Posted in Cd Reviews

American rock band 3 Doors Down are known for their non-stop touring, playing hundreds of shows every year. In between touring commitments they’ve released 5 studio albums since 2000 and are now releasing their greatest hits album. It contains 9 songs from their five studio albums plus three brand new songs.

If you’ve never listened to 3 doors down before then a good comparison is Nickelback – they do similar radio friendly rock music, so if you’re a Nickelback fan then I’d definitely recommend checking out 3 Doors Down, and this album is certainly a good starting point.

Greatest hits albums are a great way for someone who’s heard a couple of songs by a band to get an album with the best tracks as a way of a proper introduction to the band – it’s certainly a lot safer than buying one of ...

Posted in Interviews

I recently spoke to Doro Pesch to talk about her new album, her forthcoming tour and her plans to celebrate her 30th year of metal in 2013.

Festivalphoto: You have two guests on the album – Gus G and Lemmy. How do you decide who to invite to guest on your albums?

Doro: I’ve loved Lemmy for such a long time. It was the early 80s when we met for the first time, 83, 84 in the UK, we did some festivals together, a tour together and on the ”Calling the wild” album, that was 12 years ago, Lemmy played me this acoustic guitar ballad called ”Alone again” that he wrote and I was so moved and so touched and I loved it so much...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

First up tonight were Wisdom. Despite being on fairly soon after the doors opened, there was already a large crowd by the time they came on stage (well done to the venue staff for opening the doors on time and also getting fans in so quickly and efficiently). In fact the venue was probably already 60% full. Wisdom are a Hungarian power metal band who put in a highly energetic performance with the band members racing around the stage (indeed it’s hard to photograph the singer as he never stays still for more than half a second) or headbanging furiously. The crowd certainly give them a good response, and their cover of Iron Maidens ”Wasted years” goes down particularly well. A fairly short set but a very good one.

Wisdom setlist:

Fallin Away From Grace
Somewhere Alone
Live Forevermore
...

Posted in Press Releases

3 DOORS DOWN TO RELEASE ’GREATEST HITs ALBUM WITH THREE BRAND NEW SONGS ON NOVEMBER 19, 2012

9 US NUMBER 1 HITS REMIXED & REMASTERED!

MULTI-PLATINUM, chart-topping US rockers, 3 DOORS DOWN, will release their first-ever Greatest Hits package on November 19, 2012 via Universal.

Simply titled ‘Greatest Hits’, the collection encompasses the group’s much-celebrated smash singles such as ’Kryptonite’, ’It’s Not My Time’, ’When I’m Gone’ and many more. Three new songs, including the single ’One Light’, make the record a must-have for both long-time fans and newcomers alike.

From the first explosive burst of single / video ’Kryptonite’, which ignited their career at the top of the last decade, to subsequent multi-platinum albums, plus a non-stop touring regime that still finds them notching u...

Posted in Press Releases

“Un-American Gothic” is John Wheeler’s first solo record, written entirely on the road during 2011. Best known for the past decade as the creator and frontman of the successful Rockgrass act, Hayseed Dixie, the band had spent nearly 9 months on the road and every mile of that tour John traveled, himself, on motorbike. Prior to the tour the band had mutually decided that after over 1,000 live shows together they all really wanted – and in some ways really needed – to take a couple of years off from Hayseed and do some different things...

Posted in Press Releases

Post-Punk Roots Rockers Rip It Up And Start Again

‘‘Mama Rosin are a rare band that combine familiar influences in subtle and striking ways to achieve a wholly unique and very personal form of music’’ – Jon Spencer

Long celebrated as a seminal live band, Mama Rosin’s unique vision – Louisiana swamp grooves meet New York’s CBGB white heat/white noise! – found legendary American rocker Jon Spencer embracing the band. Matching Mama Rosin with Jon Spencer proved a marriage made in rock’n’roll heaven: rich in texture and flavour, Bye Bye Bayou stands tall as 2012’s most uncompromising album.

Jon Spencer started out as guitarist in NY punk Pussy Galore and is leader of leftfield Americana bands Blues Explosion, Boss Hog, Heavy Trash...

Posted in Press Releases

Portland’s indie-rock duo Menomena have seen their show at Cargo sell out, but will be playing two other shows in Glasgow and Leeds before moving on to further dates in Europe.

Despite losing third member Brent Knopf prior to the recording sessions, 2012 has gone on to be a landmark year for Danny Seim and Justin Harris. Menomena’s recent new album “Moms” signalled further critical success for the group, with the likes of Pitchfork giving the album an 8.0 and The Sunday Times deeming it worthy of their “CD of the week”. The band called sessions for the record their “most collaborative and peaceful yet” and launched the album with a “Dark Side Of The Moms” laser show. They have since completed a successful US tour.

“Moms” is available now through Barsuk.

Menomena wil...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Rainbow are one of the legendary names of Rock and featured some amazing members including Ritchie Blackmore, Ronnie James Dio, Cozy Powell, Roger Glover, Don Airey, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner and more.

”On stage” was the bands third album and was recorded live over several dates and then spliced together to form the album. When I say it was spliced together, I don’t mean they took different tracks from different shows – they even took parts of a song from several shows and spliced them together seamlessly to get the best bits from each show. The album was released as a double album with the running order being very different to the live shows as they needed to change it to fit the limited vinyl capacity as best they could...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Rainbow are releasing a Deluxe edition of ”Long Live Rock ’n’ Roll”. It was the band’s third studio album and was released in 1978. It was Rainbow’s last album to feature Ronnie James Dio on vocals. Rainbow are one of the legendary names of Rock and featured some amazing members including Ritchie Blackmore, Ronnie James Dio, Cozy Powell, Roger Glover, Don Airey, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner and more.

The original album is so well known that I won’t dwell on it, but this deluxe edition has far more to offer than just the basic album. While the original album had a running time of just over 41 minutes, the deluxe edition has that plus an hour and ten minutes of bonus tracks.
So what are the bonus tracks? Well we get rough mixes of seven of the songs from the album, a song recorded at a...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Cyclone Empire/Sound Pollution

Back in 1990 Gerrit P. Mutz, vocals, and Oliver Schramm, drums, started DAWN OF WINTER. The first demo, Path of the Worm” appeared in 1991, and in 1992 they added Joachim Schmalzried, bass, and Jörg M Knittel, guitars. A five track was recorded, as Oliver suddenly left the band, only to be replaced by Dennis Schediwy. Gigs with the likes of MIRROR OF DECEPTION and PSYCHTIC WALTZ followed, as well as an LP, “Doomcult Performance”. Their first real long-player appeared in 1998, In the Valley of Tears”, and, in 2001, the MLP “Slow Is the Suffering”. Massacre Records singed the band and the result, The Peaceful Dead” soon appeared...