The Rock and Roll Report Band of the week”Shotgun Revolution”
August 31, 2009 by Shaz · 3 Comments
New Danish rock band Shotgun Revolution is ready to break the sound barrier with a sensational sound.
According to American Grammy Winner and producer of some of Metallica’s greatest work – Flemming Rasmussen – “Shotgun Revolution is the best band to come out of Denmark for a very, very long time”.
Shotgun Revolution is like a musical bonfire with a sensational sound inspired by classic rock bands like Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC & Guns ’N Roses. Put together by lead guitarist, writer and producer Martin Frank whose vision was to create a band able to raise the bar musically worldwide. Lead singer Ditlev is another important brick in the puzzle and he offers a distinct vocal delivered perfectly.
The band is currently writing and producing their debut album together with Flemming Rasmussen and it is set for release first half of 2009 (TBA). So far 5 songs has been finalized and mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound – NYC. George credits incl. the latest AC/DC album ”Black Ice.”
Shotgun Revolution is performing live in Denmark and will be touring extensively through out Europe and the world during 2010 (dates TBA).
Today I would like thank the rocking band “Shotgun Revolution” for taking some time out to do this for us their fans Welcome guys and before we start I just wanted to say You really do RAWK!!!! Wicked tunz’s guys!
Canadian Music PR Prodigy, Jon Asher, Recounts His Rise From a Glum Corporate World to the Founding of Asher Media Relations – Part 2 of 2
August 31, 2009 by Barbara Pavone · Leave a Comment
[...Continued from August 27th]
Taking a look at things from a musician’s perspective Asher advises bands looking for a PR rep to ensure that whomever they choose, they “believe in the band first. The PR guy should be your number one fan. If he’s not your number one fan, in your corner, you’re screwed ‘cause then he’s not pitching the story right, or the band right.” It also doesn’t hurt to do some research and find out, “who has he worked with? A PR rep’s roster can say things to you. Check the press coverage he got for those bands [...] simple Google nowadays, or you can always ask the PR guy for his portfolio.” As for a final, and practical piece of advice, he adds that, “you have to find the right PR person that fits your budget. I’ve always believed the more expensive a PR guy is, usually it’s because he’s that good.” Pausing he points out that whether dealing with a PR rep, a manager or anyone else in the business, if as a band you want to prove you’re serious and committed, be prepared to show “what have you done before I’m even in the picture? [...] What have you done as a band by yourselves ‘cause that’s going to say these guys will work hard, they’ve worked hard on their own and now they’re on a level that they need help.”
If a band is uncertain if they should be searching for a PR rep Asher’s advice is simple: “If you don’t know what a PR rep is, you don’t need one,” he says and continues, “It is mostly bands who are touring [...] and have an album out and are serious. If the band is going to be active, I can keep active. If a band is just going to sit on its ass and do nothing, I can’t push it.” Elaborating he adds, “What bands should know is that when they tour they get the most press coverage ‘cause media guys want to see a live show [...] they need the visual, you know, it’s a product [and] bands forget they’re a product.”
CD Review: Our Lady Peace “Burn Burn (Deluxe Edition)”
August 31, 2009 by Bill Sullivan · Leave a Comment
It has been since 2005 that we’ve heard anything from the Canadian band Our Lady Peace, known to most for their string of alternative rock hits in the late 90s (including “Superman’s Dead” and “4 AM”). The distinctive vocals and unusual inflections of Raine Maida may not be pleasing to everyone’s ears, but one thing these guys have consistently done is write good pop rock songs under the guise of “alternative”. Long-time fans often complain that the band’s sound has evolved to be too commercial and mainstream since 2002′s “Gravity”, which spawned the awesome hit, “Somewhere Out There”, but I for one have enjoyed them more and more with each release.
Which brings us to their new record, “Burn Burn”, the seventh album. While “Burn Burn” was hyped as a return to their older sound, I actually think it is a logical extension that picks up where they left off with “Healthy in Paranoid Times”. In other words, “Burn Burn” is a slick and well-produced record, full of hooks and more straightforward lyrics, and finds Maida sticking to a more accessible vocal tone, minimizing those strange inflections and grating falsetto that were his trademark in the 90s. To me, these are good things. Everything from the ultra catchy single, “All You Did Was Save My Life” to the upbeat and climatic bonus tracks pull you in with the hypnotic vocals, memorable melodies, and sonic brilliance. A very worthy addition to the Our Lady Peace discography.
Gary Pig Gold presents A FAB FORTY Part One
August 28, 2009 by Gary Pig Gold · 1 Comment
As sonically starved Beatlemaniacs the world over count the minutes until 09-09-09’s LONG-overdue upgrade to the digital Beatle legend, and those under the age of fifty prepare to do battle with the Beatles Rock Band,
I count down instead my own personal fab fave tracks from a catalog practically as deep and wide as it is expensive.
Your mileage will vary, of course,
but if you ask me…..
1) PLEASE PLEASE ME
…and, with the supreme Beatle ballad “Ask Me Why” on its original flipside, perhaps the greatest one-two career launcher in poppy-rock history.
2) IT WON’T BE LONG
As you’ll soon realize, John is my unapologetically favorite Beatle, and he was positively on fire throughout my fave Fab album, With The Beatles. Elsewhere upon same, “Not A Second Time” and “All I’ve Got To Do” were pure Smokey Robinson-worthy young Lennon gems, while Paul’s “All My Loving” – not to mention George’s first-ever (!!) ditty “Don’t Bother Me” – also helped make the band’s second album an end-to-end unbeatable beat group classic.
3) STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
Arguably the very pinnacle of the band’s studio concoctions …BEFORE they started getting altogether too magically mysterious for their own good, that is. And still the greatest fade-out(s) ever committed to vinyl to boot.
4) I DON’T WANT TO SPOIL THE PARTY
Both Everly Brothers notwithstanding, The Beatles hear-by invent alt. country and, coupled as it originally was in North America with “Eight Days A Week,” produce in the process their first of many 1965 chart-toppers.
5) TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
If you hadn’t already realized during its previous thirteen songs, Revolver had just forever re-written musical history right before your very ears.
Canadian Music PR Prodigy, Jon Asher, Recounts His Rise From a Glum Corporate World to the Founding of Asher Media Relations – Part 1 of 2
August 27, 2009 by Barbara Pavone · 1 Comment
A job offer that fell through, an unattainable and dull corporate PR world, and a move from Montréal to Toronto, and back again are what pushed Jon Asher to found Asher Media Relations and step onto the path to becoming a Music PR extraordinaire. As the company’s slogan states, AMR offers “Creative Publicity for Creative People” and helps talented indie acts make a name for themselves in the industry, gain a following and achieve success.
“I graduated from Corporate PR at McGill College [...] and I moved to Toronto on a lead well, on a confirmation of a job in PR, but it didn’t go as planned. I found myself there for a while, I stayed there after the job fell through, looked for jobs in PR but that didn’t work,” he recounts. Unable to find what he was looking for he opted to return home to Montréal on the basis that “I was already in the music scene [in Montréal] and I was in PR but I didn’t really like corporate, so I used what I had here and I started from scratch. Hustling, hustling, hustling, and found my guinea pigs pretty much,” he explains.
The first band to have faith in him was local collective Special Ops, with whom he works to this day, and signing them in 2007 he soon left his daytime job to officially start Asher Media Relations in September of that year. Then came Forty Birds, a local metal band, and since then Asher has been hard at work building his repertoire.
Recounting his beginnings in the industry he recalls, “When I started, what I knew from the get-go, what they drill in your head [in school], is research, research, research! That’s what I did, I researched all the media: a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails to introduce myself as a new player. I even set up personal meetings with editors and I’d be like “I’m doing this now so I want to meet you ‘cause I want to develop a business relationship.”” As he soon reveals, personal relationships have been a key to his success. “The real key is to be down to earth, be real with people and build relationships [...] the whole music industry is based on relationships. It’s basically who you know, what you know [...] A lot of favors back and forth. You don’t think about it but favors for this person relates to favors down the road for you,” he explains.
CD Review: Concrete Class by The Lonely H
August 27, 2009 by Aaron Kupferberg · Leave a Comment
There is nothing ordinary about Seattle based classic rock quartet The Lonely H. Fronted by the charismatic, 6’7″, 19 year old Mark Fredson, a man hard to miss in any room for both his height and booming voice, and accompanied by the Brothers Whitman – Eric Whitman (guitar) and Johnny Whitman (bass) – and drummer Ben Eyestone, The Lonely H have more swagger and set their site’s on nothing short of being the next Allman Brothers Band.
Unlike the pop nature of their last album Hair, this one leans heavier on the rock and roadhouse blues formula. In fact fans of the Bob Segar and Wilco will enjoy the honest and memorable songwriting here. Highlights include “Cold Blues” and “Diggin’ A Hole” with Fredson’s howl, and pumping melody. “Going Out West” rocks a bit harder, like vintage AC/DC or Jet. The most country-fried song here is “Singer” which will sit right with fans of The Eagles. The guitar rock twang and memorable hook makes for excellent listening on “Other Side Of The Water.” It’s not perfect, as the stripped down acoustic “Phoenix” and “River” reveal the groups vocal limitations clearly. The group then redeems itself with the catchy “Girl From Jersey.”
Overall this album is clearly a winner — fans of classic rock can safely turn up the volume here and enjoy these young’uns.
CD Review: Hui Ward – The Way (Self-released)
August 26, 2009 by Scott Homewood · Leave a Comment
I have to admit reviewing this CD by Hui Ward was one of the more interesting assignments I’ve had in quite awhile, but also one of the most rewarding. Singer/songwriter Hui Ward has managed to come up with a wonderful debut CD inspired by her inner dialogue with the Universal Mother and featuring an intruiging musical hybrid combining traditonal Indian music with elements of house, pop, trance and New Age. Since my listening experince with most of these genres is limited, reviewing this CD properly seemed to be quite the daunting task. I mean, up to about three years ago my entire previous exposure to Indian music mainly consisted of (and I kid you not) one-off songs by bands of the ’60′s who experimented with Indian music because they were influenced by the Beatles’ use of Indian instruments and influences on their album Revolver, most notably the song “Norwegian Wood.” I mean, the Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood” was a hugely influential song back in the day as no other mainstream band had embraced Eastern musical influences and turned them into a pop song complete with sitar and tabla before the Fabs’ attempt. That the song is regarded as a classic and many other bands copycatted them to record their own Indian music-flavored psychedelic rock only proves the point of the accessibility of Indian music if blended with a form familiar to listeners. Thankfully, over the past couple of years, I’ve checked out a few Indian-influenced rock and funk artists (Ananda Shankar being one) and found a decent amount of similarities between Ward’s music and some of the other American pop/rock-influenced Indian artists to which I’ve listened. In fact, if Shankar had just started making his brand of funk today, I believe it would sound much like Ward’s music as it has quite a bit of dance and funk influences.
Artist Feature: Nosson Zand
August 25, 2009 by Eric · Leave a Comment
I remember riding around with my good buddy Drew back around the time I was 15-17 years old. We’d ride around after working our part time jobs at a major music theatre in the Chicago suburbs. Our purpose was two-fold: 1) To goof around and act as silly and as stupid as we could! 2) To tune in to WJKL “TheFox” and listen to as many new bands and artists as we could, in order to try to discover the next big musical act worth following.
That musical passion has continued up to this day, and has lead me to the next great musical artist that many of you have probably never heard of, but should. His name is Nosson Zand, and he is a Jewish rap/hip-hop artist, who blends elements of rap/hip-hop and rock, along with positive lyrics, inspired by his Jewish faith, to create some of the most exciting and interesting new music being heard today in the independent music scene.
I interviewed Nosson recently by telephone, and although technological problems prevented me from getting our interview recorded verbatim, what follows is a brief summary of our interview that will hopefully allow you to begin to get to know Nosson, the artist, and the man, a bit better. It just may influence you to give this guy a listen. Even if you are primarily a rock and roll fan, as I am, you just may come away impressed with the musical talents this young artist has to offer.
CD Review: Vinyl Candy “Land”
August 25, 2009 by Bill Sullivan · Leave a Comment
I just ate up the debut CD from retro popsters Vinyl Candy. Now they have returned with the sophomore effort, “Land”. Like its predecessor, “Land” is drenched in Southern California sunshine, radiating with lush harmonies and sparkling melodies. There are all sorts of sweets in the Vinyl Candy bowl, flavors of bubblegum pop, psychedelic rock, pop rock, and more.
The musicianship, production, and vocals are amazing, dressing up songs that Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. himself probably wishes he’d written. Each song goes the extra mile to create a unique listening experience, but still play cohesively from track 1 to track 13. No matter what they do, Vinyl Candy has a distinct retro sound that classic pop fans will love to sink their teeth into.
In addition to the slick pop, “Land” also showcases more of a hard rock side to Vinyl Candy, as evidenced on tracks like “Fan Club History” and “Star Struck” that bring a little 70s-era Kiss to mind. The lead off track “I’ll Be Fine” is my favorite, but you’d be remiss to miss the excellent “All Along the Way”, “Gasoline and Tangerines”, and “Learn How To Fly”. I also liked the more laid back and stripped down (for Vinyl Candy, at least) ballad, “Want It So Bad”.
“Land” is a concept album about a rock star’s rise and fall, yet it is just impossible to listen to these grand and sunny songs without feeling better…and they are so catchy that the tunes and your good mood will last long after the last note is heard. Check out Vinyl Candy if you like Queen, Jellyfish, or ELO.
iPOD-worthy: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 11
Vinyl Candy on MySpace. Official site.
The Rock and Roll Report Band Of The Week is Bone Dry System
August 24, 2009 by Shaz · Leave a Comment
Bone Dry System have established themselves as one of Boston’s must hear/see bands. Drawing inspiration from various musical styles, Bone Dry System has never fit neatly into one particular musical category. Combining pure power with a blend of both aggressive & subtle melody are key factors within the foundation of Bone Dry System’s songwriting. With the release of their new EP Bardo (featuring the single “Take Her Home”) combined with an aggressive touring schedule, Bone Dry System has their work cut out for them for 2009. The band has matured but the members have managed to stay true to themselves. They’ve never tried to follow trends or sound like anyone else besides Bone Dry System…listen for yourself.
Today I would like thank The Rocking band “Bone Dry System” for taking some time out to do this for us their Fans …
