick and Kings X literally growls from the speakers, 'Promise Her The Moon' with Heart's Ann Wilson adds a whole new dimension to the hit single and who else but Donnie Vie could add the required trip to 'Green Tinted Sixties Mind'. They've even managed to get the mighty Paul Rodgers to rework his original Free song 'Mr Big' (from which the band took their name) alongside yet another mind blowing Billy Sheehan bass solo and Keanu Reeves' Dogstar and Steve Salas literally 'Shine' on yet another Mr Big classic. Fans of one of hard rocks most successful bands simply have to check out this album and lovers of timeless hard rock can't fail to be impressed either.

8/10

Mark Owen In Your Own Time

Sequel Daylight Fright

Universal

Sequel

Stuck firmly between all the hard rock and glam of Trashpit is this excellent album, released just as the last issue was going to print it kept me company into the early hours of the morning trying to meet a self inflicted deadline! Pop music's official nice guy has taken the strongest elements from 1996's charming but patchy 'Green Man' and finely tuned them to deliver a solid album of lilting and catchy pop songs. Hit single 'Four Minute Warning' showed that Owen can take a unique format and clever lyrics and carve them into radio friendly anthems and it's this direction that gives the album it's own identity and strength. It's found in heavy doses on tracks like 'Gravity' and the brilliant 'If You Weren't Leaving Me' which is the real pop treasure on the album. Drawing from numerous influences, from eighties pop and indie rock with an ever present acoustic foundation, 'In Your Own Time', is a great pop rock record that exposes Owen as a real underrated talent. Hopefully the public can look beyond his boy band past like they did with one such Mr Williams and judge his songs on their merit alone.

7/10

Pretty Boy Floyd Size Really Does Matter TB Records The last couple of years have seen a re-surgence in all things Pretty Boy Floyd. Several UK tours have once again raised their profile on the underground rock circuit and now the time has come for them to bring over a host of new material picking up where they left off some years ago. If 'size really does matter', apparently production quality doesn't! The ten tracks on show here suffer tremendously from a sound that resembles a bunch of demos or unfinshed mixes. It's really a shame because there's some decent sleazy early Poison-esque tunes trying their best to ignite some glam rock spark. 'Suicide' and 'Earth Girls' have great hooks but are swamped by tinny drums and vocals that simply can't raise the choruses like they need, and whilst '727' has a nice Bowie feel to it's swinging easy listening vibe it comes over as whisper of what it could be. Some might say that this is the best way for this music to be - raw and trashy, letting the songs speak for themselves, but in today's market even raw can sound polished to an extent (does that make sense?) and Pretty Boy Floyd just fall short on an album that has some great ideas, cool packaging but the end product lacks big time.

5/10

Originally planned for release back in 1983, the second album from Portland, Oregon band Sequel never got the chance to be released following the bands break up. Sequel gained success on the US West coast supporting Sammy Hagar and Journey, and prior to their break-up came close to signing a major deal with Electra Records. Today, someone had the good sense to dig out the old master tapes, add in a few extra tracks and let this cool eighties 'time capsule' see the light of day. What's surprising is the way the tracks stand up with the recordings full of spark and energy. It's bursting with big eighties rock anthems in the Survivor/Journey mould such as 'It's Not Me', 'Pull the Trigger' and 'That Kinda Girl' all having that great feel good radio rock vibe. As the band describe this truly is 'a slice of the eighties' and one that captures that irreplaceable warm, excited and innocent feel of the time. A classic in more ways than one!

7/10

Shugaazer Shift Atenzia A real appropriate title for an album where your favourite song can change or 'shift' on every listen! Danger Danger vocalist Paul Laine's new solo project is crammed to the max with songs that the term 'soaring choruses' was written for. Laine has the ability to take any song to the next level and it's used to full effect on 'Shift', particularly on 'When Ya Gonna Break My Heart', 'Something Worth Waiting For' and the fantastic and touching 'Song For Lennon', which is particularly poignant.

Fans of Danger Danger won't be disappointed either as songs such as 'Beautiful' and 'Enough' still lean to the hard rock field yet sit comfortably alongside the classy and smooth 'Here Without You' and funk laden 'Get The Hell Outta My House'.

Taking the classic, simple songwriting stylings adapted by bands such as Travis and U2 and injecting them with a polished radio rock edge and solid groove, Shugaazer have found a great middle ground that could see them earn some well deserved mainstream success.

8/10

. a S H R PIT

T

If you would like to write a review for inclusion in future issues of TrashPit, please feel free to do so and send them to rob@trashpit.co.uk or to the postal address at the front of the magazine.

TRaSH.

IT

ran d ew B N

Thing

Sat on his tour bus in Sheffield in late November, Chip Z'Nuff is as relaxed and chilled out as you would expect him to be.

After almost twenty years of endless world tours and good time rock and roll, the founder member and bassist of undoubtably one of the world's most loved and respected hard rock bands - Enuff Z'Nuff, Chip speaks with a calm enthusiasm about his bands current new look. With his 'musical brother' and co-founder Donnie Vie unavailable to tour with the band, long standing guitar player Johnny Monaco has transformed himself into an all round frontman / guitarist and allowed himself, Chip and drummer Ricky Parent to continue to bring some of the most anthemic, good time power pop to fans worldwide. Now Chip and Enuff Z'Nuff have decided to take on the almost impossible task of assembling a long over due compilation album of songs from their epic back catalogue appropriately titled 'Favorites' - is yours on there?

The band has been together for almost twenty years and has one of the largest back catalogues around with some of the earlier albums quite hard to come across, why has it taken so long to bring out a 'Best Of' CD? We wanted to try and find a home where we could put all our material under one umbrella so to speak. It's difficult when you make records, anybody that does will know, we've sold so many albums in the past but they weren't 'ours' because the label has a percentage of the partnership in them and usually it's more than what the artists own! So it's been quite a while until everything turned around and came back to the band. I'm not saying we're setting the world on fire but we're selling a lot more records now than we have done in the last few years which is nice to see, there's a resurgence going on.

Some cool musicians and good guys out there have 'endorsed' Enuff Z'Nuff which has helped us, guys like Steven Van Zandt, Steven Tyler, Cheap Trick and KISS have all said nice things about us.

Who made the first move towards Johnny handling the vocal duties for the band?

We got called to go out with Mr Big but it turned out to be Eric Martin's solo tour, which we were fine about because he's a great singer, but we thought it was gonna be the old team who we toured with in the early days and did really well. So we get out there and find out Donnie can't make the shows, so I go 'Monaco do you think we can pull this off? I'll sing a couple of songs and you sing a couple' So that's how the first night went, we just mixed it up. So after the show (we were just the opening band) Eric comes up and says 'Look you guys are kickin' our ass, why don't you headline the rest of the tour?' We thought Donnie was gonna come out and join up

with the band after about a week or so but he never did whilst every night Monaco, Ricky and myself were getting stronger and more confident because it's not easy to play and sing these songs.

Was it an easy transition or did you have to approach the material in a slightly different way?

I played a twelve string bass every night, I don't even bring the four string out any more because we're a three piece and I want the sound to be big and fat. Of course we had to work on things vocally too and Monaco worked his ass off because I don't know anyone out there, other than the Robin Zander's of this world who can sing these kind of songs.

When we finished that first tour it had given us a lot of confidence and before we knew it we got called for a bunch more tours and we just kept it going. No disrespect to Donnie because his seat is always open, he never got fired or kicked out and he's still in the band theoretically. I just hope he gets well, it's nothing terrible, but I hope he does what he wants to do and hopefully one day he'll come back and do his thing. In the meantime we're all working, we're all part of Enuff Z'Nuff and this line up has been together for almost ten years now so there's no reason we should change or get another guy in, I think we've earned the right to continue.

Has it opened any doors to material that hasn't been performed live for some time?

There's a lot of stuff we haven't played live for a while, we've been mixing it up at every show here in Europe unlike other bands who play the same set every single night. Right now we've got 'Black Rain' which we've never done, we just pulled it out of our hat and we do 'One Step Closer' which we haven't

done in a while. Of course you're still gonna get earlier stuff like 'Fly High Michelle' and 'Baby Loves You' because the fans who come out to see us deserve to hear those songs. But people who come out just dig the band, we're just a song band, three guys from Chicago who believe in miracles and that hasn't changed.

cool record that has a great vibe to it which you want to listen to every fucking day. I've been playing it to a couple of friends and nobody believes it's me! It'll be out through my own label 'Stoney' but I'll grab somebody else too to help put it out, somebody who believes in it. You always need help, I believe in strength in numbers.

You've been described as being 'the most under rated band in pop history'. How do you react to comments like this?

Of course it's a nice comment but I don't want to sound unmodest as there's a lot of good bands out there who are not recognised for their talents. We've done pretty well, how many bands do you know who have released twelve albums and toured for nineteen years? And we still look relatively 'semi'

You're well known for having quite a few famous people as your fans. Is there anyone who you've met who has turned out to be a fan which has shocked or surprised you?

There's been a lot of bands who've come out and seen us, guys like Def Leppard really liked Enuff Z'Nuff and had us play with them a few times which I thought was really kind. But when I see cats like Pantera who are a really heavy band and back in the early days when Johnny Rotten came out to see us in Texas, we've had some hip musicians who carry their own tune come out and support our band and it's kinda nice. These are guys who you would think our paths would never cross because we're opposite ends of the musical spectrum, but you have to have influences and you show me a band without influences and I'll show you a band that hasn't written one note!

Is there anyone who you would like to work with in the future, either with Enuff Z'Nuff or on a solo project?

I have a project at the moment called Super Nobody for lack of a better name and we've recorded about twenty songs so far and some really big stars have come down to help participate. I just want to make it as good as I can, I don't care about smash hits. It's more about putting out a good

young, it's not like we're all forty five year old farts, most of the guys are still young in this band, I'm the only old fuck! I'd like to think that it's still a fresh band and there seems to be a lot of people who enjoy a three piece, you get a lot of separation and you can hear the space because there's not so much going on. I've always admired three piece bands like Cream and Rush. But it's tough for our kind of music, the arrangements are pretty simple but there's all the harmonies and you need to lock it down in the pocket. We don't use any tapes, it's all live so what you see is what you get!

Enuff Z'Nuff's 'Favorites' is out now on TB Records For more information visit www.enuffznuff.com

TRaSH.

IT

Lead guitarist for Robin Black & The Intergalactic Rock Stars, bassist / producer for Crash Kelly and solo singer songwriter, 'Killer' Ky Anto is an all round bona fide 'Rock Star'. On stage Ky exudes true passion and electricity through his music and is a natural entertainer whilst offstage the French Canadian is quiet and softly spoken, almost a total split personality. TrashPit tracked down Ky whilst on tour with the IRS to delve into the past, present and future of this one man music machine. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you 'Killer Ky - Lead Guitar!!'

You're working with legendary producer Bob Ezrin on the new IRS album. How did that work out?

Bob Ezrin is a childhood hero of mine, KISS 'Destroyer', Pink Floyd 'The Wall' and Alice Cooper 'Love it to Death', they're albums that made me who I am today. And that's all down to Robin, man. He's just a great catalyst for making things happen, he's just so focussed. If you take a look at all the individuals in this band like me, Starboy or John, we just don't have that like he does. Robin made the Bob Ezrin thing happen.

Could you tell us a little about your career prior to joining the Intergalactic Rockstars?

Whilst Robin was doing the Ballroom Zombies on the West coast, I was doing Sassy Scarlet on the East coast. It was at the time when grunge was exploding, so fuckin' platform boots and the New York Dolls wasn't really the hip thing. I was lucky to get a great gig with my rock and roll mentor Sean Pilot who was artistic director, manager, organiser of this club called 'Metropolis' in Montreal and every Saturday night he would turn it into this entertainment centre of ten different clubs which held about two thousand people in an old theatre. Anyhow, one of the rooms was a shrine to the New York Dolls and he put me in charge of it and it would be jam packed every Saturday when we would be playing.

KRock Y Star ANTO

How did you originally hook up with the IRS and was it intended to be as bass player?

I was leaving Montreal, I was fed up because there was no work and I was going to go to San Francisco. So I sold everything, took my black backpack which I still have, my acoustic guitar and started hitch hiking. It was getting late and I was getting wet so I stopped in Toronto and I called Stacey who played in Sassy Scarlet with me for a while and he was like 'Hey man, come and check out the new band I'm playing in' so I took my five dollars and a piece of pizza and walked down the street to check them out, and I came in just as they were playing 'Dream Police'.

The irony of it was, was that the bass player was all dressed in black and they had this black backdrop, so I never saw this guy! I thought Starboy was on keyboards playing bass, Stacey was there, Robin was in the middle and Kevin was on drums. So backstage that's when it was suggested that I played bass and I was like 'Fuckin' A!'

you end up meeting them, and not to brag but most people in Canada are really cool. One thing I've noticed from being French Canadian is that English Canadian musicians actually 'play'. Not that people in Quebec don't have 'chops' but the other guys play a lot more and I was craving that for a long time.

Is there anything that influences your writing and what direction it takes? Your own material is quite a contrast to that of your songs with the IRS and Crash Kelly.

If my solo songs were done electric you could probably draw more of a parallel I guess. With the Rock Stars it's five people's input that creates the one product, maybe with the next record you're gonna hear a ballad that's evolved from one of my piano riffs so that would probably be easier to draw similarities to my acoustic stuff. It's just music, it follows the same kind of patterns, you listen to the chorus of 'Candy Flip' and then 'My Sex, My Violin' on Doodling on Jazz, it's the same kind of chords.

Did you have any preconceived notions about what the UK would be like prior to coming over earlier in 2003?

I've been here before back in 1994, half on vacation and half trying to find Marc Bolan! I must have auditioned for about twenty bands, on drums, bass, everything. I was living in a hostel in Notting Hill and the second Sunday I was here, I was getting pissed at the bar and there's an Australian band on stage, all long haired guys playing like bluesy AC/DC stuff. The guy at the bar, Mitch, goes 'Hey mate, you play bass right?' And I'm like 'Sure!', so he tells me the bass player on stage, his visa has run out and he has to fly home but the guy who owns this hotel has these guys booked all over Europe! So off I went all over Europe, places like Austria and stuff! I remember these crazy gigs in places like Salzburg where you're playing your fifth set at like four in the morning.

You had people right in your face and I remember one time I needed to take a leak so I put the bass on this guy in front of me, told him to go like that (pretends to strum) and off I went to the washroom and left him playing, it was hilarious!

Is there any real differences between working with Robin or Crash Kelly?

Sean names the project Crash Kelly but it's his songs and we just participate. The first album was me, Sean and Greg the engineer. We were a three piece, Greg had the buttons, I had the professor aspect and Sean was on top of it, from songs like '11 Cigarettes' from A to Z, Sean decides what happens.

As opposed to the Rock Stars which is the one and only 'band' I've been in, in my life. Crash Kelly becomes a touring band when we're out on the road and everyone's great but being with the Rock Stars for five years you become a 'band'. Like if someone says something bad about Starboy, I'd kick the shit out of them!

What led to the concept and recording of your solo record Doodling on Jazz which was released last year?

I'll be honest with you, if you were to come to the rehearsal spot were I live, I have box full of DAT's and what people call shelf albums.

To one individual it will be demos, to another it will be an album. I lent Neil Leyton my DAT machine and a box of my songs was with it. He listened to some of the stuff and he was like 'Dude, you've got to put this out!' So we went for coffee, took a couple of pictures and he put it all together and released it for me - it's his fault! He takes the blame for it!

The last twelve months have been quite eventful for you, how do you see things happening in 2004?

I just love to play! If it means that everything else fails, then everything else fails because that's what I love to do! I hope this will be a big breakthrough year.

Although we've had good support with things like publishing in Canada and the resources we've pulled, we haven't yet got the 'big hand'. So this year with people like Bob Ezrin at the helm, people are all behind us and know about us now, so we're ready!

Visit www.kyanto.com The albums 'Planet Fame', 'Penny Pills' and 'Doodling on Jazz' are all available from www.changesone.co.uk

There's a close knit community of musicians in your area (IRS, Crash Kelly, Fading Ways Record Label) that all work together to help each other. How did you all hook up?

Canada, geographically is a big piece of land but as far as people it's just a few, so you know of everybody who's doing something, whether it's in Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto. So

TRaSH.

IT

New Generation Terrorists Exploding from the gutters of New Jersey in the late eighties, Skid Row became one of the most popular bands of the MTV rock generation. Whilst often being compared to many 'Hair Metal' bands of the time, Skid Row had a much harder edge to their sound allowing them to occupy the same ground to that of bands like Guns n Roses. Their second album 'Slave to the Grind' entered the US Billboard charts at number 1 in the summer of 1991, showing the band baring their more honest metal roots but sill maintaining their strong songwriting sensibility for great melodies. After the release of 'Subhuman Race' in 1995 the band went separate ways until reforming in 2000 with new vocalist Johnny Solinger and drummer Phil Varone immediately securing a prestigious support slot with rock legends KISS. Three years on Skid Row release their long awaited album 'Thickskin' and return to the UK where TrashPit caught up with guitarist Dave 'Snake' Sabo to speak about this exciting new chapter of Skid Row. Each of your albums have had their own unique feel.

Did you have a conscious direction in mind for Thick Skin or did it evolve by itself?

Basically, Rachel (Bolan - bass)and I just get in a room and start working and depending on whatever state of mind we're in at that particular time that's kind of what comes out at that moment, there's never an agenda. As far as the songwriting process goes we have such a long standing relationship, and without the turmoil in the band anymore, there's no more bad blood or cancerous toxic situation involved, it just makes the process an enjoyable one. We're pretty particular with stuff though, we just don't go in one day and come out with five songs. It's not that we over evaluate it, but we still want to make sure it's the best thing that you can produce at that particular moment.

Are the songs on 'Thickskin' recent or ones that have been written over the three years since Johnny joined the band?

They're all new songs with the exception of 'Born a Beggar' which was written just before he joined the band. There was a few songs that didn't make it, they were close but not quite there. Within this band, if all five members don't really dig the song then we wont do it.

Did you get involved in any other musical projects after Subhuman Race and before reforming the band in 2000?

I did some writing with Sugar Ray, I had a song on one of their albums called 'RPM'. I see Mark (McGrath - SR singer) once in a while, they're a lot of fun. They don't take themselves too seriously and Mark is one of the funniest human beings I've ever met! We all had side projects too, Rachel, Scotti and myself had a band called O Zone Monday, Rachel had a band called Prunella Scales with Phil and I had a studio in my home so I had bands coming there all the time. I did a couple of independent film scores too, which was cool because it gave me the opportunity to help someone else realise their vision as opposed to my own.

When Johnny came to audition for the band how familiar were you with each others past material?

He'd been doing his own thing for a long time and with all the touring we'd done he was definitely familiar with us but he wasn't intimidated by any stretch of the imagination. He didn't come in with the attitude of having to fill someone else's shoes. He came in and wanted to make it his own and it took some time to do, you have to grow with people, get to know them and hopefully they're good guys.

But he just does what he does and it's his own thing and it doesn't have to do with anybody else. He just tries to pay the older songs tribute as opposed to being a carbon copy of Sebastian.

Has any of the older material undergone much change with a new vocalist and the new musical climate?

I think because we are who we are, and at this point in time we want to do the old songs justice because we're very proud of our past and we've never tried to deny it at all because we feel we created something very special. So we want to pay homage to it in the best way possible and not fuck around with it. We also have such tremendous respect for our fans so we want to give them want they want.

The album has some real commercial sounding tracks like 'Born a Beggar' and 'See You Around', are there plans to approach radio or possibly do any videos?

Radio is in such a tight flux over in America and bands like us who have been around for a long time rarely get a second chance. It's kind of a sad state of affairs. I have the feeling that if people were to be presented with these new songs without any preconceived notions I think the reaction would be amazing, but it's a case of having these people in suits and ties who dictate what they believe should be force fed down the throats of Americans. That's why we live in a fast food society you know, it sucks! The loyalty in the States is much less than it is in the UK and Europe.

have a lot of respect for that. CC (Deville - Poison guitarist) was always in our dressing room, he was like the sixth member of our band!

You've said previously that you decided to re-record parts of the album after not being happy with the original recordings.

One of the great things about doing a record whilst you're on tour, as difficult as it may be you get the chance to be objective about it and you get to live with it for a while before you have to release it. We'd just about done with the all the mixes and stuff and we'd sit there and everyone was kind of like 'I don't know' and it's really hard to say that about your own stuff, but we all had the same notes on our papers about what we wanted to change. Stuff like the guitars aren't heavy enough, maybe this arrangement isn't right, maybe we should just re-record this whole thing - all these situations came up and we pretty much all agreed on the same thing.

How did the KISS tour come about, was that through Doc McGhee (KISS / ex Bon Jovi Manager)?

It came about so fast. He called us up and asked how we felt about doing it and we were like 'Funny you should ask because we just got a new singer two weeks ago!' It was such a great opportunity and we're so fortunate and thankful for it because it gave us the chance to showcase the new band in front of fifteen or twenty thousand people every night.

That's how you build your confidence and awareness of the stage and when you have two new people in the band you're re-learning all that stuff. You're constantly wondering were this guy's gonna be and whether he's gonna be smashing into you but you've also got fourteen years of knowledge underneath your belt. For Johnny I think it was a tremendous trial by fire and it gave him the opportunity to find his identity within Skid Row. Who have been some of the most fun bands you've toured with. When the band toured with Pantera there seemed to be a real solid bond between the two bands?

Absolutely, that tour was amazing. The KISS tour was amazing too because they're heroes. Touring with guys like that makes you relive your youth and they're the reason why I play. We've been so fortunate man with everybody we've been able to tour with. The Poison tour was cool because that also gave us the opportunity to go out in front of thousands of people. I give those guys a lot of credit, their music isn't like ours but it doesn't mean that their fans can't be our fans and vice versa. And I give them credit that they know exactly who they are and they don't pretend to be anybody else and I really

TRaSH.PIT

"You have to get past the excitement of making a new record to get to whether it's a good record!"

Was it hard to bring up the things you didn't like about the recordings?

Yeah, I think it was because you're so close to it and you love it so much you don't want to be offensive but by the same token you know that at the end of the day once it's released it's done and that's it!

You're in total control of every aspect of the band now which must have been good especially when recording with no record company pressure?

For us we live and die on our own word now. We don't have to worry about people who might be making decisions on our behalf that we're unaware of, thus your integrity gets compromised by that and you don't even know it. Everything runs through us now and the decisions that we make, if they're great we take credit for them but if they're bad we take the hit!

Who did you approach for feedback on the new material?

Everybody, our friends, people who we know at radio stations whose opinions we can trust, but mostly the audience, you play the songs and see how people react. To be honest you can't put a price on stuff like that. Ultimately it's gotta feel strong in your gut, you have to get past the excitement of making a new record to get to whether it's a good record! There's a big difference from when you start playing a new song and it's so much fun, yet two months down the line does it still hold water?

What are some of your fondest memories of the UK and Europe?

There's tonnes, way back to when we first came over and played The Marquee back in 1989 which was insane, playing the Hammersmith Odeon was amazing too. Then there's both Donington's, Wembley Stadium, the Docklands was awesome, Wembley Arena with Motley Crue, Milton Keynes quite a few actually! Now we're just really pysched to be coming back over and we're pretty amazed that there are people who still want to see us who are really vibrant and excited about it. What's even more humbling is you see people singing the lyrics to the new songs and I'm like 'Holy shit, that hasn't happened in a long time!'. And whilst it's a great sense of accomplishment we know the job is only just beginning!

Since this interview and tour, TrashPit learnt that drummer Phil Varone has left Skid Row due to personal reasons and the band have recruited a new drummer Tim DiDuro from Orlando, Florida. DiDuro will play the first leg of Skid Row's 2004 World Tour which starts in Vernal, UT in February and runs into Europe in April. He will also appear in the new Skid Row video for 'Ghost'.

The new album 'Thickskin' and 'Under the Skin - The Making of Thickskin' DVD are available now.

For more information visit www.skidrow.com

ivE

L

T

All American Rejects The Leadmill, Sheffield

You'd be excused for thinking Oklahoma's All American Rejects had several albums of material to choose from as they tear out song after song, each sounding like a hit single to a packed house at Sheffield's Leadmill. It's hard to believe that almost all of their set is taken from their debut album and they are virtually unknown to most of the country. I hadn't realised how much their songs had took root in my head and I'm constantly caught off guard thinking 'Damn, this is a good song....damnit - so's this one!' Beginning the set with a playback of album opener 'My Paper Heart' before joining part way through, the crowd respond like AAR are the biggest band in the world and considering their ages who knows, one day they might be! The programmed drums used on their debut, which at times made the songs sound like glorified demos, are carried over into the live setting but combined with some precision powerhouse drumming from Chris Gaylor it makes for an awesome and unique format. The band unfortunately, do seem to fail on really connecting with their audience and tend to favour simply playing song after song and I was often left wondering just how much the backing track of drums and keyboards helped boost their live sound. That aside the combination of guitarist Nick Wheeler and frontman/bassist Tyson Ritter works well - Wheeler coming over like a shy, charismatic Richie Sambora alongside Ritter's hyper, eager enthusiasm. It was also interesting to see how much more animated Ritter became when he handed over bass duties for the appropriately titled 'Last Song' proving how good a frontman he is, something to think about maybe? If the AAR continue to produce quality material like that on show tonight then we can rest assured the future of rock is in safe hands.

rash

AntiProduct l2Bar, London

New Years Eve with AntiProduct was always gonna be one monster of a party and the most colourful and exciting band in rock didn't disappoint. Following exciting and well received sets from a host of hand picked support bands including the ridiculously over the top, one man industrial powerhouse RoboChrist and big boned, power pop of DIP, the crowd crammed around the tiny 12Bar stage to witness an explosive and varied AntiProduct set, mixing fan favourites and brand new tunes to create one special feel good gig. 'Goin’ Where The Action Is' made a welcome return along with scarily catchy and infectious new songs 'Party's over the world' and 'Just Life'. There were some cool surprises revealed with keyboardist Milena handling vocal duties on both 'Satin' and 'Swear I'm Not Falling In Love' and 'Auld Lang Syne' even brought the new year in 'twice'! AntiProduct have always known how to entertain and they even have enough energy to unleash their Raaghmones set of Ramones songs in the early hours of the 2004, but tonight there were even more smiles than before and they truly seemed to be enjoying themselves, as did everyone in the audience. Stripped of his usual war paint smile, instead favouring shirt and tie, frontman Alex Kane and AntiProduct brought in 2004 the best way possible with loud guitars, big choruses and the promise that AntiProduct will be bigger and better than ever, just you watch!

TRaSH.

IT

Enuff ZNuff & Crash Kelly Corporation, Sheffield

Crash Kelly love England and it shows. They attack tonights set like it's their last ever gig and it hits home with the Sheffield crowd. The sound and performance is much more energetic than the previous nights show in Nottingham, perhaps down to the larger stage allowing the band to literally throw themselves into the songs. The 'Penny Pills' album is almost showcased in full with it's dual guitar lines and searing choruses wrapping around the large crowd who continually edge closer to the stage to get a closer look at a band on fine form. Sean Kelly looks like a kid living out his rock and roll dream and plays with unrivalled passion against a solid foundation provided by his bandmates. New drummer Scotty Macculloch is a great addition and connects well with bassist Ky and guitarist Allister Thompson, giving the set a real raw edge reminiscent of early KISS, whilst new track 'SDF (The American Way)' drips with an edgy Alice Cooper vibe which is winning over the crowds each night.

They don't fail to capitalise on England's recent World Cup Rugby victory either with an impromptu version of 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' slipped into 'Disgusteen' - pure class!

the stage with his usual cool swagger and sly grin as they stomp through appropriate set opener 'Saturday' and continue to deliver a set chock full of quality hard edged pop including 'One Step Closer', 'Baby Loves You' and the classic 'New Thing'. Enuff ZNuff are a band I've come to appreciate more over time and seeing them tonight only continues to add to that, hopefully it wont be the last time they visit the UK.

Iron Maiden

Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield

Enuff ZNuff look and sound fucking great tonight. They have adopted a cool sway in recent times that crosses over well with their timeless collection of classy power pop which has always walked slightly to the left of the hard rock crowd allowing it to stay fresh and relevant. If there's any talk of tension within the lineup it works to bring a real spark to their live show. Johnny Monaco, dressed in smart suit and tie, has really stepped up to the plate after taking the role of frontman and there's no doubt that the crowd have given their approval to the band pushing on in the absence of Donnie Vie. How much he actually wants to be on stage tonight is up for debate as at times he comes across as a little cocky and pissed off, but his musicianship is unmatched and offstage he appears friendly and talkative. Bassist Chip struts around

When it comes to the word 'compromise', there's one band that have definite rigid views on the music they make and play. That band, ladies and gentlemen, is Iron Maiden. Even after all these years they're still at it, with their current album and tour being one of the best they've done in years, as a rather enthusiastic Hallam FM Arena can testify. Opening with 'Wildest Dreams', first single off new album Dance of Death, it was foot down all the way. 'Wrathchild' and 'Can I Play with Madness' were well received but it has to be said that Iron Maiden do not do the old nostalgia route. A path they've always refused to do. As if to prove a point they delivered six new tunes, all of which seemed to go down well, with 'Pachendale' being a personal favourite. Naturally, musicianship was of the highest order and Bruce Dickinson's between song banter was informative, coherent, and heartfelt, as he and the rest of the troops really did seemed touched by the support they've received over the years, and the continuing respect and success Iron Maiden are still getting. There was a few numbers from the past I would have liked to have heard, but when you've a back catalogue like Iron Maiden, where do you draw the line? Eddie made his usual entrance during the classic 'Iron Maiden' track, lighting and stage-set was well designed and support act Funeral For A Friend got reasonable crowd support, but the night belonged to Maiden. A band that have never rested on their laurels, who are going to continue recording and touring for many years to come. God bless' em.

ROY GOODALL

Robin Black & The IRS Town Mill, Mansfield

Twelve months ago few people had even heard of Robin Black and his Intergalactic cohorts, yet just one year on and the band have toured the UK three times and continue to light up any venue they perform at. Today they are a strong contrast to the one that made it's debut on UK shores back in February. With two new members on board in the form of Johnny 'The Creep' Kearns who possesses the loudest, most dirty bass sound ever heard, alongside young hotshot Christopher Alexander Kidd on drums, this new hard edged rhythm section has allowed the IRS to move away slightly from the all out glam image into a more punkier, but no less colourful musical field. Tonight's show shifts between a band at the top of their game and one battling against numerous sound problems which try their upmost to turn things into a disaster. These are the coolest gigs though - you know any moment things could turn to shit as songs like 'Time Travel Tonite' get monitor sabotage but the band simply charge through it head first which adds an unpredictable quality. Not that I like to see a band struggle, but I do like to see a band like this think 'What the hell!' and just go for it - it's a fairly explosive result! New songs such as 'Why don't you love me' and the now established 'Out in the City' sit well against older classics such as 'Sick of You' and 'Candy Flip', and this new punkier direction has made way for a raucous thrash through the Sex Pistols 'Bodies' whilst guitarist 'Killer' Ky Anto adds some totally over the top metal growls to the bands blistering version of 'Hellraiser'. Some mentioned there's been a Robin Black overkill in 2003 but I disagree, you can't get too much of a good thing and tonight proved that to the max, in fact it should become law that there be a Robin Black gig every Friday night! One day maybe...

Skid Row

Rock City, Nottingham 'They live in castles here you know, every fuckin' one of them!'

Vocalist Johnny Solinger has no problems whatsoever in having fun with the Nottingham crowd and considering the shoes he's had to fill (you know those white pointy ones!) he's stepped up to the challenge and surpassed it with ease, adding his own style to one of rock music's only truly honest and exciting bands. Skid Row's return to the UK after eight years was always going to be explosive and they instantly give any doubters one almighty middle finger, with the opening salvo of 'Slave to the Grind', 'Piece of Me' and new number 'New Generation'. Skid Row are a band that are very proud of their long and accomplished past, delving deep into the back catalogue of each album but managing to bring the songs kicking and screaming into the modern day. Talk of the new material sounding like Nickelback is not without reason, and there's no denying the quality of that bands songwriting it's just a shame they're so damn dull which is something that Skid Row have never had a problem with! The absence of Sebastian Bach has simply allowed each of the remaining members more chance to shine, particularly guitarist Scotti Hill who attacks the set like a man possessed. The fact that Kerrang! accused the band of messing with peoples memories and should get the original line up back together makes we wonder if they actually watched this show or saw the reaction the audience gave to a fantastic rock band in fine form, at the top of their game and delivering easily one of the years best live gigs.

TRaSH.

IT

SU

TA

R

HA

ORE C D R

PERS

Described as 'Supersuckers for the Guns & Roses / Janes Addiction generation', Sweden's Hardcore Superstar are the perfect remedy for those of you out there crying out for a glam splattered fix of sleazy hard rock. Formed in Gothenburg back in 1998 the band were personally invited that same year to tour with metal gods Motorhead before jumping at the chance to open up in front of over 50,000 screaming rock fans in their home city with rock legends AC/DC. Now with the release of their third full length album 'No Regrets' a solid collection of LA sleaze fused with 70's Brit punk rock, the band are out on their own and setting Europe alight with some scarily infectious songs and a blistering live show. Hardcore Superstar drummer Adde was happy to speak to TrashPit about this latest trek across Europe, jaw dropping support slots, their long standing admiration of Hanoi Rocks and how classic British rock music is where it's at!

Could you bring us up to date with what the band has been up to since the release of the album last year?

We've just been touring. We're pretty big in Sweden so we released the album over there and we've been playing as much as we can. This European tour has been an easy one this time. The two other times we've been out much longer, the first was like thirty six dates and the second was seven weeks - imagine ten guys in a bus for seven weeks! We're now gonna maybe aim to do festivals this summer and we're going to America too and that's the first time for us. It's cool for us because we have three dates over there, the first in New York, the second in Austin, Texas and the third one is The Troubadour in Los Angeles which is gonna be great - but jet lag beyond belief! We're playing with Entombed and a Swedish band called User.

The Hardcore Superstar sound falls easily into the Glam rock scene but brings in qualities from 70’s glitter rock, like T-Rex and The Sweet. What other music do you draw inspiration from?

On the last record we were really influenced by the punk scene and we even brought a vinyl player into the studio to get inspiration from all the old punk records we hadn't listened to for years. We listened to a lot of The Clash, The Jam and we're all heavily into The Who, we really love them and the characters they had in the band. Then there's Hanoi Rocks and Motley Crue, that's were the Glam thing comes in.

I think bands like Hanoi Rocks had similar problems to what we have, we're both glam rock and punk rockers - one foot in

the Pistols and the other in something like UFO! We've also been doing a few shows with Mike Monroe and anytime we're in Finland we always call him up and go 'Hey Mike, you wanna come and do some Alice Cooper tunes?' And he comes down on his bicycle wearing his leopard skin pants, he's great!

You've had the opportunity to perform live with some quite different bands such as AC/DC and Motorhead.

How well does your musical style cross over with the audiences of these bands?

The good thing about Motorhead fans is that they're really hard, tough and only into Motorhead but Lemmy was such a cool guy because he went out in one of the rock magazines and voted our album 'Record of the Year' so everywhere we went people would come up to us and go 'You guys are cool because Lemmy says you're cool!'

Are there any bands you'd really like to tour with?

I'm a huge fan of The Stranglers and it would be great to tour with Hanoi Rocks who we've spoke about maybe going to Japan with. It'd just be cool to tour and open up for a really big band like Aerosmith just to play big venues. It used to be AC/DC but we got the chance to play with them in Sweden in front of 56,000 people and in Italy something like 80,000! One of the shows was in our home city, Gothenburg and it was really cool because the arena is right in the city where I live.

So when I woke up and ate my breakfast in my apartment I could sit and hear the drum technician soundcheck the bass

drum! I was like 'Oh man, I'm going to be playing down there at eight o'clock tonight!' It wasn't until we were in Italy when we met AC/DC. They told us to stay in our dressing room after our show, and ten minutes after our gig there was a knock on the door and the whole band comes in all ready to go on stage. They were really nice guys and they didn't have to do that after all these years, it was great!

How were you exposed to rock music originally?

My big brother played me AC/DC 'Back in Black' when I was five years old and I can actually remember how the music got me for the first time, it was 'Hell's Bells' from that album. When we got to play with them I told the guy who made the gig happen who booked us 'You don't know how much this means to me!'

When the band first got together, where you fairly unique or part of a new scene at the time?

Sweden and Finland have never really let go of the Glam scene, maybe because Hanoi Rocks were so huge over there. There are still guys wearing make up and I guess for us we've always been a Glam rock band pretty much all the time. Jocke, our singer actually told me to start playing drums when I was like twelve years old so we've always been a band together. I went to the States for a year to study for a while but when I got back we just got back together and started playing again. I'd rented an apartment in Los Angeles just behind Mann's

Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. I used to live on the twelfth floor and if you buy postcards from the theatre you can see my apartment in the background - it was easy to look me up when I was in the States!

Do you find any main differences between England and Sweden or playing abroad in general?

Just the language really. When you've not been in England or America for a while the first couple of days are kind of hard to get into the language again because you stumble and mix up words. But when it comes to the music we've always said that Hardcore Superstar have always been going for that British sound because we feel it is mostly better than the American scene, you've got all the great bands coming from England.

Every time we go in to do a record we always tell the producer, we don't want that big American sound, we want a raw and nasty British sound!

The album 'No Regrets' is out now on Music For Nations.

For more information visit www.hardcoresuperstar.com

TRaSH.

IT

! x i r T y n n Fu

Imagine being at high school or college one week, then the next thing you know you're on tour all over America with your best friends in front of thousands of screaming fans supporting your rock heroes and your latest music video is riding high at the top of the MTV charts. Sound unbelievable or too good to be true? For guitarist Steve Brown and bass player PJ Farley this was a Rock n Roll dream made real as they spent the first part of the nineties in pop metal band Trixter releasing two awesome albums and playing massive American and Japanese tours. Today, as the world seems to be at last wanting to enjoy music again instead of being depressed by it, it has allowed Steve and PJ's new band 40ft Ringo a chance once again to bring their power pop back onto the world stage in spectacular fashion! Their debut album 'Funny Thing' was one of last year's coolest releases boasting some of the best nu-breed pop rock put to disk and in 2004 40ft Ringo plan on taking it to the masses. TrashPit spoke to Steve Brown from his home in New Jersey about how good time music is back, the response to 40ft Ringo and how a Trixter live album is on the horizon.

The response to Funny Thing seems to have been positive all over the world - that must be very encouraging?

It's great man. All we ever try to do is the best we ever can, and for me after taking on the vocal and frontman role, to get the response that we've been getting it's very, very supportive. You always hear it, everybody wants to be the frontman, the bass player and guitarist always want to sing, even the guy selling t-shirts wants to be the star of the show!

Now more than ever people are more respectful and look back on the late eighties as kind of a magical time, for me the nineties musically was a waste of fucking time. As much as I like some of it I come from the background that music is supposed to be entertainment and fun and now things are coming back around to that with people looking back and saying 'You know what, that was a great time!' And I think what's happening now is Rock and Roll is making a serious comeback with bands like Jet and The Darkness doing really well, those bands are just rock and roll bands and very pop at that. So time is on our side and Eddie Van Halen once said to me 'Great music always prevails and all the B.S in the world doesn't matter - great music will always find it's way!'

And that's what's been happening with 40ft Ringo, we might not be on a major label and we're not doing all the things I'd like to but we're taking baby steps and we're building something from the ground up and we have a solid foundation and that's one thing that no one can take from us.

Is there any one that has surprised you with their response to the album?

No one in general, it's just nice to get some good praise from guys who are your colleagues and in bigger bands you know. I gave copies to Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) and Phil Collen from Def Leppard, those guys love it, Tommy Thayer from KISS loves the record too. For people like that to dig it is very, very positive - it's really cool!

There has been a lot of talk about songs that didn't make the album which many people were upset about as they felt they were stronger songs.

When we started we got kind of an underground cult following some years ago. I had like sixteen Mp3's of demos up on our website of all our songs because I just wanted people to hear the stuff and as it turned out people were downloading and trading them. So when we released the album there was this kind of underground, furious thing with people going 'I can't believe this song didn't make it!' It was real surprising to us but so cool that fans were taking it so seriously. I do think at some point all the stuff will be released or make it's way into new forms or new songs.

Are you well underway with new material for the second CD or is Funny Thing still priority?

Funny Thing for all intent and purposes is still a brand new record and we're looking at taking this for at least another year because it's just beginning in other parts of the world.

The bottom line is that I feel it deserves to get released by a major label and get the chance to be really taken to the top because it has that potential. Whether you like the music or not, you can appreciate what it is and you know it's good! It's as good as anything that's at the top of the charts right now over here in the States like Good Charlotte or Matchbox Twenty, so why not? The music business guys over here are so preoccupied with stuff that is so irrelevant and I've learnt that every A&R guy doesn't look for a reason to sign you, they look for every reason 'not' to sign you! So as long as you know that you don't have to get stressed out over stupid little things.

What bands are you listening to at the moment and is there any band that really inspires you today, either an older band or one of the newer acts?

I get so much new material these days, I'm really digging Jet, I think they're awesome and I'm listening to Butch Walker's solo album all the time.

More than anything though I always find myself going back to my old Def Leppard, Van Halen and Motley records - it's my favourite stuff in the world you know! That's what I always judge and base my stuff on, is it as good as 'Hysteria', is it as good as 'Slippery When Wet'? And as kook as that might sound, that's what great records are about. Nowadays it's very hard to find a band that can deliver a record that good, a lot of albums have two or three good songs and the rest is just crap!

It's record company mentality, they know you're probably going to only get two or three singles - best case scenario, so they're the only things they need. But the artists that are smart realise that ten or twelve great songs speak volumes!

Can you tell us a bit about the new Trixter Live CD that is the pipeline?

What's happening right now is we're still dealing with a lot of the red tape regarding our former label MCA and getting all the clearances and licenses and it's taking a bit longer than expected. The one thing we never wanted to do was put this thing out and not do it 100% and let's be frank, the people who are gonna buy this are going to be Trixter fans, we're not

really gonna pick up new fans from this, at least I don't think so but you never know! So what we wanna do is make this a gift for the fans so it wont be some cheap thrown together thing. We've had plans of releasing it for almost ten years now since we recorded it back in 1993 on the Japanese tour but unfortunately with us there's a lot of legal stuff that has to be ironed out. I get emails every day from all around the world from fans who are wondering about it but unfortunately people just don't understand that even though we're not on the major label anymore, we are still tied to them with certain things, so it's not that simple. But we're working on it and when it's done I think it's gonna be a great little time capsule.

Is it a collection of various shows over a period of time or just one performance?

At the moment it's just one show from Japan but we're thinking about some stuff from the earlier tours. The record right now is very heavy on the 'Hear!' songs, which I think did better in Europe and Japan than over here in the States. It almost went Gold for us over there, so we focussed on playing a lot of that material.

You're very proud of what you accomplished with Trixter but is there anything you wished you could have done?

I wish honestly we were able to have come over and toured Europe. We had one big opportunity to open up for Bon Jovi on the 'Keep the Faith' tour but unfortunately we didn't have a hundred thousand dollars to buy our way on!

Everybody in life has regrets, especially in the music business and bands who were successful once and then look back and go 'Aw, man I wish I could have done this different!' well I've got a million stories about stuff like that but at the end of the day we achieved a hundred times more than we ever thought we would. We never bargained for everything that happened to us, to become a 'rock star' once is a one in a million chance and I know that now more than ever because I'm trying to do it again and I realise how fuckin' hard it is! You meet other people in bands who never made it that big and guys like session musicians who come up to me and say 'You were guys were a band who grew up

Everybody wants to be the frontman...even the guy selling t-shirts wants to be the star of the show!

TRaSH.

IT

together and hit it big!' Me and PJ have always realised how lucky we were and we always say that we got to do what 99.9% of musicians never get to do, the good, the bad and the ugly! And we're still making music today and I believe with 40ft Ringo we're doing the best stuff we've ever done and we're prouder than ever, it's beautiful, we've got nothing to complain about.

You've been asked before, but are there any Trixter songs you'd like to re-vamp for 40ft Ringo - any advance since you were last asked this?

That's something I get all the time and although there's possibly some songs that could work it's not something we wanna do. Trixter was something that was very special to us in what it was, and Trixter wouldn't be Trixter without Pete singing so there's really no need to do a second generation version. For me it's something I'm not interested in.

You were all very young when Trixter hit it big and at the time it was quite a novelty, nowadays it seems to be the norm - how was that back then and can you relate to the new bands around today?

Bands are getting younger and younger it's crazy. They called us the 'New Kids on the Block of Hair Metal' and stuff like that and then Silverchair came out and they were the Trixter of the grunge era but now there are bands that are fifteen, sixteen years old that are getting signed. Youth is definitely King right now to some degree. I can sort of relate to how they might feel, the way you're kind of naive at that age. Back when we were doing the Trixter thing we never really thought about it and like I said we never bargained for anything that happened success wise. So while it was unbelievable when it was happening, PJ and I would still look at each other and just think this was just the way it was supposed to go - you put out a record then eight months later you have a number one video on MTV, then you go out on tour selling out every arena in the States. That was always our dream and game plan but as it happens you don't really think about it. Now we look back and just shake our heads, for a while we were one of the biggest rock bands on MTV and for like five seconds you're the biggest rock band in the world! It's kind of surreal looking back.

Visit 40ft Ringo at www.40ftringo.com and check out www.themightytrixter.com for info on the live Trixter CD. Funny Thing' and the 'Inside Your Head' EP are out now on Atenzia

Tri

xter

TRaSH SS CLA

IC

Trixter Hear!

MCA 1992

The Band Peter Loran - Vocals, Steve Brown - Guitars, Blues Harp and Backing Vocals, P.J. Farley Bass and Backing Vocals, Mark 'Gus' Scott Drums, Percussion and Backing Vocals

Pick of the Tracks Road of a Thousand Dreams, Rocking Horse, Nobody's A Hero, Bloodrock Overview The sound of a band truly living the American dream and creating one of the best sounding feel good albums of the decade. Still sounds great today with songs that were made for rock radio.

Several Friday nights were spent at Rock City dancing solo to 'Rocking Horse' them were the days!