Monthly Archives: December 2018

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

2018 – III – The Year We Have Known Is Gone

Here is the final wrap of 2018. Have a safe break and see ya all in the new year.

Click on the playlist here.

I Am The One
We Got Tonite
Outloud

What can I say, I’m a sucker for melodic rock.

You Can’t Take Me Down
Playing With Fire
Dream Child

Craig Goldy’s little project is doing okay. People are interested, let’s see what comes next.

Lover, Leaver
Greta Van Fleet

They finally dropped an album and its selling, their previous EP is selling and people are listening. The only way is up. It’s up to them.

Self-Inflicted Wounds
Joe Bonamassa

From his “Redemption” album. On each album, there is always a track or two that connects with me.

Oblivion
Stratovarius

Can’t say I’m a fan of the band, but this song is good.

The whole Unheavenly Creatures album.
Coheed and Cambria

Read my review of it here.

Royal Beggars
Hereafter
A Wasted Hymn
Architects

Sometimes the vocal screaming gets to me, but in these three songs it’s a good mix of emotions and musically there is a lot to unpack.

The whole Firesign album.
Dynazty

Check out my review here.

The One You Loved Is Gone
Slash, Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators

Read my review here.

Are You Ready
The Best Ones Lie
Disturbed

These two are the best on the album and ignore the rest.

All The Time In The World
Whitesnake

From the surprise “Unzipped” album.

As I Fall
Afterlife
After Midnight
Andy James

Great instrumental guitar playing.

Hold The Line
Bonfire

From their “Legends” album covering a classic song that I used to cover in bands.

Swallow
I Am Fuel
Panoptical
Sons Of War
The End Will Begin Again
Thieves and Legend
Days Of Jupiter

Every era has a band that sounds similar to a famous band and then end up overtaking the band that influenced them in songwriting and risk taking.

In this case Days Of Jupiter runs rings around Disturbed but Disturbed is the one with the popularity.

Threatening War
Far Below
White Mist
Shed A Light
The Pineapple Thief

From their “Dissolution” album which is their twelfth album. Yep, you read that correct. Album number twelve and I’m hearing about the band for the first time.

It’s the way of our world know and it takes time to rise above the static noise. Just be patient and remember, music is a lifers game.

I’m A Ratt
Stephen Pearcy

From his “View To A Thrill” album. This song sounds like the ratt and roll that Robin Crosby used to bring to RATT.

First Time
Aftermath
Freedom
Long Shot
Royal Tusk

I was taken by surprise by “Tusk II”. It’s more rockier, even metal at certain times and the lyrics are more angrier.

Just Tell Me Something (featuring Danny Worsnop)
All That Remains

From their “Victims Of The New World” album. It’s the first song that stood out to me and demanded I press repeat.

What will happen to the band remains to be seen.

The Messenger
Circles

From “The Last One” album.

They are from Australia and ead this review of the album, as I totally agree with it and feel no need to further elaborate. http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2018/08/29/circles-the-last-one/

Life On Titan
Vault Of Heaven
Voices From The Fuselage

Ashe from TesseracT is back with his pre-TesseracT band.

Mayday
Digital Summer

A fully independent band who control their own destiny. They have been releasing singles from a forthcoming album in between jobs as paramedics and raising kids.

The Clincher – Version 103
Chevelle

From their “12 Bloody Spies: B Sides and Rarities” album. The vocal feel hooks me in.

Without You I’m Nothing
Rockin With The Boys
Bronx Boy
Mission To Mars
Ace Frehley

From his “Spaceman” album. Read Deke’s review over at Thunder Bay.

And that’s it. 2018 is a wrap. See ya next year.

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Copyright, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

Who Owns What

Should this be in the courts. Should a painting on a guitar body be protected by Copyright?

What about the other million guitar designs and paintings that happened on guitars of musicians who didn’t make it?

Who owns what there?

Of course, Copyright doesn’t matter or care when no money is involved. Copyright only goes to the courts if there is money involved. Copyright is only important and needs stricter enforcement when there is money to be gained or lost.

And the estate of Dimebag really shouldn’t have control over this design anyway. Dimebag didn’t even own the copyright to the artwork himself, (it was owned by his friend who painted the design) so how can it fall into the hands of his estate.

People will argue that he played a guitar made by Dean with that design on it and made it popular. Yes, that’s correct, but he still didn’t own the copyright on the guitar to pass it on to his estate after death.

Also the lightning design is pretty generic and it looks like the lightning on the “Ride The Lightning” cover and there is nothing really distinctive about it. As far as I’m concerned, the Estate or the Guitar maker should not have a Copyright over this design.

People and Corporations who offer no value to culture, make money from people who did offer value and change culture after death. This is basic hijacking of what Copyright was designed to do and it shouldn’t exist.

And as I mentioned before, what about the millions of other artists who tried to impact culture and didn’t. There was always copyright infringement happening.

The “Sunset Strip” sound in the early 80s was pretty much the same across the bands. And for the bands who made it like Motley Crue and Ratt, thousands of other bands who had similar/same songs didn’t make it, however they influenced the bands who made it to a certain extent.

How come they don’t make the news?

CC DeVille took a riff another person wrote in his previous band and used it for “Talk Dirty To Me”, without any credit to the writer. James Hetfield took a riff another person wrote and used it for “Hit The Lights” without any credit.

Copyright allows Corporations to amass power from art created by others. These Corporations keep this power long after the artist has passed away. This is wrong and against the interest of the public.

When one small artist who has a low status has an issue, it is irrelevant to everyone however when a bigger artist has an issue it is relevant.

And people wonder why small low worth artists are suing high net worth artists?

Instead of creating incentives to create, copyright is creating incentives to sue.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories

Henrik’s Spotify List

Here is the playlist.

Henrik is a regular reader and commenter of this blog and a week ago he shared his Top 100 Spotify list for 2018.

Well, like all things that deal with music, I had to give it a listen, especially when I saw his number one was from a band I’ve never heard of. It’s always cool to see similar musical tastes/songs in other people’s playlists and it’s even cooler to be introduced to bands I have never heard before.

So after listening to the playlist, here are my selections of Henrik’s Top 100 Spotify List.

John Carpenter Powder Ballad
Turbonegro
From the album “Rock N Roll Machine”.

It’s the first time I’ve heard the song and the band. And its good. Don’t know how the band name would go down in the U.S, but hey from reading their Wikipedia page it looks like they like to push the political correctness debates.

For me, I’m a fan and the last minute of the song, makes me want to press repeat.

Hot For Nietzsche
Turbonegro
From the album “Rock and Roll Machine”

I dig all the references to “The Who” and so many other bands I like.

No Surrender
Judas Priest
From the Firepower album.

This was on my list as well.

In The Heat Of The Night
Make The Move
U.D.O
From the Steelfactory album.

U.D.O is hit and miss for me, but these songs have riffs and grooves too good to refuse. Especially, “Make The Move” which has a riff and vocal feel, very similar to a certain Beatsie Boys song called “Fight For Your Right To Party”.

Mess You Made
Only Human
Vega
From the Only Human album.

I’m interested, clicked on follow and we will see what the band does next.

Black Smoke Rising
Safari Song
Greta Van Fleet
From the “From The Fires” album.

Their path is like Led Zep. Coming out around 1968/2018 with a folk hard rock sound and tweaking it as they move into the 1970’s/2020’s.

Walk In The Shadows
Queensryche
From the “Rage For Order” album.

The song that made sense on this album on the first listen. The rest of the album took some time to digest, but this one was easy.

Dance Macabre
Ghost
From the “Prequelle” album.

It’s also in my 100.

Perfect Storm
Breathless
Volster
From the “Perfect Storm” album.

The first time i heard this band. And I clicked save on the songs and I also follow the band.

Distance
My Allied Ocean
Evergrey
From the “Storm Within” album.

These appeared on my list for 2017, and “Distance” also appeared in 2018.

A new album will drop in 2019, so expect to see Evergrey in my list next year.

This Time
Sometimes The World Aint Enough
The Night Flight Orchestra
From the “Sometimes The World Aint Enough” album.

These are also on my list.

Life On Death Road
Jorn
from the “Life On Death Road” album.

The riff is brilliant, and those outro leads make me press repeat.

Suite Sister Mary
Queensryche
From the “Operation Mindcrime” album.

I haven’t heard this in a long time.

Those voices/choirs remind me of the “Omen” movies. So powerful and it takes the song into the stratosphere.

Bark At The Moon
Ozzy Osbourne
From the “Bark At The Moon”

Here is the classic riff that Ozzy wrote with one finger on a piano while Jake E.Lee watched.

And that outro lead. I guess Ozzy’s finger moved really fast to write it and then show Jake E. Lee.

This is the bullshit of music copyright and how people with money and status can fuck up the real writers, in this case Bob Daisley and Jake E. Lee.

Quicksand Jesus
Skid Row
From the “Slave To The Grind” album.

One of the best Skid Row songs, especially when Sebastian Bach takes it to another level with his Bridge and Outro vocals. This is also on my lists of 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Fuel The Fire
One More Round
Bullet
From the album “Dust To Gold”.

I swear i thought i was listening to Keel singing. And to be honest, it’s the vocals that stop me from getting into it.

Fool On Fire
One Million Miles
Babylon A.D
From the album “Revelation Highway”.

“Fool On Fire” is not my favaourite as I prefered other songs over this one. But still cool to see Babylon A.D on another listeners list.

On the other hand, “One Million Miles” is up there as a sleeper classic.

The Art Of Loss
Redemption
From the album “The Art Of Loss”.

Any song that starts off with sweep picking, alternate picking scalar runs and a wicked beat/riff under it, is up there in my book.

Hope Dies Last
Redemption
From the album “The Art Of Loss”.

You need to be in the mood to sink your teeth into a 10 minute song. This one is also a favourite of mine, because it feels like a Fates Warning song.

And that section from about the 5.50 minute mark to the 6.10 minute mark is finger breaking stuff.

Master Of The Universe
Man Behind The Gun
Cool Runnin’
Palace

Never heard of the band before, however there sound is up there with the melodic rock i dig. I’m interested, what comes next is up to the band.

Show Dont Tell
Rush
From the album “Presto”.

No Rush made it to my list this year, but man, there was a big Rush period between 94 and 2004 for me.

I remember this song well, sitting down to learn the riffs, the feel and the groove.

And those open chord voicings from Alex Lifeson are perfect. A true master at simplicity and yet it sounds complicated.

Breathe With Me
In The Arms Of A Devil
Dynazty
From the album “Firesign”.

Yep, these ones are on my list as well. And those guitar solos, its guitar hero stuff. Sweep picking, string skipping, legato lines, bends, tapping, alternate picking. It’s got everything.

Break Down The Wall
Stone Fury

Ahh yes, Lenny Wolf’s German band before his U.S band, Kingdom Come conquered the world with their Led Zep influences and then when interviewers questioned them, they told everyone they have never heard of Led Zep. It’s okay to say you are influenced by others, it’s how music works.

This song is perfect melodic rock and you can more or less hear the embryo of Kingdom Come’s melodic side right here. I actually have it in a Kingdom Come playlist and it’s not out of place.

For The Love Of God
Bellevue Suite

Another new band to sink my teeth into.

Let It Go
Def Leppard
From the “High N Dry” album.

When you hear Def Leppard’s earlier songs, you get to hear the metal and rock ethos they started out with and this rock and metal spirit would sustain them.

This song rocks as hard as any song that came out during this period, but the embryo of those multi-layered vocals that took “Hysteria” to millions in sales are here.

Face It
Grand Design
From the album “Viva La Paradise”

Man, i really dig the music and the melodies, but the tone of the helium vocals is too much.

Take Hold Of The Flame
Queensryche
From “The Warning”

You can hear the embryo of the ‘Operation Mindcrime” album in this song.

The Warning
En Force
Queensryche
From “The Warning”

Two classic metal songs.

Please give that verse riff in “En Force” a real listen and try to pick out which song it’s borrowing from as it always eludes me. Is it a Thin Lizzy song?

Star Of Rio
The Night Flight Orchestra
From the “Amber Galactic” album.

Yep, this song is on my playlist for 2018 and it was in there for 2017. It’s a classic in my book.

Downtown
In And Out Of Trouble
H.E.A.T
From the “Live In London” album.

This band delivers a sound and style i like, and they are a tight band on this live album. Provided that the live album didnt fix things up back in the studio.

Masque Of The Red Death
Crimson Glory
From the “Transcendence” album

This is a blast from the past. I have this on CD, but i haven’t listened to Crimson Glory on Spotify at all.

One Night In The City – Live at Pinkpop Festival
Dio
From the album “The Last In Line” Deluxe Edition

Hearing Dio live, you get a sense of what a super tight band he had, especially Vinny Appice.

Man, the guy doesnt miss a beat at all.

King Of Errors
Evergrey
From the “Hymns For The Broken” album.

This song crushes.

The verse riff is simple and effective and the Queensryche “Operation Mindcrime” sounding Chorus riff is perfect.

What about that lead break?

Killer
Crazy Lixx
From the album “Ruff Justice”

This one is also saved on my playlists as it reminds me of Yngwie Malmsteen.

Marathon – Live In Birmingham England/1988
Rush
From the “A Show Of Hands” album.

Hearing Rush in a live setting, you get a feel for how good they really are and how tight they are as a live band. Especially for a three piece.

A perfect example of paying your dues and honing your chops for years before you make it.

Eyes You Dare Not Meet In Dreams
Redemption
From the album “Long Night’s Journey Into Day”.

Yep, this one is also in my list.

Havana
Red Dragon Cartel
From the album “Patina”.

Jake E Lee lays down a mean blues boogie shuffle in typical Jake fashion, but the vocal line melodies do not connect at all with me.

Bodom Beach Terror
Triple Corpse Hammerblow
Children Of Bodom
From the album “Hate Crew Deathroll”

Musically this band is brilliant and Alexi Laiho (i am spelling from memory here, so maybe there is a mistake) is one unbelievable guitarist. When you hear his style, it’s so heavily influenced by Randy Rhoads, which is perfect to my ears. Vocally it’s not my thing, but musically i really enjoy it.

Check out the solo in “Triple Corpse Hammerblow” and it’s “Over The Mountain” influence.

I even wanted to cover their songs in bands i was in and have the vocal melodies sung instead of growled.

Lock And Key
Rush
From the album “Hold Your Fire”.

Man i havent heard this song for a long time. I feel a Rush binge coming up for the Xmas holidays.

Tightrope
Vandenberg’s MoonKings
From the MK-II album.

Adrian Vandenberg sure knows how to write a good four minute song. This came across my playlists as well, but with so many releases coming through, it sort of got dropped off.

Reign Of Fire
Armored Saint
From the “Symbol Of Salvation” album.

This song is also on my lists. That opening riff is enough to break your desk and start swinging air punches.

Nobody’s Hero
Rush
From the album “Counterparts”

Again, it’s been a long time since we’ve shared a listening experience, so welcome back “Counterparts”.

Life In Still Water
Fates Warning
From the album “Parallels”.

It’s also been a long time since i’ve listened to the “Parallels” album, so it was cool to see this song on a playlist.

Thanks for the playlist Henrik and others should also check it out.

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My Stories, Stupidity

Searching

It’s a fucking good movie about our behaviors online and the digital footprint we leave. It’s shown entirely from a computer screen and the story is wrapped around the search for a missing person.

Spoilers alert.

In the movie intro, we see the first 14 years play out in 10 minutes with home videos and photos, saved in perfectly titled folders like 1st piano lesson or 1st day in Year 1, search items for certain illnesses, calendars and emails.

But when the daughter of the family goes missing and the father starts looking into her Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat and YouCast accounts, he starts to realize that he didn’t really know his daughter.

He even thought his brother was having an affair with his daughter based on text messages he read that said “please don’t tell my dad, he will kill us.”

But what that text messages didn’t say was how she was buying weed from her uncle. Without context, a lot of bad decisions can be made.

And the father has no idea with whom his daughter is communicating with.

Is that social media person communicating with your child real or an avatar for a sicko hiding behind a fake photo and fake profile?

And when he makes contact with her Facebook friends to see if they know where she is, they all tell him they didn’t really know her, have never hung out with her and wouldn’t have a clue about her whereabouts, but when her disappearance made TV news, guess what, all of these Facebook friends suddenly had posts up that said stuff like “she’s my best friend”, “we did everything together” and other crap like that, so their online social status increases.

Sort of like that Black Mirror episode about people having social media scores which gave them access to better things like applying for higher paid jobs or apartments. When their score reached a certain level, suddenly people with similar scores will contact them so they could all hang out and press like to their posts and increase their scores. Because the higher score like carries more weight than a lower score like.

And the Chinese Government thought this was a good idea and adopted this score system.

It’s a scary world when the great enabler the Internet is meant to be is used against you to determine what you are worth.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories

Fight The Copyright Powers That Be

I know this is a site about metal and rock but sometimes I need to go outside these styles.

Case in point.

Taylor Swift and her new record deal.

She left Big Machine Record’s and signed with Republic Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.

In her new deal, Swift owns her Copyright. In other words, those master recordings are hers.

Remember I’ve been saying those who own their own copyright will win in the end. Swift isn’t stupid, she has seen how much streaming services pay the “copyright holders” of recordings. So instead of selling her rights to the corporation for a large advance right now, she’s keeping her future songs in her bank.

But that’s assuming that her future songs will have the same impact and success as her Big Machine Records catalogue, which in this case all stays with Big Machine Records.

The big one for me is how the sale of Universal Music Group Spotify shares are distributed (provided the sale happens).

Basically the label was in a powerful negotiating position against the streaming service because it had amassed a shit load of copyrights over the years. It held the rights of songs other people had written even when those songs should have been in the public domain.

So if Universal sells its Spotify stake, the label must pay all of its artists a cut of the sale as non-recoupable. Universal’s stake in Spotify is estimated to be above $850 million.

Sony already sold its stake for $768 million and Warner Brothers sold some of their stake for $504 million. Both labels, cashed up, distributed monies to their artists differently. Sony artists got monies paid as non-recoupable and Warner Brothers artists got the monies applied to their recoupable balances.

The VOX article gives a great example of why this happens:

When an artist signs with a music label, the label advances the artist some of the money it thinks the artist will bring in. Essentially, if an artist signs a $3 million contract, the label is saying, “We’re pretty sure you’ll earn $3 million in royalties in your first year of sales, so here’s that money early.” But that means the artist doesn’t get any more royalty payments until they’ve earned back that $3 million.

Whenever an artist hasn’t yet earned back an advance, they have what’s called “an unrecouped balance” with their label. As far as the label’s accounting books are concerned, the artist owes the label money.

So when a label sells Spotify shares — which means a big payday — it’s got two possible ways of sharing that payday with its artists. It can either count the money toward any unrecouped balances, or it can choose not to.

Sony decided that when it shared its Spotify money with its artists, it was going to ignore any unrecouped balances and send them the money directly, without applying it to their advances. Warner Brothers did the opposite, and applied the Spotify money to artists’ unrecouped balances before passing any of it along. In practice, that meant Sony artists got a big paycheck out of the Spotify deal, but the only thing that a lot of Warner Brothers artists got was the promise that they were a little bit closer to seeing an actual royalty statement someday.

For Universal, Taylor Swift is forcing their hand to distribute the monies to all artists regardless if they owe the label money or not.

Swift’s spirit here is the rock and roll spirit.

So how did a country artists who crossed over into pop become a rock star in ethos by standing up to the powers that be?

“We’re Not Gonna Take It” was the war anthem for a whole new metal/rock generation. But what are the rockers and metal heads doing right now.

Metallica with their label went to court against their fans, while Swift is seen as an artist standing up for other artists against the Copyright monopolies and greed of the record labels.

Like her or not, she had issues with Spotify and Apple over payments, and then probably realized it’s her label that was the issue.

Regardless, in true rock and roll spirit she asked for her music to be removed and it was. Until she decided it was time to put it back on, at the price she believed it was worth.

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My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Creed II

I paid $106 to watch Creed II last night. 5 tickets plus popcorn, drinks and ice cream cones. And the movie studios wonder why people pirate.

Also I’ve never understood why an adult ticket is $14 and a child ticket $13.

What the fuck does that mean?

You buy three child tickets to save $3.

But the child still takes up a seat and still watches the same movie as an adult. It’s like going to a rock concert and the promoter offering child tickets. It doesn’t make sense as the experience for a child is the same as the adult. They still watch the same show/movie and still occupy a spot/seat.

If they are serious about offering decent family tickets they need a price rethink.

Maybe a family package based on your family dynamic might be more suitable. Like $55 for a family of five. $45 for a family of four and so on.

But its too difficult for Village Roadshow, the MPAA or the movie studios to think up innovative business models and price structures because it’s easier to pump money into the political parties and get laws passed.

To paraphrase Martin Luther King, I dream of a day when these lobbyists and greedy corporations get their due and are totally replaced by Netflix and Amazon who by default will then be the companies charging top dollar and seen as the enemy.

Anyway movie studio rant over and back to “Creed”.

“Creed” is breathing new life into the “Rocky” series.

The story of the children of Creed fighting Drago was going to happen, but how it would be told without being too cliche was open to debate. So the writers could have told a risky original story but instead they decided to chuck in the story of “Rocky III” with the marriage and pregnancy of “Rocky II” and call it “Creed II”.

Imagine if the flick had Adonis Creed as the fighter that wanted to fight Viktor Drago as revenge for Apollo instead of making the flick about Drago wanting to fight Creed as revenge for his fathers defeat at the hands of Rocky. Too risky to paint the Eastern European as the antihero but also predictable.

Even though it borrows a lot from previous “Rocky” movies, it’s still a good flick.

My boys haven’t had a cinematic boxing experience and the sound effects of the punches in the cinema are bone shattering and it never sounds the same and it doesn’t have the same impact in our home cinema. So they loved it. Well the six year old came for the popcorn and fell asleep half way through, after the popcorn was eaten.

And “Creed II” is a movie that deals with the “mind” being ready for what it needs to do and to know why you are doing what you plan on doing.

This is similar to topics I teach as a Youth sport coach. Probably why the movie resonated with my kids, along with a cool visual experience of boxing on the big screen.

But one thing that’s missing for me is the awesome soundtrack music, especially during the training scenes and final fight scenes. That Rocky IV soundtrack is legendary and more influential in music circles than the movie is.

Regardless “Creed II” is a new adventure and it’s risk free, enjoyable movie making.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Copyright, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

2018 -II – Feels Like I’ve Been Here Before

Here is the Spotify playlist.

The Day When Legions Burn
Trust
Desolation
Tremonti

Mark Tremonti is a riff master. He just keeps churning out song after song after song. He also knows the modern game is to release frequently and to get people to listen.

“The Day When Legions Burn” is up there as a classic speed metal song and those leads are guitar hero material.

“Trust” has got this groovy and cool intro/verse with a Chorus that would not be out of place in Creed and Alter Bridge. But that slowed down bridge section which reminds me of “Blackbird” is a fuck yeah moment.

And in “Desolation” that section from 2.15 minutes to the end is perfect.

Deja-Vu
Monument

From England and man you can hear their Maiden influences on the “Hellhound” album.

This song is actually a cover of one of my favorite and obscure Maiden songs from their “Somewhere In Time” album.

Monument also have a song called “Death Valley” on the album which has a vocal line similar to “Deja-Vu”.

Feels like I’ve been there before indeed.

Dance Macabre
Ghost

How good is this band?

They just nail it with riffs that remind me of songs from my youth and Tobias Forge is one hell of a lyricist and vocalist. Even if you don’t like his Evil Pope/Cardinal look, there is no denying he’s an excellent artist.

Lover
Artsidir

From Iceland and I have no idea how this pop rock band ended up on my playlist, but the song is catchy and it sounds familiar and it’s a cool listen.

Living In A Hurricane
King Company

From Finland. Another super group project of extreme metal musicians playing songs from their influences and I fucking dig it.

The intro riff is straight from the “Sunset Strip”.

The whole “Sometimes The World Ain’t Enough Album”
The Night Flight Orchestra

Read my review here.

Awaken The Tyrants
Motorjesus

From Germany.

This is the beauty of Spotify. Every artist from any part of the world is available to be found.

I love the sound of this song. It’s classic heavy metal the way I now it.

The whole “For The Love Of Metal” album.
Dee Snider

Read my reviews here and here.

The whole “Long Nights Journey Into Day”
Redemption

Read my review here.

Killing Ourselves To Live
Buzz
Black Vultures
Halestorm

Lzzy Hale gets it. She communicates with her fans via Twitter and she writes lyrics which reflect life. And her topic range is huge from tongue and cheek songs about threesomes and vibrators, to more serious subject matter about internet trolls and taking risks to stand for something.

“Killing Ourselves To Live” to me, is about not being afraid about the pain that the fight for a better life and society will bring ya.

“Buzz” based on the lyrics looks like it’s about a vibrator.

“Black Vultures” to me is about the social media haters (the black vultures) circling and waiting for Lzzy to fail.

Easter – Live at the Royal Albert Hall
Marillion

The lead break here is what hooks me. It hooked me from the first time I heard it and it still hooks me now.

Why Won’t You (Die Motherfucker)
Mile

Any song that starts off with the words “why won’t you die motherfucker it’s time for you to leave” has my attention.

It’s aggressive and energetic and I dig it.

It came across my radar when Spotify added it to one of their playlists which I follow.

And of course they are from Sweden.

Paralyzed
Feel The Way I Feel
Nonpoint

It sounds nothing like the Nonpoint I first heard, but goddamn it, I like it. It’s a risk and they are flying high with it.

Running Out Of Time
Home
Heartline
Ladders For Leaders
Dead Letter Circus

Great Aussie rock band.

“Heartline” and “Ladders For Leaders” are the standout tracks for me.

Check out these lyrics;

Villains created,
Become ladders for leaders
To keep us from asking
Who’s holding the strings
Coming from their backs

Governments defined. Create an enemy and use said enemy to ascend the political wilderness and rise to the top. And behind you, the corporations and their lobbyists are filling you with cash so you bow down to them.

Another Day
Ultraphonix

This album was an interesting experiment from George Lynch and Corey Glover and this song is by far the best.

Body Of Work
Degreed

Degreed are hit and miss with me. On this song, they nail the heavy rock in the verses with a super catchy melodic rock chorus.

And of course they are from Sweden.

Some Thing About Love
Saliva

It’s not Josey Scott on vocals but they still rock. This song could have been on a Good Charlotte album it’s that catchy.

Take Away My Soul
Uriah Heep

They are still rocking it, being led by Mick Box who is the only original member left.

I am not a person willing to buy into this (I’m a free man)
I stand by my own decision I made long ago (I’m a free man)
I am stronger and I go my own way

We believe we are free, but we are tied to a lot of institutions, it’s not even funny.

Plus there is an outro guitar solo that seems to go on forever and I like it..

The whole Persistence album
Kingcrow

From Italy.

Read my review here.

Walk Me Through The Fire
Nordic Union

The Road To Hell
Sunstorm

Nordic Union is a Danish/Swedish Frontiers project featuring Pretty Maids vocalist Ronnie Atkins and guitarist/songwriter/producer Erik Martensson from Eclipse and W.E.T.

Joe Lynn Turner fronts Sunstorm and melodic rock songwriter Alessandro Delvecchio provides keys and songwriting. “Road To Hell” is a song that has a few musical passages reminiscent of “Judas” from Malmsteen.

And I’ve had this feeling for a while that the projects Delvecchio and Martensson are involved in are starting to sound very similar. And Frontiers really needs a rethink here.

Remember this is why hard rock went into cardiac arrest while everyone blamed Grunge. Too much samey equals career suicide.

Stay tuned for 3.

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Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

The Way The World Works

Corporations lobby the Government to have their taxes lowered while banking titans rort the system, say sorry at a Royal Commission and all is forgiven.

Welcome to Australia or any democratic country for that matter which has become a plutocracy.

Read this Guardian article about donations from a lobby group called Village Roadshow to Australian political parties.

Put enough coin in the pockets of politicians and watch them vote YES for the laws the corporation wants even though said law is bad for the people who voted the politicians in.

In this case the laws are all around Copyright legislation and site blocking powers. Plus Village Roadshow is allowed along with other entertainment lobbyists to direct search engines to remove links to sites they don’t like and there is no due diligence done.

Village Roadshow is basically allowed to become an internet police force as they tell ISPs to take down sites at their choosing.

You can imagine the heads of Village Roadshow agreeing to take some losses now financially and reap the benefits later. No different to the drug cartels who will allow a shipment to be lost while many more slip through and millions come flooding in.

We will know in February 2019, how much Village Roadshow donated to the parties for the most recent legislation. And for those people who still don’t know what I’m talking about, this is basically a rich corporation trying to influence the passing of legislation to benefit their business model.

In saying all of the above, the public will also find out how much the internet providers and companies like Google would have donated to politicians for them to stop the legislation.

Again this is for their own business models to succeed. Once again the people who matter the most, the consumers of entertainment are nowhere in the conversation. Remember, if there is no connection between a consumer and art, there is no money.

What Village Roadshow and the entertainment industries want is a return to their business model which more or less began 100 years ago. Seriously if you want to look at organizations resistant to change, look no further than Village Roadshow.

And Politicians should be embarrassed as they failed the people who voted them in, for a selfie with the rich and famous.

At least one politician raised the concern or maybe he was paid by Google to raise the concern;
“As lawmakers, just because we might get a selfie with Richard Roxburgh — I love Rake as much as anyone else — or a political party gets a donation from a rights holder, does not mean that we should stop looking at how to make the types of reforms that balance the needs of creatives and the needs of producers versus the needs of consumers.”
Ed Husic – Labor MP

It’s hard work to balance the needs of creatives and producers versus the needs of consumers and no one right now likes hard work, so people go down the simple route of serving the needs of creatives and producers and screwing consumers.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

2018 Spotify Stats

I listened to 6,178 different songs and devoted 43,201 minutes to music on Spotify.

So to all the people who say music is finished, remember there are millions of people around the world with similar listening habits. But “we need stronger Copyright”, the RIAA would say.

I started the year listening to “Dream Evil” by Dio and Headstones became the first new band I checked out based on a review by Deke over at ThunderBay.

I spent 34 hours or 2,040 minutes with Machine Head.

My five top artists for 2018 are Machine Head, The Night Flight Orchestra, Def Leppard, The Butterfly Effect and Dee Snider.

As you can see there are no new artists in the list. It’s a lifers game. If you are in it for a quick buck, get into the stock market or deliver Pizzas.

My top five songs for 2018 based on listens are “Monolith” from Thirty Seconds To Mars, “A Love Unreal” from Black Label Society, “Final Conversation” from The Butterfly Effect, “The Peace” from WASP and “This Is War” from Audrey Horne.

Spotify tells me that I listen to non-mainstream artists 73% more than the average listener – so here’s to being different. I’m sure there are a lot of others who are exactly like me.

Here is my Top 100 playlist Spotify put together for me.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, Unsung Heroes

My Spotify Top Artist For 2018 is … Machine Head

Don’t let the bastards grind you down is the catch-cry from Machine Head this year. It pissed some people off and inspire others.

Apart from dropping a new album at the start of the year, Machine Head’s back catalogue features heavily in my life.

And Robb Flynn’s vocals are an acquired taste as he merges aggressive throat breaking barks to soaring melodic passages. It’s a voice built from his lifestyle. No one else can mimic it.

Thanks for the music and even though 2018 ends a bit uncertain for the band with two members leaving, I am sure Robb Flynn will go on and deliver a stellar Machine Head album.

The world is watching. New drummers and guitarists are waiting to join. It’s up to you.

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