Category Archives: Influenced

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

Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Spin Series – The Angels

Here is the usual prologue.

My blogger pal Deke over at Thunder Bay had a cool Northern Hemisphere Summertime Series between July and August.

Each week, he wrote about albums he spun during the summer.

Well, the real Earth summer is between December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

So the good act that Thunder Bay is, boarded a Qantas plane, landed in Sydney, survived 14 days quarantine in a Sydney hotel and is finally here to present the “Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Series”.

I’m sure you’ve all heard their song “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Fave Again”. If you haven’t the live version of the song has the following words;

Am I Ever Gonna See Your Fave Again
No way, get fucked, fuck off

It came out in 1977, but it really became it’s own beast in the 80s and when it appeared on their live album “Live Line” released in 1987, it’s legendary status within Australia was certified and it re-entered the charts.

Their earlier albums had production from Young and Vanda. The same dudes who worked with AC/DC and the same dudes from The Easybeats and of course George Young is the older brother of Angus and Malcolm.

After the success of “Live Line”, the Australian market was primed for a new album.

“Beyond Salvation” was released in Australia in early June 1990 and reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

The first single “Let the Night Roll On” came out six months prior to the album’s eventual release.

The second single “Dogs Are Talking” had tracks from young bands who would be touring in the support slots as the B Sides. What a brilliant idea to promote other acts. That’s how I came across Baby Animals.

The U.S. version of the album, released under the name “The Angels From Angel City” (seriously I never understood why US label reps would do that to Aussie bands), featured a vastly different track listing.

It’s made up of 4 songs from this album, “Dogs Are Talking”, “Rhythm Rude Girl”, “Let the Night Roll On” (the only 3 songs to also appear on the Australian edition), and “Junk City” (Australian single B-side to “Let the Night Roll On”).

And re-recordings of 5 classic Angels songs, “City Out of Control” (Night Attack, 1981), “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” (The Angels, 1977), “I Ain’t the One” (Face to Face, 1978), “Who Rings The Bell” (The Angels’ Greatest, 1980), and “Can’t Shake It” (No Exit, 1979).

But the album that survives today is the Aussie edition.

But the album divided the fan base.

Lyrically they switched to writing about loose women and the rock and roll spirit, which was a far cry from their more political/social consciousness and punk style lyrics from earlier albums.

For me, they filled the void in between AC/DC albums.

And if you want to hear rock in the vein of AC/DC then check out “Let The Night Roll On”, “Back Street Pick Up” and “Dogs Are Talking”.

“Rhythm Rude Girl” still has that pub rock spirit but it’s a bit more mature musically within the blues. There is this bass and drum groove in the song with some slide guitar licks. Its excellent.

The band still does the rounds these days with Dave Gleeson from The Screaming Jets on vocals after Doc Neeson passed away in 2014.

Check em out.

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

2000 – Part 12

Wow, 12 posts on the Year 2000. And one more to come after this.

Sammy Hagar – Ten 13

I was just listening to his “Lockdown 2020” album released with “The Circle”. Cant say I’m a fan. It’s not the album I wanted to hear from him.

Then again, how can you not listen to a record featuring Sammy Hagar?

Check out “Let Sally Drive”. The riffs, the vocal melodies and that Acca Dacca vibe.

Then “Serious JuJu” kicks off with a Tool like vibe/feel in the riffs and the variety between the songs is intoxicating.

“All politicians speak in jive, they lie to keep the lie alive”

It’s not just the politicians these days. A lot of people are trying to get ahead by putting down others.

“The Message” is one of those slower type rockers. Think of “Right Now”. It still rocks as hard as it rolls.

“Little Bit More” has Sammy showing all those Alt Rockers how it’s really done.

“Protection” is “Humans Being”, with a bit more soul and boogie instead of the fast paced rocker that Van Halen delivered. And Sammy is singing about how we all need “protection from the system”.

Check it out.

U2 – All You Can’t Leave Behind

It was the perfect time for a comeback and they delivered.

“Beautiful Day” is classic U2. Musically, they had returned to the well of rock, after dabbling in electronica, techno and dance synths previously. It came out in Australia, just after the Olympics finished and it was a beautiful time.

I know a lot of us sang it as “it’s a beautiful day when you got bills to pay”, smiling and laughing while we sung it.

“Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” sounds like one of those soul blues rock tunes that hangs around for a while. It’s slower in tempo, almost ballad like, but it still rocks for me.

“Elevation” continues the knockouts and “Walk On” makes it four from four. “Kite” at track 5 and its melancholic mood captures me. Five from five.

And this album was a high peak for the band.

“All That You Can’t Leave Behind” went to number one in 32 countries and won seven Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album.

Bono kept on saying in interviews how U2 was “re-applying for the job of ‘biggest band in the world'” with this album. And in my view they succeeded.

Oasis – Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

It still did good business in Australia, coming in at number 6 on the ARIA charts.

But hindsight is a wonderful thing for Noel Gallagher, who didn’t want to make the album as he was devoid of inspiration, and had no reason or desire to make music, but Liam kept pushing him to write as the band needed a new album to go on tour.

And for an album which Noel sees as uninspired, I think it’s pretty good.

“Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is” has this “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheep” riff and a “Roadhouse Blues” vocal line, which connected with audiences. It’s one of my favourites from the album. “Go Let It Out” wouldn’t be out of place on earlier Oasis album.

“Gas Panic!” is an underrated gem, exotic and progressive in feel and atmospherics. At almost 7 minutes long, its anti-pop.

“Where Did It All Go Wrong?” could have crossed over onto the country rock charts. Hell, I will even call it Southern Rock. “I Can See A Liar” starts off with an AC/DC style riff before it moves into the psychedelic rock from The Beatles.

The album closes with the six minute and thirty seconds “Roll It Over”, another melancholic track which percolates slowly. Make sure you stick around for when the guitar solo starts and the gospel singers kick in. It’s worth it.

The Smashing Pumpkins – Machina/The Machines of God

All albums that came after “Siamese Dream” and “Mellon Collie” would be compared to those albums instead of standing on their own. Regardless, the album still did good business in Australia and most major music markets. But poor business when compared to the other albums.

“The Everlasting Gaze” is a bloody good song. Listen to that intro riff, which re-appears in the verses and don’t tell me it’s not metal.

“Stand Inside Your Love” is different, more Brit Pop like The Cure and “Heavy Metal Machine” has this massive blues rock groove, all fuzzed up and heavy as lead.

“Glass And The Ghost Children” feels like a Neil Young song, when he went electric and all fuzzed up and experimented. “This Time” is one of their signature ballads. “Blue Skies Bring Tears” percolates at a slow tempo.

Overall, “Machina” at that point in time was the second lowest-selling Pumpkins album. Their label made sure they told them the same. Maybe it was the reason why they broke up.

Drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, who returned to the band for this album, said it was like watching your kid get straight A’s for ten years, and suddenly flunk out of school. Billy Corgan, said the album wasn’t heavy enough or alternative enough to compete with Korn and Limp Bizkit, plus it was a concept story which nobody understood.

But their viewpoints are based on sales, not art.

For “Machina”, Billy Corgan delivered a piece of musical theatre, that is still waiting for the massive double album reissue in the way it was always meant to be.

Queens Of The Stone Age – Rated R

As soon as the bass groove starts of for “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer”, I was hooked. Of course a certain Dave Grohl used that same pattern for the Foo Fighters.

“Better Living Through Chemistry” feels like a cut from “The Tea Party”. And I like it. Make sure you check out the riff in the middle of the song. “Tension Head” is another that has a riff that gets me to pick up the guitar. “I Think I Lost My Headache” is a lost cut from Black Sabbath.

Porcupine Tree – Voyage 34

Only four songs are on the album. Each one at least 10 minutes or more. Phase 1 kicks it off and Phase 4 ends it. You can guess the song titles of the other two songs.

And after the spoken intro which mentions participants eating sugar cubes laced with LSD, the Pink Floyd inspired single note echo riff kicks off. And the themes of experimenting on humans while they consume drugs continues. It’s not the album I wanted from em at this point in time, but I am a fan of the courage Steve Wilson had to experiment and push boundaries.

Catherine Wheel – Wishville

“Sparks Are Gonna Fly” has this wah wah tremolo riff to kick it off, before it explodes without any effects. Its blues rock and its foot stomping. “What We Want To Believe In” has a fuzz wah drenched intro lead to kick off the song, and I like.

“All Of That” is a favourite. So is “Idle Life”. They are both slower tempo, ballad like.

Spiritual Beggars – Ad Asra

The retro looking cover and band name graphic was good enough to get me interested. Like QOTSA and other acts that brought back the heavy rock from the 70’s, Spiritual Beggars did it Euro style.

And Michael Amott on guitars and founder of the band after he left Carcass, is a true guitar hero when it comes to riffs and leads.

If the name sounds familiar, he also founded Arch Enemy and if you read his interviews he talks very highly of his influences like Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Tipton, Adrian Smith, Tony Iommi, Frank Marino, Michael Schenker, Kerry King, Dave Mustaine, and Uli Jon Roth.

Opener “Left Brain Ambassadors” is a heavy blues rock tune.

“Wonderful World” has a verse which drips Sabbath and a Chorus that comes from Swedish pop and a solo section which is brilliant.

The outro solo section in “Sedated” needs to be heard, if you haven’t heard it already.

“Angel Of Betrayal” is your typical 70’s Hard Rock tunes, more like Blue Oyster Cult.

And there isn’t a bad song on the album.

There are the fast riffs (“Save Your Soul” comes to mind as I type this), the melodic riffs (“Per Aspera Ad Astra”) and the slower heavier than lead riffs (“Until the Morning” comes to mind, which has an acoustic opening and then a big heavy riff that reminds me of Sabbath. The vocals are distorted and perfect.)

And for a closer, check out “Mantra” is it plods along acoustically with an eerie keyboard before it explodes like “Stairway To Heaven” explodes.

Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes – Live at the Greek

Chris Robinson said he “didn’t have fun doing it”, but regardless of what he thinks, the team up of Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes is brilliant. And Robinson actually does a wonderful job on the vocals. Even though he didn’t have fun doing it.

It’s a shame that contractual issues stopped a lot of The Black Crowes songs from being released officially, so what we get are a lot of Led Zep classics and some standard blues songs.

“Nobody’s Fault But Mine” is still a favourite for me.

Check it out.

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

The Record Vault and Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Spin Series – Cog

Here is the usual prologue.

My blogger pal Deke over at Thunder Bay had a cool Northern Hemisphere Summertime Series between July and August.

Each week, he wrote about albums he spun during the summer.

Well, the real Earth summer is between December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

So the good act that Thunder Bay is, boarded a Qantas plane, landed in Sydney, survived 14 days quarantine in a Sydney hotel and is finally here to present the “Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Series”.

Cog is one of my favourite Australian bands.

A band I was in used to play on the same bill as these guys between 2002 and 2005 when they used to hit my hometown.

It’s hard to explain their style, as it’s a mixture of so many different styles. But they have a mood and a groove in each song that takes me places.

For a three piece band, they sound like a five piece band. Their use of the fuzz and digital delay pedals to enhance their distorted or clean tone sound is reminiscent of Neil Young and U2. Some songs have hard rock in them, others a progressive groove, like Deftones and Tool.

Wikipedia mentions that the band’s music is influenced by Tool, Isis (the instrumental band), Nina Simone, Bob Marley, Leftfield, Deftones and Helmet.

Guitarist and eventual vocalist Flynn Gower and drummer Lucius Borich went to Bondi High School together. Around 1996, Gower formed a five-piece metal band called “The Hanging Tree” and Borich formed an alternative sounding band called “Juice”.

By 1998, they ended up forming a new band together and to round out the band for the live shows, Flynn recruited his brother Luke.

They did a residency at a Sydney venue, with no vocalist, asking people in attendance to send them demo’s. Eventually Flynn trained his voice to become the singer as the candidates weren’t that good.

These guys toured and man, they toured hard. They hit every corner of Australia and every inland place that would have them.

The “Just Visiting” EP’s were meant to be a single album but released as two separate EP’s. The single album was released in 2008.

“Just Visiting Part One” was released in February 2002 and “Just Visiting Part Two” was released in October that same year. The guys signed the copy of “Part One” at one of the gigs we played.

“Bondi” starts off with an off time bass riff and a guitar riff which acts as a counterpoint. And it’s a perfect way to start off their recording career, writing about their hometown.

“1010011010.0” starts off with a conversation about “big brother” and what’s in “room 101”, which is alluded as the “worst thing in the world”.

And in case you are wondering what’s going on with the song title, well, it’s the computer binary code for “666”.

“Pseudo” has a clean tone arpeggio style riff, an offbeat drum groove and an exotic vocal melody. “Stretch” has this fuzzed out digital delay riff which I like. The vocal melody is unique, early Muse/Radiohead style. And progressive.

From about 2.20, “The Truth and Other Lies” goes into overdrive, with a jazzy like bassline and the 3 minute mark the most fuzziest and heaviest riff comes in.

“Moshiach” has been their set opener from time to time and it’s a great song to get the amps cranking and the PA firing.

Those opening lyrical lines of “I’ve been waiting and watching and it won’t be long” are instantly recognizable and singable.

“Paris Texas” has a repeating vocal melody of “We’re all going to die”. It sounds unsettling singing it out loud at a concert, but its effective. And that bass riff, just rumbles along, as the song percolates until it explodes at the half way mark. This one is very Tool like.

“The New Normal” came out in 2005, produced by Sylvia Massy and recorded in Weed, California.

The sound is massive.

“Real Life” kicks off the album and it runs through a range of different emotions and moods. From about the 3 minute mark, the song moves into a clean tone groove, which percolates and builds until it explodes again for the last minute of the 6 minute song.

“Anarchy OK” is up next and you get a feel for the lyrical themes on this album by looking at the titles and the pictures in the CD booklet.

“Silence” tells us there is so much violence in the silence. “The Spine” has a musical feel and inspiration from “Bondi”.

“Run” starts off with a synth riff before the arpeggios kick in. It’s a different Cog, still progressive in how they structure the songs, and memorable.

After 90 seconds of ambient noise, the 10 minute song and serious Meatloaf challenger for the longest song title, “The Doors (Now And Then My Life Feels Like It’s Going Nowhere)” kicks into motion with a digital delayed riff as its centrepiece. Just before the 5 minute mark it goes into overdrive.

And the album ends with another 10 minute song called “Naming The Elephant”. A clean tone single note riff starts the song off, which keeps repeating. Then the drums come in, it builds and builds and builds until it quietens down again.

The last 3 minutes with the “so long, I’ve been waiting” vocal line needs to be heard.

Two massive songs to bookend the album.

“Sharing Space” came out in 2008, again produced by Sylvia Massy. This one went Gold in Australia. A masterpiece for me. It starts off with “No Other Way”, one of my favourite songs from Cog. At 10 minutes long, it doesn’t get boring or repetitive.

Once you hear the addictive vocal melody of “Are You Interested” it will never leave you mind.

“Yes their making lists of people interested in this, anyone who speaks their mind is labelled anarchist”

The democratic Governments have more power to spy on their own citizens than ever before. And our leaders keep telling us to trust them because they are the good guys while they do what all the totalitarian regimes do. Collect data.

And the album closes with “Problem Reaction Solution”, another 10 minutes monster and the lyrical message of “working our whole lives to pay for a cage we never really own”.

In December 2010, Cog played what many had believed to be their last show in Sydney. I think the lack of traction in overseas markets and the transition to relationships and parenthood, played a part.

But the story doesn’t end.

In late January 2016, the official Cog Facebook page was updated after a three year hiatus. And the unseen and rare photos kept on coming. Then the single, “The Middle” was released in 2018, their first new music in ten years. Since then, they have released two more singles titled “Altered States” and “Drawn Together” and in 2019, they toured again and did what they do best.

Smash the live arena to bits.

If you haven’t, crank em.

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

Rare “Glam Metal” Bands

I was looking for a quick and short podcast episode today and I came across an episode titled “Rare Glam and Hair Metal Bands” that was less than 10 minutes on the 80’s Glam Metalcast. Now the podcast itself is not a big production, it’s unpolished and garage like, but that’s why I like it.

So I’m thinking. A cool short and sweet episode on rare glam metal bands. Wham bam, Amsterdam.

And then I started to write down all the bands mentioned and suddenly a short podcast ended up as a long blog post.

Cold Sweat

From Ex-Keel guitarist, Marc Ferrari.

They only released one album, “Break Out” in 1990 on MCA Records, otherwise known as “No Idea Records” when it came to promoting rock and metal bands.

Produced by Kevin Beamish.

Oni Logan was the original singer and he left the band to join Lynch Mob, just as they were about to record the album.

Singer Rory Cathey was found from a lot of demo tapes to replace Logan. The band was rounded out by Erik Gamans on guitars, Chris McLernon on bass and Anthony White on drums.

The album didn’t get any traction and if you couldn’t find it in stores it’s because the label had already dropped the band.

Check out the 12/8 Blues groove of “Cryin’ Shame” and the great guitar playing or the power ballad, “Waiting In Vain” or the melodic rockers “Take This Heart of Mine” and “Let’s Make Love Tonight”.

“Killing Floor” is the usual “run of the mill” hard rock tunes. Then there is “Riviera/Long Way Down” which is an acoustic instrumental merging into a massive rock groove for “Long Way Down”.

Sweet F.A

They had Howard Benson producing them. For those who don’t know Benson, towards the late 90’s and onwards, Benson became like the new Tom Werman for me. I would gravitate to the records he produced.

Sweet F.A is another band signed to “No Idea Records” otherwise known as MCA Records.

The band is made up of Steven David DeLong (really, how long) on vocals, Jon “Lightning” Huffman and James Thunder (really, Lightning and Thunder) on guitar, Jim Quick (really, please stop with these names) on bass and Tricky Lane (they saved the best for last) on drums and percussion.

So what do ya get when The Long, Lightning, Thunder, Quick And Lane get together?

The debut album “Stick To Your Guns” came out in 1989.

And it did nothing commercially and of course, they got dropped by their label and then released another album “Temptation” on another label a few years later and that also did nothing commercially and the band was done.

The title track is very Led Zepplenish with a bit of Bad Company and “Shooting Star”. And I like it. The hair metal tag doesn’t really suit a cut like this, but then again, these terms weren’t meant to be complimentary.

“Whiskey River” is worthy and “Breaking The Law” is sort of like a Badlands tune. Maybe with a bit of “Hot For Teacher” chucked in for good measure.

But the rest is the usual “this track bleeds into this track and this track bleeds into this track”.

Silent Rage

I’m surprised this one didn’t do greater based on its cover. You know the one, a buffed bod, six pack showing, wearing tight leathers with the album title “Don’t Touch Me There” just over the crotch.

I guess Silent Rage and their label RCA forgot that males made up the majority of the record purchases in 1989 when it came to rock and metal releases.

And I was thinking why would a band who formed in 1976 and who finally got a chance to release an album 13 years later go with that cover. Because the stupid cover hindered the chances of the album doing anything.

Because I didn’t but it because of the cover.

But I should judge an album by its cover.

As soon as I pressed play I was a fan of the music.

“Runnin On Love”, “I Wanna Feel It”, “Tonight You’re Mine” and “Rebel With A Cause” is a four punch knockout combo.

I guess whatever Gene Simmons touched, turned to black. There’s a story there as well. Paul Sabu started producing the album and then Gene took over. I guess when you’re a band on Simmons Records, the boss takes precedence.

Most of the songs are written by E.J. Curse on bass, Mark Hawkins on guitar and Jesse Damon on vocals.

Producer Paul Sabu assisted on “Tonight You’re Mine”, Joe Lynn Turner assisted on “I Wanna Feel It” and Bruce Kulick assisted with “All Night Long”. There is a cover song from ELO called, “Can’t Get Her Out Of My Head”. Then there is “Don’t Touch Me There” written by Bob Kulick with Adam Mitchell. Album closer “I’m On Fire” is one of those fast paced hard rock songs that rhymes fire and desire.

It’s an arena rock album. But they never got to em.

Kik Tracee

It’s 1991, the third wave of L.A Metal (now known as Glam Metal or Hair Metal) is in full force and “No Rules” comes out, produced by Dana Strum from Slaughter on BMG Records.

Kik Tracee’s metal and hard rock sound is mixed with some alternative. Even the Hugh Syme cover is different.

An old steam train has arrived in a cityscape environment, and there is the same person walking out of it multiple times, dressed in old clothing and a hat, with a badge on his chest that states “No Rules”. It’s like the train is a time machine, entering our current lives to bring about a little chaos and anarchy.

Rolling Stone even had this album at 46 of the 50 Best Hair Metal Albums, which was a surprise. Even the great Martin Popoff who is normally tough on bands known as hair metal gave it some nice words on his “Collectors Guide” book.

“Big Western Sky” was called “the centrepiece” in the same Rolling Stone review. It’s one of those tunes that moves between acoustic and distortion.

It’s hard to escape the comparison to Guns N Roses. Tracks like “Soul Shaker” even starts off with that “Mr Brownstone” feel. “Tangerine Man” has an intro that could have come from Zakk Wylde’s fingertips. “Lost” feels like a Neil Young cut with a bit of The Beatles chucked in. “Velvet Crush” reminds me of Van Halen with an Axl Rose style vocal.

And by the end of the album, I didn’t feel like I listened to a “glam metal” album. Just a solid rock album. One review described it as Gunners meets The Cure meets The Beatles meets Paul Simon meets Neil Young meets Van Halen. I think that sums it up.

But being part of the third wave of acts, they were part of the first wave of acts to be dropped by the labels.

Singer Stephen Shareaux auditioned for the lead singer job in Motley Crue, losing out to John Corabi and in the late 90’s he also auditioned for Velvet Revolver, losing out to Scott Weiland.

Sleeze Beez

I didn’t like the band name at all.

“Screwed Blued And Tattooed” came out in 1990 on Atlantic Records. They are from the Netherlands formed in 1987.

“Stranger Than Paradise” was a hit on U.S MTV because of its melodic rock chrorus and a riff influenced by “Kashmir” but it’s the hard rocking tracks that get me interested.

Opener “Rock In The Western World” is a mixture of ZZ Top (Eliminator/Afterburner era), Van Halen and AC/DC. It’s perfect and one of the most underrated tracks from 1990. “House Is On Fire” is basically a rewrite of an AC/DC song called “This House Is On Fire”.

The title track “Screwed Blued N Tattooed” is a Van Halen like cut, similar to the hard rocking tracks from “5150”. Lyrically by know I had heard all of the “kids in a candy store” and “dog without a bone” references.

“When The Brains Go Down To The Balls” is pretty self-explanatory and it’s the most AC/DC sounding track on the album.

Guitarists Chriz Van Jaarsveld and Don Van Spall are excellent and they are virtually unknown. And the band is rounded out by Andrew Elt on vocals, Ed Jongsma on bass guitar and Jan Koster on drums.

They released one more album in 1992 on Atlantic called “Powertool” and that was the last I heard of em.

Salty Dog

This band deserved better as their blues rock still sounds fresh today as it did back then.

“Every Dog Has Its Day” came out in 1990, on Geffen Records.

Tom Werman mentioned in his interview on Lefsetz, that he produced the band and he liked their blues, funk, rock vibe, which was different and removed from the glam hair metal they got marketed with. So sonically, the album is great.

Formed in L.A in 1986 by guitarist Scott Lane, bassist Michael Hannon, and drummer Kurt Maier. Later, they were joined by lead singer Jimmi Bleacher. Founding guitarist Scott Lane was replaced by Pete Reeven in 1987 and with this version of the band they got their Geffen deal.

The cover for a generic “Every Dog Has It’s Day” title, is pretty cool with the great Biblical flood consuming great empires and cities, as they are the “dogs” having their “day”. It’s a pretty cool piece of early Photoshop art.

According to Wikipedia, the record was recorded in Wales, and the band was reportedly not told by the label they had to pay back the recording costs. Artists are naïve when they get their first deal and find out the hard way when the label starts to claim it back from money they’ve earned in sales or on the road.

Check out tracks like the bluesy AC/DC “Cat’s Got Nine”, the swinging blues of “Ring My Bell”, the alternative bluesy sounds of “Where The Sun Don’t Shine”.

“Spoonful” has this blues riff that sounds like something James Hetflied used on “Load” and “Reload” or Zakk Wylde on his Black Label Society band.

“Just Like A Woman” is like a southern rock ballad. “Keep Me Down” has this Led Zeppelin and Peter Frampton style groove. “Heave Hard” is an excellent Cinderella cut.

And the album doesn’t really have a bad tune if you are into blues rock.

Other bands mentioned are Beau Nasty, London (the same London that had Nikki Sixx and Blackie Lawless in it), Shotgun Messiah and my favourite, Hericane Alice which I have already posted about in the past.

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The Record Vault – The Beatles

I don’t own a lot of music from The Beatles.

This single was passed down to me from my brothers. I have this and an expensive guitar book (for the times) which my 80s guitar teacher asked me to buy. He then proceeded to photocopy it while teaching me some stuff here and there. I guess I got duped.

I’m not sure how it all worked but there was the parent LP, also called “Beatles For Sale” and then separate EP’s released.

Cash grab. Maybe.

Regardless it’s a great 4 song knockout combo.

“No Reply” is a great pop song and “I’m A Loser” would work well in Metal circles, purely for its lyrics and how people viewed Metal heads as losers.

“Eight Days A Week” is another pop rock song.

Now this EP has a different song list to the one mentioned on Wikipedia.

On my one, it’s a Buddy Holly cover with “Words Of Love” while on the other versions it’s a Chuck Berry cover with “Rock And Roll Music”.

Both are great songs.

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Killers At 40

I saw a Twitter post about “Killers” turning 40, so I did what every Iron Maiden would have done or should have done. Call it up on a streaming service and press play, or find the CD/Vinyl/Cassette, put it in the tray/turntable/deck and press play.

While the album is 40 years old, I didn’t really hear it until the early 90’s. And I didn’t listen to it a lot, so if you asked me to name the order of tracks from start to finish, I would stuff it up.

“Killers” sits in that purgatory state for me, between the end of the DiAnno era and the start of the Dickinson era. Thinking about it, I became a fan of Maiden during the Dickinson era, so I heard Dickinson sing “Wrathchild” before I heard the original DiAnno version.

So how good is that bass riff to kick off “Wrathchild”?

While “Killers” doesn’t have my favourite Maiden songs, each song has a riff or a musical section that just hooks me in.

Steve Harris wrote the whole album except for the song “Killers” and he got a chance to try out his progressive way of song construction. Instead of sticking to the verse and chorus formula, he would have a verse and then music for the chorus. Or verse, verse, interlude solo section.

He experimented on this album and we got to hear better versions of those experiments with each subsequent release.

“Murders In The Rue Morgue” is a Thin Lizzy cut through and through, just a little bit faster. If you don’t believe me, listen to those verses.

“Genghis Khan” has this harmony section from about the 2 minute mark and while that harmony pattern is being played, another harmony lead starts over it, with just a few notes and bends.

“Innocent Exile” has two sections that hook me. The musical Chorus between the verses and that whole interlude/solo section. “Killers” has the intro with the David Lee Roth like wails and then it morphs into the verse riffs.

“Prodigal Son” always stands out for me, because it reminds me of “You Can’t Kill Rock N Roll” from Ozzy Osbourne in the arpeggio intro. They both came out the same year.

The strumming part also reminds me of another song, but I just can’t remember it. And the solo, its brilliant, with its Clapton like bluesy lines.

The intro/verse riff in “Purgatory” is speed/thrash metal heaven. And how good is that harmony section when DiAnno sings “Take me away”?

Clive Burr never got his dues when it came to his drumming skills. The dude could play so many styles and merge them all into one song. He definitely set a standard for the Iron Maiden drum position which Nicko McBrain elevated.

Happy 40th Killers. \::/

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

Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Spin Series – The Superjesus

Here is the usual prologue.

My blogger pal Deke over at Thunder Bay had a cool Northern Hemisphere Summertime Series between July and August.

Each week, he wrote about albums he spun during the summer.

Well, the real Earth summer is between December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

So the good act that Thunder Bay is, boarded a Qantas plane, landed in Sydney, survived 14 days quarantine in a Sydney hotel and is finally here to present the “Thunder Bay Down Under Summertime Series”.

The Superjesus are an Australian rock band formed in Adelaide in late 1994.

Their debut album, “Sumo” released in 1998, peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart. They received high rotation on national youth alternative music radio station, Triple J and the album got a Platinum certification in Australia.

It was recorded at Triclops Sound Studios, Atlanta, with Matt Serletic (Collective Soul) producing and Jeff Tomei (Smashing Pumpkins, Hole) as audio engineer.

Guitarist Chris Tennent and vocalist Sarah McLeod wrote the songs and what you get is a rock album with some nu Metal influences and melodic vocals. It’s a shame this songwriting partnership ended when their personal relationship ended and Tennent also left the band.

And Tennent more or less disappeared from the music business after his departure but he left a legacy of some great riffs.

The other members in the band on the album are Paul Berryman on drums and Stuart Rudd on bass. Berryman also had success with the band Faker in the 2000’s.

It starts off with “Down Again” and a head banging bass and drum groove. The guitar plays some arpeggios to decorate before exploding into the main riff.

Then the verse riffs. Heavy and brilliant while McLeod sings about wasting a lot of opportunities.

I was alone ’til i thought it was better that way

You spend too much time alone, then there is nothing else but being alone.

“Saturation” is a interesting mixture riff wise, combining a lot of blues ideas with a Beatles/Oasis like progression.

“Now And Then” is an acoustic like romp merging bits that could have come from a Collective Soul or Jewel album.

“Ashes” has great riffs throughout. One of my favorites.

“I’m Stained” has an instrumental intro that goes for about 90 seconds and feels like those driving kind of songs, hitting the open road with the window down and a main riff that reminds me of “Shine” from Collective Soul.

“Milk” closes the album with a clean tone riff inspired by Seattle bands like Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam.

After the success of “Sumo” and the departure of guitarist Chris Tennent, the band went in a more radio rock friendly sound, victims of their own success to deliver a success-conscious follow-up, with “Jet Age” in 2001 and “Rock Music” in 2003.

But it was “Sumo” that gave them the victory lap.

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

1985 – Part 11

Exciter – Long Love The Loud

The fantasy style album covers always get me interested.

So Exciter is basically the NWOBHM, played faster, with a lot of double time drumming, alternate picked guitar riffs and banshee wails.

And as I’m nearing the last three songs, all of the previous songs have bled into each other, apart from the first song, the instrumental “Fall Out”.

But then when I was about to give up, “Born To Die” started, a slower groove and more like a hard rock cut with a chorus hook that reminds me of “Balls To The Wall”.

“Wake Up Screaming” moves around my headspace, like a doom metal cut. The bass groove in the first verse is excellent. Vocally, the banshee wails have gotten just too much and they detract a lot from the music.

“Feel The Knife” sounds like “Neon Nights” but I reckon Adrian Smith was influenced by its simplicity for “The Wicker Man” many years later.

Check it out.

Vicious Rumours – Soldiers In The Night

The guitar playing on this is excellent.

The instrumental song “Premonition” is less than a minute and it’s perfect. And of course, it had to be Vinnie Moore.

For those who don’t know, “Mind’s Eye”, Vinnie Moore’s first solo release in 1986, is one of those essential guitar instrumental albums that people of the genre should own.

And in his time so far he worked with other artists the main ones being Alice Cooper and for the last 15 or so years, he’s been the guitarist in U.F.O.

The band is on Shrapnel, so you get an idea that there’s going to be a lot of guitar.

“Ride (Into The Sun)” could have come from the “Kill Em All” album, while “Medusa” could have come from “Shout At The Devil”. Over the riffs, Moore burns his way through the Dorian and Aeolian scales.

“Soldiers Of The Night” could have been a Judas Priest cut and “Murder” could have come from the “Diary Of A Madman” album. “March Or Die” feels like a “Ride The Lightning” cut and “Blitz The World” is like a Motorhead cut, think “Overkill”.

And then there is “Invader”, which is Vinnie Moore’s “Eruption” full of classical lines, arpeggios, volume swells which sound like a violin and all the other guitar techniques like tapping, legato lines, fast picked alternate lines, string skipping and anything else he could find.

Finally, “Blistering Winds” sounds like a song from the “Bark At The Moon” album.

In other words, the band merges all these different hard rock, metal, NWOBHM, speed metal and LA Metal styles into a cohesive album. The great Martin Popoff mentioned em in “The Collector’s Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties”.

And in the same way that “Steeler” and “Alcatrazz” were used to launch Yngwie Malmsteen, Vicious Rumours was used to launch Vinnie Moore.

Black N Blue – Without Love

Geffen tried really hard to break the band to the masses. Apart from teaming the band to work with outside writers, they also got Bruce Fairbairn to produce. Bob Rock is there as well as an engineer/mixer and so is Mike Fraser as an additional engineer.

“Rockin’ On Heaven’s Door” written by Jamie St. James and Tommy Thayer kicks off the album, a light metal cut, influenced by “Lick It Up” in the intro, before it gets rocking into an AC/DC style groove. And the Chorus, man I swear Bon Jovi used it for “Edge Of A Broken Heart”. Maybe Bruce Fairbairn recommended it to Jovi.

“Without Love” is a co-write between Jaime St. James and Jim Vallance. It’s written for the charts and the hearts of the teens.

“Stop The Lightning” brings back the St. James and Thayer partnership, so you get more guitars and more rock.

“Miss Mystery” is basically a pop song. A co-write between St. James, Thayer and Vallance. It could have come from a Bryan Adams album.

“Bombastic Plastic” has this “Stormbringer” like riff which is cool, but the song is so/so. “We Got The Fire” has Mike Reno on backing vocals and it sounds like a Loverboy cut on steroids.

Magnum – On A Story Tellers Night

I got into the band in the late 80’s and worked backwards. This is their fifth studio album, the first one on Polydor after parting with the notorious non-royalty paying Jet Records.

From the opening guitar riff of “How Far Jerusalem” I was hooked. And then the vocals from Bob Catley came in, a cross between Steve Walsh from Kansas, Paul Rodgers from Bad Company and his own style.

“Just Like An Arrow” is a pop song dressed up with metal guitar licks and power chords. Listen to how guitarist Tony Clarkin makes it all work. “On A Storytellers Night” starts off with some chords on the keyboards, a calm before the melodic rock takes over.

“Before First Light” has a Van Halen riff. Can you guess it?

“Les Morts Dansant” has a major key riff that reminds me of a Don Henley song, but when it kicks in to distortion, it reminds me of those 70’s acts like Sweet, Slade, Styx and Angel.

Other songs to check out are “Two Hearts”, “Steal Your Heart”

Running Wild – Branded and Exiled

These guys always had riffs which I liked. Nice head banging riffs.

To know what I mean, check out the main riff to opening track “Branded And Exiled”. Or “Realm Of Shades”.

The guitar lead break on “Realm Of Shades” is also worthy, starting off with a memorable harmony before it moves into separate solos.

“Fight The Oppression” is a Metallica cut from the “Kill Em All” album. “Marching To Die” is Scorpions, just a bit harder and faster.

Vocally it’s raw and the drumming is very metronomic, but hey, no one said that Running Wild is a pop act.

And the series is nearing completion. I have one more post for 2000 (the twelfth post) and one more for 1985.

1977 is already finished up within 10 posts.

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

2000 – Part 11

Pain Of Salvation – The Perfect Element Part 1

I saw a flyer in a magazine that mentioned “progressive” and I was interested. So I downloaded it, as it wasn’t available in Australia at that point in time.

I burned it to a CD, put it on the stereo, pressed play and became a fan. Its progressive because it has so many different styles/genres throughout the songs.

“In The Flesh” has this Queensryche/Bad Company feel merged with Marillion merged with Porcupine Tree before it goes to a Dream Theater like feel from “Images And Words”. And it moves between these things effortlessly.

Make sure you hang around until the 7.20 minute mark, just so you could hear that piano riff before the song segues into “Ashes”.

“Ashes” at four minutes and 20 seconds is brilliant. The melancholic mood created from the lightly distorted arpeggios is hypnotic. There is a fuzzed out lead and a spoken/lightly sung vocal melody.

And when the Chorus kicks in, with that “Zombie” feel, and the line, “As we walk through the ashes, I whisper your name”. Brilliant.

And this song segues into “Morning On Earth” with that musical box/xylophone riff. You need to listen to it, to understand what I mean.

“Idioglossia” continues the genre appropriation and they even bring back that chorus vocal melody from “Ashes”.

Check out “Her Voices” especially the last three minutes when the choir/voices come in. It made me feel like I was in the “Conan The Barbarian” movie.

The riffs in “King Of Loss” are some of my favourites.

And this song segues into “Reconciliation” which brings back that musical box/xylophone riff from “Morning On Earth” but this time on electric guitar and the full band.

“Song For The Innocent” feels like the last two minutes of “Comfortably Numb”.

“Falling” is like “Sorrow” from Pink Floyd and it segues into the 10 minute closer “The Perfect Element”.

An excellent end to an excellent album.

Apocalyptica – Cult

I have a guilty pleasure listening to rock and metal songs adapted to violin, cellos or to a string quartet or orchestra.

It highlights how great and musical the songs are from musicians who have been labelled as evil, devil worshippers, addicts, bad influences, alcoholics and many more.

Apocalyptica is one such band that takes metal songs and adapts them to cellos. In clean tone and with distortion.

And they made a career by adapting Metallica tracks to the cellos, but on this one, they branch out with original tunes and a couple of tasty cover adaptions chucked in.

So “Cult” is their third full-length LP.

The names of Eicca Toppinen (who apart from playing the cello also carries out the arrangements, double bass and percussion), Max Lilja, Paavo Lötjönen and Perttu Kivilaakso are easy to forget, but their devotion to their instrument and heavy metal music is .

The haunting melody to “Romance” is unforgettable and cinematic.

Other songs, like “In Memoriam” and “Hyperventilation” have some great sections.

“Hope” has a melody that reminds of Iron Maiden songs.

And then the covers, which I always enjoy.

“Hall of the Mountain King”, a haunting adaption of “Until It Sleeps” from Metallica and “Fight Fire with Fire” which has the cellos smoking as they generate speed to play that fast intro after the acoustic section.

Marilyn Manson – Holy Wood

Back then I wanted to listen to it because it had John 5 on guitars and the majority of the songs have John 5 as the musical writer or co-writer with bassist Twiggy Ramirez.

“Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)” is album number 4. Wikipedia tells me it’s a rock opera concept album, connecting “Antichrist Superstar” from 1996 and “Mechanical Animals” from 1998.

“The Fight Song” sounds like it could have come from the band Blur. At 34 million streams on Spotify, it’s tiny compared to the 192 million streams “Sweet Dreams” has. The other big song on Spotify is “The Beautiful People” at 177 million streams, so it’s no surprise they recreated that song for “Disposable Teens”.

“Target Audience” begins with an arpeggio riff that reminds me of “Only Women Bleed” from Alice Cooper before it gets into that industrial staccato style riffs.

My favourite is “In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death” and how a simple acoustic song percolates until it explodes.

“The Nobodies” has a normal drum beat, but its effects are from dance music while John 5 plays a guitar riff in the intro that sounds like a distorted piano.

And I realised that it’s those slower songs which percolate and then explode which become favourites, like “Coma Black”.

And Marilyn Manson is in the news today more than ever before, with his label dropping him after numerous women and his most recent partner accusing him of grooming and sexual/physical abuse.

Nevermore – Dead Heart in a Dead World

Readers of the blog know that I am a fan of Sanctuary, the previous band to vocalist Warrel Dane (RIP) and bassist Jim Sheppard.

Jeff Loomis is on guitars. He once auditioned for the coveted Megadeth guitar spot but lost out to Marty Friedman. Van Williams is on drums.

So all the lyrics are written by Dane and the music by Loomis, except the covers, which on this album, they have “The Sound Of Silence” from Simon & Garfunkel.

“Dead Heart in a Dead World” is the fourth studio album and the sound of the 7 string dominates.

“We Disintegrate” blasts out with some serious riffage. The drumming in the intro reminds me of “Hanger 18”.

“Inside Four Walls” lyrically feels like a cut from the “Empire” album from Queensryche as it questions the American way of life. Musically, its technical and it reminds me more of the metal that Megadeth plays and the Swedish melodic death metal bands.

“The River Dragon Has Come” has a nice acoustic intro with a melodic lead before it moves into a metal like cut, more groove orientated than the previous songs.

“The Heart Collector” has a slower distorted intro with a melodic lead that gets my attention. Then the verses are acoustic, classical, like Rainbow and Uli Jon Roth era Scorpions.

“Engines of Hate” is probably what people wanted from Metallica during this time. It’s fast, its angry and technical.

“The Sound of Silence” is a cover just by using the lyrics. The music is all new by Loomis, thrash like and the vocal melodies are different.

“Insignificant” is a slower groove but powerful. “Believe in Nothing” is the single. It was also covered by All That Remains in 2008 and also released as a single, I think. It’s more of a hard rock track and an excellent one at that.

If you like your metal to have some technicality to it, then give Nevermore a listen.

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A to Z of Making It, Influenced, Music, Unsung Heroes

Brian Wheat on Lefsetz

Here is the link to the Spotify podcast.

We are all flawed. As fans of music, we used to see our favourite artists as indestructible and confident, free of any issues and ailments and worries.

And then the books started coming and we started to read that was never the case.

They all suffer from confidence issues, fearful of their next step and they cope with various health and growing up issues by medicating themselves via illegal drugs, alcohols or prescriptions.

Brian Wheat has health issues and he’s had them for a long time. And you wouldn’t even know he had any issues. On stage, he always smiled and rocked out.

A lot of ground is covered.

Wheat talks about how Tesla make more money now than what they did on Geffen Records. “Mechanical Resonance” sold a lot and they didn’t make no money, because they were naïve.

They thought that when David Geffen and his team did something for them, it was out of the goodness of their hearts. But the labels don’t do anything without charging for it and the band was in debt.

He talks about Cliff Burnstein, Peter Mensch and Tom Zutuat and how Tesla wouldn’t be where they are today without them, but Burnstein didn’t want to work with them after they reformed, calling them a nostalgic act, in the early 2000’s.

Burnstein, Mensch and Zutuat didn’t want to put “Love Song” on the album. According to them, it was three songs in one song and it didn’t belong. The band stood their ground and they threatened to drop “Lazy Days, Crazy Nights” which was Burnstein’s favourite song.

But “Love Song” blew up (there was also a story there, about how the band and Burnstein had to go to Zutuat to get label budget approval to release another single as the first two singles bombed and the label was preparing to stop pushing the album).

And the band made sure they reminded management and the label about “Love Song” whenever they disagreed on things.

Wheat said that Tesla was difficult for Q Prime to manage because they were sort of a B Level band, as Tesla never got to the level of success of Def Leppard, Metallica and Guns N Roses.

The Tesla break-up is discussed which was strange to listen to as they just made a new deal with Geffen, released “Bust A Nut”, they toured hard and it went Gold, but it wasn’t platinum and they heard along the grapevine that Geffen was going to drop em. Burnstein even said to em, “that they are done. Their career is over.”

And I’m like “wow”. Even though there’s a cult like fan base for the band, the label and management decided that it’s over. Tesla is a working band. They make their money, on the road.

But the band already had some issues with each other and as soon as they lost label and management support they went on hiatus for 5 years.

And during that time Wheat had no money.

He got some publishing money but in order to survive he had to mortgage his house and hustle with others to produce bands and do demos. Jeff Keith even got a job as a DJ in a strip club, Frank Hannon was landscaping and Troy Lucketta was roofing.

Because Tesla’s bread and butter is the live arena.

Wheat talks about his relationships, his friendship with Ross Halfin, his small label to help young bands, his recording studio and actually being the son of the milkman.

Give it a listen.

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