Posted in Cd Reviews

Stuka squadron are a London based band that combine World War 2 Germany with Vampires (seems like an obvious combination really doesnt it). They wear long German miltary leather coats, Iron Crosses, and Luftwaffe caps as well as displaying Vampire fangs to create a striking image. A striking image though is nothing without having the music to go with it, and Stuka Squadron aren’t lacking there either – their live shows are always great and I thoroughly enjoyed their debut album (Tales of the Ost).
Since the release of ”Tales of the Ost” the band have toured the UK and also played their first shows in Czech republic and Germany, and have already confirmed their first festival appearance for 2013 – at Hammerfest.

Since I enjoyed the first album and have seen the band live a few times then ...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

”The best jazz concert I ever had in my life!” . That what I said to everybody after witnessing the coming back of CASIOPEA at last September. I have known this fusion jazz band from Japan since the time I was in junior high school. That meaning it was nearly more than 20 years ago! A number of their famous instrument songs with upbeat tempo like Asayake, Black Joke, Galactic Funk, Domino Line or softer tracks like Pastel Sea, Space Road, Twilight Solitude once was familiar in my ears. My brother’s band influenced me as his band wanted to explore and experiment to bring their songs.

Watching back their performance really blow my memory into the 80s, the periods when I was grown up with musical influences that are swift in Indonesia at that time...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

BEAST-ival BEST-ival!

Welcomed back again by the Bestival guys, this was my 5th year of covering and attending the festival. As always one of my most looked forward to ventures of the year!
Bestival was set up by Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank and his partner Josie in 2004, making 2012 its 9th year, and its second year in the large UK festival category.
It is a four-day music festival held every year in late summer, at the Robin Hill country park on the Isle of Wight. It has become one of the most respected festival weekends on the UK calendar, winning best festival both in the medium and large categories.
This year selling out in advance of the event, and hosting to a juicy 50,000 capacity!
Every year Bestival conjures up a new theme so not only is the décor around the festival affected by this t...

Posted in Press Releases

Due to circumstances beyond their control John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest
Have been forced to cancel 3 shows on their forthcoming UK tour.

The cancelled shows are

Wednesday 17th – Edinburgh – HMV Picturehouse

Friday 26th – Wolverhampton – The Wulfrun Hall

Saturday 27th – Norwich – The University of East Anglia

Full info attached.

The rest of the tour will go ahead as planned.

OCTOBER
19th Manchester The Ritz 0843 221 0976 http://hmvritz.com £ 22.00
23rd St Albans The Alban Arena 01727 844488 www.alban-arena.co.uk £ 20.00
24th Bristol St. George’s, Brandon Hill 0845 402 4001 www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk £ 23.00
25th Leeds City Varieties 0113 243 0808 ...

Posted in Press Releases

Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release Rage Against the Machine – XX, commemorative 20th anniversary editions of the eponymous debut album by a great American rock band, on November 26th, 2012.

Originally released in November 1992, Rage Against the Machine signaled the arrival of a revolutionary musical force, a band straddling the worlds of hip-hop and heavy metal with a scorching streetwise sound that rapped and rhymed hardcore across a musical backdrop as menacing and inspirational as graffiti. Rage Against the Machine entered the popular lexicon as more than just a revolutionary American rock band, the group’s very name provided a rallying battle cry for the ongoing struggles for liberation–psychic and political–on planet earth.

Formed in 199...

Posted in Press Releases

Following their rapturously received headline tour in October 2012, and recent Best New Band nomination at the 2012 Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards, Australian rock band TRACER return to the UK for 4 concerts in April 2013. The tour will coincide with the follow-up to their debut album Spaces In Between. Read the official announcement HERE.

The new, as-yet-untitled album will be produced by Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Silverchair, Cold Chisel), and is planned for late March/early April release.

Tracer’s 2013 UK tour starts at London’s Scala on Tuesday 9 April. Tickets will be made available as special 48-hour Planet Rock radio pre-sale from Wednesday 10 October. Fans who take advantage of the Planet Rock pre-sale will get £1 discounted from their ticket...

Posted in Press Releases

Oklahoma rockers Hinder will release their fourth full-length studio album ‘Welcome To The Freakshow’ this December via Universal Records.

The first single to be taken from this latest offering with be the anthemic, ‘Save Me’ out on the 2nd October via Universal Records.

‘Welcome To The Freakshow’ was co-produced by drummer Cody Hanson and Marshall Dutton in a hometown studio. Instead of simply sticking to a tried-and-true formula, the group decided to smash boundaries, experimenting with rock, pop, and even a little country. Welcome to the Freakshow is Hinder at their most diverse and dynamic.

”We like to think we can do anything. We don’t want to be stuck in a rut with one type of sound or formula...

Posted in Press Releases

Tommy Emmanuel and Martin Taylor are pleased to announce “The Colonel & The Governor UK Tour 2013”. A forthcoming collaborative acoustic album of the same name is scheduled for UK release in February 2013. The 16-date tour, which sees both guitarists playing together and separately, starts March 7 at the Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury. Tickets are available from the 24 hour box office 0844 478 0898, www.thegigcartel.com.

While they are both serious ”men of letters” with Tommy Emmanuel being an honorary Kentucky Colonel, a CGP (Certified Guitar Player), an Order of Australia Medalist (AM) and the holder of an honorary masters (MA) and Martin Taylor being an M.B.E...

Posted in Press Releases

A major exhibition of vintage posters and memorabilia from David Bowie’s golden years (1969-1981), including on display for the first time in 30 years the original Heddon Street K. West sign that originally appeared on front cover of Bowie’s groundbreaking 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.

The exhibition will take place at The Movie Poster Art Gallery, 1 Colville Place, London, W1T 2BG, from Saturday 17th November until Saturday 1st December. Admission is free.

40 years ago this year saw the release of an album and the meteoric rise of a performer who was to overturn the landscape of pop culture more thoroughly than any artist since the Beatles...

Posted in Press Releases

To celebrate today’s DVD, Blu-ray & Download release of his acclaimed directorial debut “ill MANORS”, Plan B will join some of the film’s key cast at HMV’s Oxford Circus store for a special signing event this Thursday October 11th.

Ben Drew (aka Plan B), Ed Skrein, Lee Allen, Ryan De La Cruz and Anouska Mond will be at the store from 6.00pm to meet fans and sign copies of “ill MANORS”.

The critically acclaimed “ill MANORS” is a visually stunning and gripping experience, woven together by original music from Plan B (the ”ill MANORS” soundtrack album went straight to #1 upon release and has been nominated for the Mercury Prize and 5 Mobos)...