Wild Street: Sex Fueled Rock ‘n’ Roll
Wild Street! Armed with big choruses, blazing guitar solos, and powerful melodies, WILDSTREET is a sex-fueled rock n roll explosion beckoning the glory days of 80s arena rock. Two years after their debut EP release by Las Vegas based indie label, Retrospect Records, WILDSTREET has done four extensive tours and geared up for their much anticipated new EP. WILDSTREET’s live performances and dedication to making quality records has got rock fans and critics buzzing worldwide. They’re balls out, fist pumping rock n roll is exactly what today’s rock scene has been waiting for.
After concluding their first US tour in August 2009, the band began recording their follow up to their Retrospect debut. Released Jan. 25th, 2011, with their signature charisma dialed up, WILDSTREET II:…Faster…Louder” pays tribute to classic “less talk, more rock” attitude, igniting your speakers as it brings you front and center into the party. TV network’s have taken to the albums five tracks. ‘Cocked & Ready’ has been heard on TBS’s new hit show ‘Glory Daze’, and ‘Shake it’, ‘Poison Kiss’, and ‘Cocked & Ready’ appeared in multiple episodes of E!’s ‘Married to Rock’, ‘Cocked & Ready’ was in the new trailer for MTV’s ‘Real World: Las Vegas’ and episode 1, and ‘Shake it’ is in the trailer for the new WWEgames(THQ) video game ‘WWE All Stars’.
Having played their third straight year at Rocklahoma 2011, WILDSTREET played 3 sets at each Rocklahoma in 2009 & 2010 alongside luminaries ZZ Top, Cinderella, Godsmack, and Buckcherry. They’ve also shared the stage with a number of well-known bands including Twisted Sister, Kix, LA Guns, Faster Pussycat, Stephen Pearcy of Ratt, Matt Sorum (Guns ‘n Roses, Velvet Revolver), Bang Tango, & The Last Vegas.
the People the Poet: No more Tiger Please!
Tiger Please announce name change ‘the People the Poet’ to tour with Charlie Simpson throughout March
After an impressive four years which has seen the band release two critically acclaimed releases (2009’s ‘They Don’t Change Under Moonlight’ and 2010’s ‘Seasons’ EP), tour the length and breadth of the UK including Download and Sonisphere festivals and garner Radio One airplay, Tiger Please today kick off 2012 with the announcement of their official name change and a string of dates throughout February and March. Effective immediately Tiger Please are now to be known as the People the Poet.
Having busied themselves for the last few months recording tracks for their debut album ‘The Narrator’, the song-writing process and studio time brought about a realisation that it was time to leave Tiger Please behind and start afresh the new year with the People the Poet. Fan submitted stories make up the body of the album and the weight of the bands responsibility to do the songs justice has forced a change.
Speaking of the name change, vocalist Leon Stanford states… ‘Its sad to part with a name which we’ve seen so much success with, but we hope you will understand why we felt it was the right time for the change. This is more than just a simple change of a name - it is a tribute to the people who have trusted us with their stories, our fans.’ A full statement from Leon is below .
‘The Narrator’ is set for completion and release later this year and has been produced (in separate sessions) by Gil Norton (Foo Fighters/Jimmy Eat World/Counting Crows) and Peter Miles (We Are The Ocean/The King Blues/Canterbury). To showcase and celebrate the bands new direction two new the People the Poet songs can be heard at www.facebook.com/thepeoplethepoet - ‘Being Human’ (also available as a free download) and Norton produced ‘Sing’.
Official Statement from Leon Stanford…
Just over a year ago, Tiger Please began writing our debut album after being together since 2008.We decided that we wanted to write an album based on real-life stories and experiences requested and received from fans and friends across the country. It seemed such a simple idea at the time, but soon it spiralled into something which has taken over our lives.
When we started Tiger Please back in 2008, we were just 5 guys hoping to write some good music and inspire people the way that our favourite bands inspired us; but mainly we just wanted to have a good time. We’ve achieved many things as a band that we are very proud of, and gained many loyal fans who have inspired us to be the band we are today - but taking on the task of the album has become something bigger than just the 5 of us.
We are now representing the stories of other people, and it has become our responsibility to capture the emotions that they’ve been through, in the hope of helping others who may be going through the same situations. The people that have welcomed us into their lives have made us laugh, cry, and inspired us with their life stories. They have also put their trust in our hands, which has meant so much to us.
This responsibility has forced us to grow as people and musicians, and we no longer feel that we can tell these stories under the name of ‘Tiger Please’. This brings us to the announcement that we shall no longer be carrying on under the name ‘Tiger Please’, but we will be continuing this journey - as ‘the People the Poet’.
It’s sad to part with a name which we’ve seen so much success with, but we hope you will understand why we felt it was the right time for the change. This is more than just a simple change of a name - it is a tribute to the people who have trusted us with their stories, our fans. A band would be nothing without the people who turn up to the shows or listen to their music, and OUR songs would be nothing without the experiences in YOUR lives which are written in song or poem. A lot of bands say ‘our band would be nothing without our fans’. In our case - that is literally true. These songs are your stories. You are our band.
The band has also grown beyond the 5 of us, musically and instrumentally. During this year of writing and demoing the record, we’ve had the privilege of having some amazing musicians contribute their talents to our songs/your stories. We’re very blessed to have these people as part of our record and our live shows - and we can’t wait for you to meet them.
For an in-depth description of both songs, including the actual emails and stories that inspired the tracks please visit http://thepeoplethepoet.tumblr.com/ We would like to sincerely thank everyone that has supported Tiger Please and helped us achieve more than we ever imagined, and we hope that you continue to support the People the Poet through this New Year and beyond
The band are also pleased to announce that following two ‘farewell Tiger Please hello the People the Poet’ shows, their first official tour of 2012 will be in support of Charlie Simpson… dates below.
February 2012
Fri 24th London Lexington (Tiger Please/ the People the Poet headline show)
Sat 25th Bridgend Hobos (Tiger Please/ the People the Poet headline show)
March 2012
Sat 24th Birmingham Academy 2 (supporting Charlie Simpson)
Sun 25th Liverpool Academy (supporting Charlie Simpson)
Tue 27th Sheffield Academy 2 (supporting Charlie Simpson)
Wed 28th Newcastle University (supporting Charlie Simpson)
Fri 30th Edinburgh Liquid Rooms (supporting Charlie Simpson)
Sat 31st Dundee Fats Sams (supporting Charlie Simpson)
the People the Poet www.facebook.com/thepeoplethepoet
http://thepeoplethepoet.tumblr.com
Tracer Back By Popular Demand!
Photo: BJ Wok
TRACER 2012 UK TOUR
Due to popular demand, Australian power rock trio “TRACER” kick off their first nationwide headline UK tour at London’s Islington O2 Academy on Tuesday 24th April.
Planet Rock (www.planetrock.com) will start a 48-hour ticket pre-sale for Planet Rock listeners from Wednesday 1st February at 9am. www.ents24.com will start their 24-hour pre-sale on Thursday 2nd February. Tickets will then go on sale to the general public from 10am on Friday 3rd February via the 24 hour box office: 0844 478 0898 and www.thegigcartel.com.
Photo: BJ Wok
TRACER - “SPACES IN BETWEEN”
APRIL 2012 UK TOUR
24 Hour Box Office – 0844 478 0898
www.thegigcartel.com
Tuesday 24th April 2012
Islington O2 Academy 2, London
£9.00 advance / £11.00 door
0844 477 2000
www.o2academyislington.co.uk
N1 Centre, 16 Parkfield Street, Islington, London, N1 0PS
Wednesday 25th April 2012
The Tunnels, Bristol
£8.00 advance / £10.00 door
0845 605 0255
www.thetunnelsbristol.co.uk
Arches 31-32, Lower Station Approach Road, Bristol, BS1 6Q
Thursday 26th April 2012
Manchester Academy 3
£8.00 advance / £10.00 door
0161 275 4278
www.manchesteracademy.net
Oxford Road, Manchester,
Lancashire, M13 9PQ
Friday 27th April 2012
The Duchess, York
£8.00 advance / £10.00 door
01904 641 413
http://theduchessyork.co.uk
Stonebow House, The Stonebow, York, YO1 7NP
Saturday 28th April 2012
The Plug, Sheffield
£8.00 advance / £10.00 door
0114 241 3040
www.the-plug.com
14-16 Matilda Street, Sheffield, S1 4QD
Photo: BJ Wok
Tracer was recently voted third place in Planet Rock’s “Best New Band” listeners’ poll. Over the past four months Planet Rock has played the singles Too Muchand Devil Ride, two songs taken from Tracer’s debut critically acclaimed album Spaces In Between.
Tracer has captured the excitement and adrenalin rush of rock ’n’ roll. Tracer’s sound embodies the same raw dynamics and edge to that of Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age and Black Sabbath.
With the release of Spaces in Between, Tracer has attracted rave reviews and interviews in Classic Rock (New Band of the Month), Total Guitar, Rock Sound, Guitarist, Fireworks and Powerplay. Their video for Too Much has attracted over 50,000 hits on YouTube.
In the tradition of three-piece rock bands like Rush and Muse, Tracer’s sound is the audio equivalent to Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now set inside the eye of a hurricane.
Hailing from Adelaide, South Australia, Tracer embrace a sonic sledgehammer sound steeped in epic guitars, thunderous riffs and raw, uncompromising vocals. Their Australian blend of 90’s stoner and 70’s classic rock continues to win them new fans.
When Tracer supported Royal Republic on their 2011 European tour, it soon became evident that Tracer was the band to watch. When the UK’s premiere classic rock radio station, Planet Rock, started playing the band’s rock anthem Too Much, listeners responded, and posted messages on the Too Much YouTube video wall by saying, “Planet Rock brought me here.”
Photo: BJ Wok
Rising from the ashes of blues prodigy band The Brown Brothers in 2004, Michael (vocals, guitar) and Leigh Brown (vocals, bass) teamed up with drummer Andre Wise to form Tracer.
The following years have seen the trio find success with two independent releases; two international tours, including support slots for Little Red, Children Collide, The John Steel Singers and Cassette Kids.
Following a successful debut European tour in late 2009, Tracer returned overseas in September 2010 to take a coveted showcase slot at Germany’s PopKomm Music Conference in Berlin. The band then set off on a string of dates throughout Germany, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK, taking time off only to sign a long term record deal with Cool Green Recordings, a sub label of the Mascot Label Group.
Upon returning to Adelaide, the band headed straight into the studio, and recorded what was to be their debut album, released in October 2011. Entitled “Spaces In Between,” the album includes 12 in-your-face songs that will blow your head off.
Christiaan Webb Solo Album
Christiaan Webb (The Webb Brothers) releases his debut solo album A Man Possessed in April 2012. Featuring 12 songs that represent the culmination of a life-altering spiritual journey for Christiaan.
You can hear the album at http://soundcloud.com/christiaan-webb/sets/a-man-possessed/s-m3aNE
Christiaan also plays the following UK dates -
13th April - Cardiff - Clwb Ifor Bach
14th April – Oxford – The Jericho Tavern
15th April – Birmingham - The Kitchen Garden Café
16th April – Leicester – The Musician Venue and Bar
17th April – Bangor – Blue Sky Café
18th April – Bristol – St Bonaventures
19th April - Liverpool - Static Gallery
20th April – Glasgow – Oran Mor
22nd April - Kinross – Green Hotel
23rd April – Leeds – Gaslight at the Oporto
24th April – London – The Slaughtered Lamb
Eldest son of songwriting legend Jimmy Webb (Witchita Lineman, Galveston, By The Time I get To Phoenix), Christiaan first came to public attention as part of the Webb Brothers, a band he formed with his younger brother, Justin. In 1998, the demo album ‘Beyond the Biosphere’ was released to critical acclaim in the U.K. and was quickly picked up by London-based label Easy!Tiger Records and released the following year. The Webb Brothers then signed with Warner Music and the album ‘Maroon,’ was released to critical and commercial success in 2000. Touring extensively, the brothers built a strong fan base in the UK that continues to this day.
2003 saw the release of the eponymous Webb Brothers album (as well as recruitment of brother James), showcasing the versatility and depth of Christiaan’s song-writing. In 2009, the brothers joined their father to form ‘Jimmy Webb and the Webb Brothers,’ releasing the reflective, mature-sounding ‘Cottonwood Farm’ (Proper Music - UK).
Following this collaboration, Christiaan began work on the songs that form A Man Possessed, partly inspired by the writings of Don Miguel Ruiz. “The way this album came about has been a spiritual journey more than anything else,” says Christiaan. “Last year, I read the book The Four Agreements. It affected me; a Toltec wisdom book had changed my life. This was quite a change for a guy who had been a freewheeling rock-and-roller for 18 years.” The album began to take shape in early January 2011, the songs coming in a flash - lyrics, melody and chords, sometimes all in an hour or less. “I had never experienced anything like it. They were coming out so fast and they were some of the best songs I had ever written. I felt like a marionette, my fingers moving to new and unexpected places on the piano. I really did feel like ‘a man possessed.”
With this new, yet somewhat unexpected collection of songs, Christiaan set out finding the right location to record them. “I reached out to Musicbox Studios in Cardiff, Wales. Mark ‘the bear’ Foley and Andrew ‘Bernie’ Plain have been good friends to the Webb Brothers over the years and had always left their door open to me.” With Bernie (drums), Mark (Bass) and Graham Ryder (Guitars) on board as the newly named ‘The Sweet Lords’, A Man Possessed was recorded at Musicbox between April 2 - 17, 2011 and was produced by Charlie Francis (REM, High Llamas, Turin Brakes). Christiaan’s good friends Romeo Stodart and Angela Gannon from the Magic Numbers make guest appearances as well as a wealth of talent from the Cardiff area including Zervas and Pepper, Steve ‘Sweet Baboo’ Black and John ‘Catfish’ Thomas.
‘A Man Possessed’ features some of Christiaan’s most beguiling melodies to date, with tracks such as ‘Midnight Moon’ recalling his best work with the Webb Brothers. While ‘Life Support’ and ‘My Best Intentions’ express the range, power and soul of Christiaan’s melancholy, often spellbinding vocals. “This album is a shout out to my childhood heroes, both living and fallen, who were always in my prayers as I wrote and recorded it: John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Billy Joel, Elton John, Billy Preston and Jimmy Webb. I would especially like to thank George Harrison, who I believe was my spiritual guide throughout this project. If you are ever possessed by a spirit, I recommend George Harrison.”
Christiaan Webb will be touring in April 2012 at the following venues, tour support comes from the amazing Joshua Caole: 13th April - Cardiff - Clwb Ifor Bach, 14th April – Oxford – The Jericho Tavern, 15th April – Birmingham - The Kitchen Garden Café, 16th April – Leicester – The Musician Venue and Bar, 17th April – Bangor – Blue Sky Café, 18th April – Bristol – St Bonaventures, 19th April - Liverpool -Static Gallery, 20th April – Glasgow – Oran Mor, 22nd April - Kinross – Green Hotel, 23rd April – Leeds – Gaslight at the Oporto, 24th April – London – The Slaughtered Lamb (more dates tbc)
2011 “The Year The Music Died”
BBC 2011: “The Year The Music Died”
It’s been building up for a few years now as the BBC, especially its radio stations, increasingly influence what we listen to as a nation via UK online and terrestrial services. The UK music scene has never been so superficial, so poor, and dominated by so few acts and broadcasters. The BBC has much to answer for in its selection of popular music played and its obvious bias towards certain labels and acts. Yet no-one has held the BBC to account for its extravagant radio expenditure and plalist policy that effectively ignores much of the great, and often extraordinary, music and talent that is withering on the vine due to the lack of broadcast coverage. And it’s getting worse. BBC Radio 1 is also now dominating live broadcast popular music coverage possibly even being given special treatment by those grateful for the copious amounts of airplay received over many months and even years.
I Despair!
I’ve been a music fan longer than I can remember although I do recall singing along with Frank Sinatra in the locked front-room of my parent’s council house. I was around nine years of age, the radiogram housed a turntable and a very long needle playing heavy plastic 78 records. It was of course before popular music became the staple diet of the broadcaster which dominated the market then and now - the BBC. Then came the transistor radio and along with it Radio Luxemburg followed by the pirate stations like Radio Caroline, listened to under the bedcovers late at night out of earshot of mum and dad.
I was living in Hong Kong when BBC’s Top Of The Pops was launched in 1964 and for BBC Radio 1’s launch in 1967, but still had local HK radio to entertain me with all the best popular music from both sides of the Atlantic together with some surprisingly good local talent. The BBC actually meant something back then and of course was highly influential - even the best HK DJs went for training at the BBC…
The sixties were great popular music years, arguably the best. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dylan, Motown - an endless list of great artists and wonderful music dominated the airwaves and spread the word very nicely thank you.
But Where Are We Now?
I will summarise the current situation as us ‘having arrived at a bad place - a hellish musical cul-de-sac. Led by BBC Radio 1, the nation’s airwaves are flooded with the same music from the same acts on a daily and hourly basis. It seems that certain acts have acquired a God-given right to have their singles broadcast endlessly both weeks before release and months after release. BBC have declared their ‘trust in new music’ but totally fail to provide airtime to some of the mosty talented acts around - new and old. BBC Introducing is just an
expensive PR excercise which effectively discriminates between signed and unsigned, with no or very nominal mainstream/daytime airplay. While the likes of Olly Murs, One Direction, Cher LLoyd and others get flogged to death Shakenstir’s Best-Of-Year album acts can’t get arrested on Radios 1 and 2 - stations that are fully funded by UK tax-payers. Frankly I couldn’t give a monkey’s about the commercial radio broadcasters (who are also guilty) because they have to operate in a (misguided) competitive advertising revenue market; they are not owned by the UK population who are legally obliged to pay £160 per annum to hear the BBC’s mostly garbage music.
In 2011 the BBC issued its financial report for 2010-2011 to a surprisingly muted response from the country’s media. It is a report long on rhetoric and short on detail. Let me give you an example which relates to my primary interest - radio. Nowhere is there listed personnel costs for each of the BBC radio stations and one is forced to guess if its hidden under the broad heading of ‘Infrastructure/Support’ in the summary section (along with the two other main headings ‘Content’and ‘Distribution’).
Hot Off The Press: #1
MULTI-PLATINUM MISSISSIPPI ROCKERS ANNOUNCE 2012 TOUR WITH 5 DATES CONFIRMED FOR UK… 3 DOORS DOWN, the Southern US chart-toppers with 16 million album sales to their name, are embarking on a European tour which comes to the UK in March. South African rockers Seether are providing support on the dates.
The band – completed by Matt Roberts (guitar/vocals), Todd Harrell (bass), Chris Henderson (guitar) & Greg Upchurch (drums/percussion) – first came together back in 1996, since which time they have enjoyed seven Number One chart hits in the US plus a dozen Top 10 chart positions, with Top 3 smash ‘Kryptonite’ (2000) effectively proving the ‘breakout’ release. Newest album, ‘Time Of My Life’ was released in August on the Spinefarm label, along with a video for a special rock remix of the second single from their 5th studio effort, ‘Every Time You Go’. The tour kicks off in Paris on March 6th before crossing shores and hitting the UK. Dates are as follows: -
March 09 – Edinburgh, Picturehouse
March 11 – Manchester, Academy *
March 12 – Birmingham, O2 Academy
March 14 – Bristol, O2 Academy *
March 15 – London, HMV Hammersmith Apollo
* VIP package at Manchester and Bristol dates, see www.3ddfanclub.net
THE SILVER SEAS ANNOUNCE UK TOUR FOLLOWING ‘LATER….WITH JOOLS’ APPEARANCE Following a brief but extremely successful visit to the UK this month, Nashville’s The Silver Seas have announced that they will be returning to headline a string of shows in March 2012. Whilst in London, the band busked their way around the capital’s landmarks and played two shows - the Music Week Breakout night at Proud, and the Islington Academy where they were introduced as “the best band in the world” by Danny Baker. Danny also had them on his show for a live session.
“Classy and clever pop…dive in.” **** The Daily Mirror
“…dark, well crafted pop…” 8/10 Classic Rock
“…smart and witty tunes so instantly familiar that you’ll think Bruce Springsteen must have made them in the ‘80s… there won’t be a finer set of harmonies all year. Those silver seas are positively golden.” Daily Star
“…deft hooks” ***** The Daily Mail
“For anyone who believes 70s-grounded country rock can and should remain relevant today, there are few better defenders of the tradition around.” **** The Skinny
“At it’s best Chateau Revenge delights…. and the likes of ‘What If It Isn’t Out There’? and ‘Somebody Said Your Name’ are just gorgeous” The Guardian
“This is uncurdled pop music, the kind of thing you could sprinkle on your dreams and eat with a spoon” The Word magazine
The band will be playing the following shows: March 2012
1st March – Glasgow, King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
2nd March – Birmingham, O2 Academy 3
3rd March – Manchester, The Ruby Lounge
4th March – Bristol, The Cooler
6th March – London, The Borderline
Website; www.thesilverseas.co.uk Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thesilverseas Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/thesilverseas
‘Chateau Revenge!’ Album Stream: http://snd.sc/kY2YJe
PROTEST THE HERO, the Canadian five-piece whose quirky humour & virtuoso playing has gained them a fevered following worldwide, have just announced a full headline European tour for February/March 2012 in support of latest studio album, ‘Scurrilous’, released in 2011 via Spinefarm Records. After a successful spring tour of the US & Canada followed by a one-off performance at the UK Sonisphere festival in July, where they featured on a bill that included the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax, this tour will see PTH playing seven headline shows in the UK & Ireland, as well as dates in Germany, Austria, Holland & Belgium.
The UK leg of the tour runs as follows:-
02.03.12 UK Cardiff @ CF10, Cardiff University �
03.03.12 UK Birmingham @ O2 Academy 2 �
04.03.12 UK Sheffield @ Corporation �
06.03.12 Ireland Dublin @ Whelans �
07.03.12 UK Manchester @ Club Academy �
08.03.12 UK Glasgow @ O2 ABC2 �
09.03.12 UK London @ O2 Academy Islington
Support on these dates comes from Long Distance Calling, Blood Command & Uneven Structure. TO COINCIDE with the announcement of these dates, PTH will be unveiling the second video from ‘Scurrilous’; titled ‘Hair-Trigger’ and featuring guest vocalist Jadea Kelly, this is the follow-up to the ‘C’est La Vie’ clip – although whereas ‘C’est La Vie’ was full of twisted imagery & dark humour, ‘Hair-Trigger’ sees the PTH crew doing what they do best exploring the off the wall side of their respective personalities with no boundaries of logic or restraint to get in the way! You have been warned! http://www.facebook.com/protestthehero
Anarchy, Seether & Meat Loaf!
SONGS OF ANARCHY: MUSIC FROM SONS OF ANARCHY SEASONS 1-4
FEATURES FOUR RECORDINGS FROM GOLDEN GLOBE® WINNER KATEY SAGAL
JANUARY 23RD UK RELEASE
Sony Music in partnership with FX and Twentieth Century Fox Television proudly present the soundtrack to FX’s highest rated series, Sons of Anarchy (Channel 5 here in the UK). The soundtrack, Songs of Anarchy: Music from Sons of Anarchy Seasons 1-4 , features a collection of fifteen new recordings, specifically for the show, of classic tunes such as “What A Wonderful World”, “Forever Young” and “John The Revelator”. Songs of Anarchy: Music from Sons of Anarchy Seasons 1-4 will be available from January 23rd.
The collection kicks off with the Emmy nominated and ASCAP award winning series theme song “This Life” written by singer-songwriter Curtis Stigers, Velvet Revolver guitarist Dave Kushner, producer Bob Thiele and show creator Kurt Sutter, performed by Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers. Golden Globe® Award winning actress/singer Katey Sagal performs four tracks on the soundtrack including a standout performance of “Son Of A Preacher Man” with The Forest Rangers. Other notable tracks include “Someday Never Comes”, “Hey Hey, My My” and the never before heard stunning recording of “House of the Rising Sun” which features Battleme & The Forest Rangers with Katey Sagal.
The full track listing for Songs of Anarchy: Music from Sons of Anarchy Seasons 1-4 is as follows:
1. This Life – Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers
2. Son Of A Preacher Man – Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers
3. Forever Young – Audra Mae & The Forest Rangers
4. John The Revelator – Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers
5. Fortunate Son – Lyle Workman & Bob Thiele
6. Slip Kid – Anvil featuring Franky Perez
7. Girl From The North Country – The Lions
8. Someday Never Comes – Billy Valentine & The Forest Rangers
9. Gimme Shelter – Paul Brady & The Forest Rangers
10. Bird On A Wire – Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers
11. Hey Hey, My My – Battleme
12. What A Wonderful World – Alison Mosshart & The Forest Rangers
13. Los Tiempos Van Cambiando (The Times They Are A-Changin’) – Franky Perez & Los Guardianes del Bosque
14. Strange Fruit – Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers featuring Blake Mills
15. House Of The Rising Sun – Battleme & The Forest Rangers with Katey Sagal
SEETHER Album: “Holding Onto Strings Better left To Fray”
Release date: 5th March 2012
Seether’s “Country Song” named active rock song of the year by Billboard, USA - Ahead of acts such as Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers. South African rockers Seether are set to return to the UK with a brand new studio album, “Holding Onto Strings Better left To Fray”. The band are also set to tour the UK in March 2012.
“Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray” was released to widespread critical acclaim in the USA in May 2011. The debut single from the album, “Country Song”, spent an amazing 11 weeks at #1 (on Active Rock radio) over the course of the year and recently achieved Gold status for sales of over 500,000 units digitally by the RIAA. The song was the #1 most played song at Active Rock radio for the year 2011, outdistancing such acts as Foo Fighters, Staind and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Total active rock spins were 52,361, outdistancing the next closest song by almost 10,000 spins. 83,000 spins across all rock formats for the year 2011. The song is also the #1 Active Rock Song of the Year in Canada. Seether was named the #1 Active Rock Artist and the #1 Heritage Rock Artist of 2011 by Billboard as well. Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray was released in May and debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 and is the band’s highest album premier to date. The album has scanned over 250,000 copies since its release to date. The band’s next USA single “Tonight” has also gone No 1 on Active Rock Radio – the first time the band has had consecutive #1 singles at the format.
Seether has spent most of 2011 out on the road in support of their latest release and look to continue the trend in 2012. The Houston Press raved about Seether’s live show “…Seether put on a heartfelt, stripped-down performance that didn’t leave fans wanting.” The band will resume touring internationally early next year making stops in Asia, Australia and Europe. These dates mark a triumphant return for the band as it has been over two years since the band has performed in these territories.
Looking back on Seether’s career path, it’s not surprising that the band has progressed to this juncture. The band has sold millions of albums to date worldwide and are mainstays in the touring circuit averaging more than 275 performances per year. Originally founded in Johannesburg, South Africa, by Shaun Morgan and Dale Stewart, Seether made its initial impact on worldwide hearts and eardrums with 2002’s Disclaimer. The album’s first single, “Fine Again” was a pensive ballad that resonated with fans worldwide. Seether gained nationwide live exposure with a spot on that year’s Ozzfest tour. Seether rerecorded the acoustic track “Broken” as an electric version featuring Evanescence vocalist Amy Lee. “Broken” became a massive international hit for the group. In 2004, Seether remixed and remastered Disclaimer, adding eight new songs and new cover art to create the two-disc set Disclaimer II, which went Platinum. In 2005, Seether released Karma & Effect, which is certified gold and followed that release up in 2007 with the now Platinum Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces. The album was reissued in 2009 with a cover of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper,” and became another successful single release for the band. The band currently have 453,000 MySpace Friends and 1.7 million Facebook fans. Seether have sold over 4 million albums worldwide to date….
UK TOUR 20102
Mar. 9 * Edinburgh, Scotland HMV Picture Houe
Mar. 10 Glasgow, UK Garage
Mar. 11 * Manchester, UK Manchester Academy
Mar. 12 * Birmingham, UK O2 Academy
Mar. 14 * Bristol, UK O2 Academy
Mar. 15 * London, UK Apollo Hammersmith
* With 3 Doors Down
Seether is Shaun Morgan (Guitars/Vocals), Dale Stewart (Bass) and John Humphrey (Drums).
www.seether.com
MEAT LOAF ‘HELL IN A HANDBASKET’
Released: 27 February 2012
Music comes no bigger than Meat Loaf. After 40 years and selling over 100 million records, among them one of the biggest albums of all time, Meat Loaf has been a larger than life presence in music with his unique songs and stellar collaborations. Bat Out of Hell sold over 2.1 million copies in the UK and has been awarded Platinum status 23 times. And now, Meat Loaf does it all again with the release of his new album Hell In A Handbasket, to be released in the UK 27 February 2012 through Sony Commercial Music Group.
Like most Meat Loaf albums, Hell In A Handbasket is a BIG album with every song delivering a message that alludes to the theme of the album. Meat Loaf describes it as “the most personal record I’ve ever made. It’s about how I feel the world’s gone to hell in a handbasket. It’s really the first record that I’ve ever put out about how I feel about life and how I feel about what’s going on at the moment.”
Produced by Paul Crook, Hell In A Handbasket once again features some interesting collaborations and special guests. Public Enemy’s Chuck D contributes an original rap mixed into a cover of Tom Cochran’s ‘Mad Mad World’. Entitled ‘The Good God’s a Woman And She Don’t Like Ugly’, it’s every bit as interesting as the titles alludes to. Meat Loaf said, “Chuck D is the rapper’s rapper. He is the original, and every rapper that has come after him wants to be like him. For us to have him on this record is a major coup and I am so impressed with what he wrote!” Lil Jon, another well-known rap artist who appeared in Celebrity Apprentice alongside Meat Loaf, appears on ‘Stand In the Storm.’ And certainly, no album would be complete without long time duet partner Patti Russo who features on two songs: ‘Our Love And Our Souls’ and a version of The Mammas and The Pappas classic ‘California Dreamin’.’
TRACKLISTING:
All Of Me
Fall From Grace
The Giving Tree
Mad Mad World / Good God Is A Woman And She Don’t Like Ugly
Party Of One
Live Or Die
California Dreamin’
Another Day
40 Days
Out Love & Our Souls
Stand In the Storm
Blue Sky
Roxy Music: Complete 1972-1982
Roxy Music will release a deluxe box-set entitled ‘Roxy Music: The Complete Studio Recordings 1972-1982′ on Monday 2 April, celebrating 40 years since the release of the band’s eponymous debut album in 1972. The release is the first of a major reissue campaign with Virgin Records.
‘Roxy Music: The Complete Studio Recordings 1972-1982′, an 8 CD + 4 DVD deluxe box set will feature all eight Roxy Music studio albums - Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure, Stranded, Country Life, Siren, Manifesto, Flesh And Blood, Avalon. In addition, a selection of non-album singles, B-sides and remixes, some of which are available on CD for the first time ever will also be included. Each album will be represented on DVD format as high-resolution audio, transferred digitally from the original analogue masters, making this release an absolute ‘must have’ for Roxy Music fans and collectors. 
Roxy Music – Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, Paul Thompson and Graham Simpson – landed in 1971, seemingly from far beyond Planet Earth, to part bewilderment part rapture. an intoxicating cocktail of fashion, romance, nostalgia and futurism with songs that were almost cinematic, set to soundscapes that stunned and perplexed.
Roxy Music’s debut album, the self titled Roxy Music, was released in 1972 to critical acclaim and exemplified the band’s penchant for glamour, both in the lyrics and with the album cover of model Kari-Ann Muller, kickstarting a tradition of iconic album covers featuring female models. Single ‘Virginia Plain’ – not featured on the original album release - reached No.4 in the UK singles chart. For Your Pleasure, released the following March and including the classic Roxy tracks ‘Do The Strand’, ‘In Every Dream A Heartache’ and ‘Editions Of You’, was the last album to feature Brian Eno in the recording line up, and displayed a more elaborate production treatment with a variety of fade ins / outs and tape loops. Non-album single ‘Pyjamarama’ is included on ‘The Complete Studio Recordings’, as the original Island label remix and a 1977 remix, plus its B-Side ‘The Pride and the Pain’.
November 1973 saw the release of Stranded, which reached No. 1 in the UK Album Chart, producing the Top Ten single ‘Street Life’,and featuring 1973 Playmate of the Year (and Bryan Ferry’s then girlfriend) Marilyn Cole on the cover. A year later, Roxy Music released Country Life, this time featuring two models on the album cover (Constanze Karoli and Eveline Grunwald) and producing the single ‘All I Want Is You’.
Siren, released in 1975 and featuring Jerry Hall as the cover girl, includes arguably Roxy Music’s best-known song ‘Love Is The Drug’, which charted at No. 2 upon release, and a second single ‘Both Ends Burning’. A four year gap preceded the release of Manifesto in March 1979, which reached No. 7 in the UK charts and featured an eye catching album cover of mannequins conceptualised by Bryan Ferry and long time designer and Roxy Music collaborator Antony Price, this time producing three singles including the No. 2 hit ‘Dance Away’ and ‘Angel Eyes’.
The No. 1 album Flesh And Blood was released in 1980, Roxy Music at this point was Ferry, Mackay and Manzanera due to the departure of drummer Thompson. Roxy Music’s cover of the John Lennon song ‘Jealous Guy’, was released as a single in 1981 and included the B-Side ‘To Turn You On’. The most commercially successful Roxy Music album, Avalon, was released in 1982, charting at No. 1, and staying in the UK album charts for over a year, with three single releases including the Top 5 song ‘More Than This’.
‘Roxy Music: The Complete Studio Recordings 1972-1982′ brings together all of Roxy Music’s albums with a plethora of tracks previously never released before on CD, including the USA 7” mixes of ‘Do The Strand’ ‘Love Is The Drug’ and ‘Take A Chance With Me’, two edits of Country Life opening track ‘The Thrill Of It All’, plus its B-Side ‘Your Application’s Failed’ (the only track to date written by Thompson), 7” and the 7” single versions of ‘Oh Yeah’ (from Flesh And Blood) and ‘Avalon’.
Further reissues are planned for 2012 with details to be announced at a later date.
Graceland: 25th Anniversary
CELEBRATED WITH NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM & COMMEMORATIVE EDITIONS OF CLASSIC ALBUM
“Paul Simon: Under African Skies,” A New Documentary About Graceland
From Two-Time Emmy and Peabody Award Winning Filmmaker Joe Berlinger,
Premiering at the US Sundance Film Festival 2012.
New Editions of Paul Simon’s Landmark Album
- Including A Special Anniversary Box Set Featuring Original Album, Bonus Tracks & Director’s Cut of Under African Skies Documentary –
Coming May 2012.
On 22 January, 2012, “Under African Skies,” the new Joe Berlinger-directed documentary chronicling the creation and lasting influence of Paul Simon’s groundbreaking Graceland, will debut at the 2012 US Sundance Film Festival, kicking off a year long celebration commemorating the 25th anniversary of Simon’s musical and cultural achievement.
Following its US Sundance premiere, “Under African Skies,” one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated documentaries, is slated for international film festival screenings and will be shown on a major network in the UK, details to be announced shortly.
The story of the making of Graceland, and the controversy created when Simon went to South Africa to record with local artists, is told in “Under African Skies,” the new full-length documentary from two-time Emmy and Peabody Award winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger (”Brother’s Keeper,” “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” the West Memphis Three/”Paradise Lost” trilogy) and producers@radical.media and A&E IndieFilms.
Coming this spring, Legacy Recordings / Sony Commercial Music Group will release a Graceland 25th anniversary commemorative edition deluxe collector’s box set as well as a special two-disc set, each featuring the original album with bonus tracks and the director’s cut of “Under African Skies”.
“Under African Skies” travels with Paul Simon back to South Africa 25 years after his first visit. Simon revisits the making of the record, surveying from the vantage of history the turbulence and controversy surrounding the album’s genesis. His artistic decision to collaborate with African musicians created a new world musical fusion, combining American and African musical idioms while igniting an intense political crossfire, with Paul Simon accused of breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime.
The universal appeal of the music of Graceland proved more powerful and enduring than the political hotbed attending its creation. In 1986, the album sold 14 million copies worldwide, and received universal praise from critics around the globe. Simon and the members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo performed on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Photo: Luise Gubb
By January of 1987, “You Can Call Me Al” was everywhere and Graceland won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 1987. Then, in an unprecedented carryover, the album garnered the Grammy for Song of the Year with its title track in 1988. The album generated three hit singles and kept Paul Simon and the Graceland tour on the road for five years.
In the film, Simon provides a fresh and revelatory perspective on the album while gathering the record’s original musicians for a transcendental Graceland concert reunion. “Under African Skies” features interviews with key anti-apartheid activists of the time and such musical legends as Quincy Jones, Harry Belafonte, Paul McCartney, David Byrne and Peter Gabriel.
Graceland continues to provide rewards to its listeners and remains a pivotal listening experience for writers, artists and fans. “Paul Simon’s Graceland played a greatly significant role in removing the standoffish dread Western culture harbored toward South Africa during its internal struggle against apartheid, humanizing both a country’s soul-searching hunger for liberation and its simultaneous outpouring of cathartic creative expression.” – Timothy White, Billboard
“Prior to Graceland, the music of South Africa was largely unknown outside the country, except to a small minority of world music fans…” – Peter Gabriel
“I don’t like the idea that people who aren’t adolescents make records. Adolescents make the best records. Except for Paul Simon. Except for Graceland. He’s hit a new plateau there, but he’s writing to his own age group. Graceland is something new. - Joe Strummer interviewed by Richard Cromelin for the Los Angeles Times on January 31, 1988
Nanci Griffith New Album in ‘12
Nanci Griffith
Intersection Released 20 February 2012
Twenty albums now, and none before like this.
“It’s emotional for me, and it’s personal, and it makes my heart pound, thinking I’m going to be totally exposed here,” says Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Intersection is not an album of resolution or closure; it’s an album about difficulties, about anger, about things that slip away and things that explode.
“I’ve had a hard life, and I write it down,” Griffith sings on the title track, and that line serves as a statement of fact and purpose, and as a gentler way to explain her near-shouted musical exclamation, “Hell no, I’m not alright.” Intersection is an examination of a particularly difficult time for Griffith, fraught with personal bust-ups, with family turmoil, with hard miles and tears and habits to break. “Sometimes making the best is doing the worst to yourself,” she sings here.
“At some point, you have to get it out,” she says. “I couldn’t walk around with the anger. I didn’t write these songs to punish anybody. I thought I wrote them to get these things off my chest. But now I’ve taken them on the road, and every night when I sing, ‘Hell no, I’m not alright,’ and I see my audience come to their feet, I understand exactly why I wrote this.”
It’s funny what happens with songs. Funny that Griffith’s personal “hell no” moment - delivered here in a frenzy that somehow simultaneously recalls Buddy Holly, Pete Seeger, and The Ramones - can produce a gladdening shock of recognition in audience members who had bought tickets to hear contemplative Griffith gems like “Love at the Five and Dime” and “Trouble in the Fields,” or who came to hear her signature versions of Kate Wolf’s “Across the Great Divide” or Julie Gold’s “From a Distance.” “Hell No (I’m Not Alright”) is two minutes and 22 seconds of evangelical brokenness: “I’m not okay, and neither are you and neither are we,” and it applies to people and businesses and governments, and it’s high time somebody shouted it to the rafters.
“Everybody seems to have an investment in ‘Hell No,’ and in ‘Intersection’ as well,” Griffith says. “So many people are at an intersection in their life, with the way the economy is, with foreclosures and downsizing… For me, Intersection is my musical crossroads.”
That doesn’t mean Griffith is abandoning her song-sense, or the melodies that spring from her finger-picked guitar work, arriving distinct yet familiar. Opening track “Bethlehem Steel” evokes the plaintive beauty of her 1980s works “October Reasons” and “Julie Anne,” though her subject here is the shuttering of a mighty and iconic American mill. Griffith wrote the song just after performing at a performing arts center in Bethlehem, Pa. She pondered the carcass of the mill, and the streets of a town where Robert De Niro filmed The Deerhunter.
“I came off that stage, and wrote ‘Bethlehem Steel’ in about 20 minutes,” Griffith says. “When that mill closed (in 2003), it was devastating to the town. And we all lost a piece of America.”
Griffith’s “Bad Seed” is a cry of anger, a reflection on a parent’s dismissal, and a daughter’s fear. (“Now that I’ve gone crazy, with no love of my father/ Am I the bad seed he always said I would be?”) “My father and I have been at odds for 15 years, and ‘Bad Seed’ is the whole truth,” she says. “And I can’t wait for him to hear it.”
A small group of musicians banded together at Griffith’s Nashville home for the making of Intersection. Multi-instrumentalist Pete Kennedy drove his recording equipment down from New York City, and he, Griffith, singer-songwriter Maura Kennedy and percussionist Pat McInerney set about creating the album in an environment devoid of studio clocks. The four share producer credit, and they made the bulk of the music, with Eric Brace and Peter Cooper contributing harmonies to a 20th anniversary version of Griffith’s “Just Another Morning Here” (first heard on 1991’s Late Night Grand Hotel), Richard Bailey of The Steeldrivers adding banjo to “High on a Mountaintop,” Robbin Bach singing backing vocals on “Davey’s Last Picture,” and the world’s most famous road manager, Phil Kaufman, making his recorded bass debut on “Come On Up, Mississippi.” The latter song also features Kaufman, Bach, and Bruce MacKay, along with a children’s choir.
“I’m usually quite solitary, just me and my dogs,” Griffith says. “But I spent the summer of 2011 with my house full of people. It was a great experience for me, to be able to go downstairs, watch All My Children, go back up and go to work.”
Griffith is beloved as a songwriter but also as someone who unearths others’ songs and brings them to light. In the past, those songs have come from the pens of then-little-known writers including Julie Gold, Kate Wolf, Lyle Lovett, Eric Taylor, and Robert Earl Keen. On Intersection, her choices of outside material were as personally driven as her solo compositions:
Mark Seliger’s “Never Going Back” could have been written about Griffith’s uneasy departure from her native Texas. The late Ron Davies (“Waiting On A Dark Eyed Gal”) was a close songwriter friend and a companion on dozens of beery afternoons at Nashville’s Brown’s Diner, the little joint where Griffith first heard Robbin Bach play the heartbreaking “Davey’s Last Picture.” The album-closing “High On A Mountaintop” is a spirited hold-to-joy anthem, an emotional high spot at the end of a sometimes harrowing album, and the first song Griffith has recorded from one of her primary musical heroes, Loretta Lynn. And “If I Could Only Fly,” written by the late Blaze Foley, was a reminder of losses, of memories, and of crossroads.
It is those crossroads, those intersections, that are at the center of Griffith’s latest work. Twenty albums now, and only one like this, but it’s funny what happens with songs. Sometimes making the best is doing the worst to yourself, but sometimes making the best is singing your truth, even if it makes your heart pound.
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