| Tuesday
9th March
Last night, thanks to an alert publicist, I narrowly
avoided wasting an entire evening. I’d agreed to
head over to South Of The Border in Old Street to check
out The
Smoking Hearts, whose debut album ‘Pride Of
Nowhere’ kicks ass in a major punkoid-metallic stylée.
Those plans would have been left in tatters when the neighborhood
in which the venue is located was struck by a sudden long-term
power failure. Fortuitously, James Sherry of Division
Media called just as I was preparing to leave. Oh well,
deffo next time…
During
the daytime I did an enjoyable phone interview with Chris
Babbitt of Taking
Dawn, the fast-rising US band that support Airbourne
on their upcoming UK dates. Babbitt’s name really
should be ‘Rabbit’… The guitarist/frontman
is being talked of as an heir to Sebastian Bach’s
motormouth messiah throne. Well, he’s certainly
got the gift of the gab. And quantity aside, much of what
he spews forth is eminently quotable. Thankfully, ‘Time
To Burn’, the Las Vegas quartet’s debut album,
merits the vast quantities of hype that Roadrunner seem
to be drumming up. I’ve just awarded it [9/10] in
the upcoming issue of Metal Hammer.
Still
on the subject of Roadrunner’s artistes, it’s
disappointing to learn that DragonForce have with split
with ZP Theart, one of the finest singers of the power-metal
genre, due to “insurmountable differences of musical
opinion”. Make no mistake, those are major shoes
to fill.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday 8th March
There’s
some fine reading matter in the new issue of Metal Hammer,
dated April (with Slash and M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold
on the cover). Dayal Patterson’s interview with
Varg Vikarnes (AKA Burzum’s Count Grishnackh), is
captivating in a train-crash kinda way. Vikarnes shows
not a slither of remorse whatsoever for the past crimes,
including murder and church-burning, that resulted in
a 16-year jail term. Elsewhere in a section called Spanish
Inquisition the magazine’s readers fire their merciless,
no-holds-barred questions at Lamb Of God’s Randy
Blythe, John Campbell and Chris Adler. Here’s a
sample: ‘I’m learning to play the guitar,
please may I borrow one of your Pantera songbooks?’
Someone else wanted to know: ‘Did your band come
up with its name while yanking at each others’ mutton
daggers in a frenzy of angry toilet love?’ Another
asked: ‘How accurate was the movie Deliverance?’.
Brilliant stuff! Fair play to the LOG guys who take the
abuse in playful spirit, responding with their own jibes
about this fair nation’s own weather, food and dentistry
(“Get some braces, you English twats!”). Ya
can’t beat a good argument, can ya?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sunday
7th March
Crystal Palace’s new management regime is up
‘n’ running after yesterday’s priceless
home win over Sheffield United. Okay, the Blades were
little more than a bunch dirty cloggers who failed dismally
to register a serious attempt on target throughout the
entire game, but three points are three points. Well done
to Messrs Hart, Freedman and Pemberton for allowing the
team to keep the ball on the deck. A very encouraging
start indeed.
The victory set me up for what turned out to be a fantastic
night’s rocking with Lynyrd Skynyrd, reaching Hammersmith
just in time for Gun’s warm-up spot. Mixing up a
healthy smattering of new material (‘Popkiller’,
‘Let Your Hair Down’ and ‘Seraphina’)
with tunes from the past (‘Welcome To The Real World’,
‘Taking On The World’, ‘Better Days’
and ‘Steal Your Fire’, etc), it was refreshing
to see them play to a decent-sized crowd and receive a
noisy, enthusiastic response for their efforts.
Apart from the matter of its brevity, Skynyrd’s
streamlined and super-confident headline performance roared:
“This is how the masters do it”. The US band’s
last British tour in May ’09 offered a treasure
trove of all-time classics culled from the years 1973-1977.
This time they added three songs from their excellent
current studio disc, ‘God & Guns’. With
guitarist Rickey Medlocke throwing rock star shapes a-plenty,
Ronnie Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny sweet-talking
the crowd and the aptly-named Peter Keys proving a capable
replacement for the late, great Billy Powell, Skynyrd
purred through an economical though never less than riveting
90-minute display that left the sold-out Apollo bellowing
for more… which, of course, is the goal. Here’s
the set-list: ‘Skynyrd Nation’, ‘What’s
Your Name?’, ‘Gimme Back My Bullets’,
‘I Know A Little’, ‘That Smell’,
‘Simple Man’, Medley: ‘Whiskey Rock-‘-Roller’/‘Down
South Jukin’’/‘The Needle & The
Spoon’/‘Tuesday’s Gone’, ‘God
& Guns’, ‘Still Unbroken’, ‘Gimme
Three Steps’, Call me The Breeze’, ‘Sweet
Home Alabama’ and a certain epic song about a free
bird.
_
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Saturday
6th March
Tele-sales calls are among my pet annoyances. So when
my office phone line rang at 10am on a Saturday, I prepared
to despatch a volley of abuse to whomever had the audacity
to interrupt my hard-earned leisure time. Imagine my surprise,
then, when the caller turned out to be Dan Reed, wanting
to know why I had not hung around to say ‘hi!’
after last night’s gig at Union Chapel. “Did
you hate it?” he wondered. “Not at all,”
was my reply, though I came clean with my view that the
show’s billing as a ‘full electric band’
was a tad misleading. After finding his way back with
so many one-man acoustic shows, I’d been hoping
for a return to the ‘Funky Dan’ of his former
band the Network. “Really?” responded Reed,
sounding as though the notion had only just occurred to
him. In fact, the 90-minute set had included only a handful
of songs from the DRN era, including ‘Rainbow Child’,
‘I’m So Sorry’, ‘Cruise Together’,
‘Ritual’ and unaccompanied keyboard-vocal
renditions of ‘Let It Go’ and ‘Stronger
Than Steel’. Though his acoustic contributions were
a cornerstone of the performance, I felt it wasteful to
have a guitarist of Tommy Denander’s talent seated
on a stool, playing second fiddle to Rob Daiker’s
low-key electric solos.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big admirer of the
new material that Reed has concocted since returning from
the wilderness. ‘She’s Not You’, for
instance, works on so many different levels. ‘Losing
My Fear’, ‘Brave New World’ and ‘Promised
Land’ are not far behind. And with his long-awaited
studio album, ‘Coming Up For Air’, now lined
up for release through Townsend Records on May 25, they
are likely to take on an even greater resonance. The biggest
difference between ‘now’ and ‘then’
is that Reed’s tunes lack any sort of vigour. Dan’s
become a more spiritual person, which is to be admired.
But I cannot be alone in missing the days when what went
on below the waist – rhythmically and sexually –
was more reflected in his oeuvre. Here’s the set-list:
‘Feels Like Home’, ‘Coming Up For Air’,
‘Losing My Fear’, ‘Rainbow Child’,
‘I’m So Sorry’, ‘Promised Land’,
‘Reach For The Sun’, ‘On Your Side’,
‘Closer’, ‘Candlelight’, ‘Cruise
Together’, ‘Sacred Ground’, ‘Ritual’
and ‘Brave New World’, plus ‘Let it
Go’, ‘Stronger Than Steel’ and ‘She’s
Not You’.
Before heading to the Union Chapel I attended a playback
of Masterplan’s new album. ‘Time To Be King’
is released via AFM Records on May 23 and heralds the
return of Jorn Lande, one of the nest rock singers around.
Lande is one of the few men capable of sounding like David
Coverdale **and** Ronnie James Dio, and although Mike
DiMeo did a good job of fronting Masterplan, on the evidence
of what was played – some songs were missing their
final lead guitar parts – they are all the better
for having him back. Band-leader Roland Grapow was on
hand to talk us through each track. I laughed when he
revealed that ‘Blue Europa’, which name-checks
Winston Churchill and the SS, is about (BOO! HISS!) the
European Union… a subject that is, of course, **way**
too big to be covered in just four minutes or so. Grapow
knew it, too, smiling as he revealed: “I had to
tell Jorn: ‘Please don’t mention Adolf’.”
P.S. The Playlist and YouTube
sections have received their monthly updates.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Friday
5th March
Cool!
Iron Maiden have named their (ulp!) 15th studio album,
which was produced by Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin/Aerosmith/Black
Crowes) and will be released in the summer. It’s
to be called ‘The Final Frontier’. Not a bad
title for sure, but the ‘final’ part is a
bit worrying.
I’ve
been getting back into Reef. After transcribing my recent
Classic Rock interview with their singer Gary Stringer,
I dug out the West Country quarter’s debut album,
1995’s ‘Replenish’ – almost forgot
what a fabulous, groovy and earthy band they were. I must
go and see them at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, or better
still at the ‘secret’ gig that Stringer refers
to here.
Talking
of which, I’ve received some e-abuse for electing
to see John Waite over Kiss (see Wednesday’s diary).
What the original post should probably have mentioned
is that I’ve seen two previous intimate club shows
from Kiss. I was there when the band opened the ‘new’
Marquee Club in August, 1988, as a warm-up for their appearance
at Castle Donington. Then, four years later, during the
promotion of the ‘Revenge’ album, I saw them
at The Stone in San Francisco, where I filed this report.
Given that Waite hadn’t played London (so far as
I know) in almost a quarter-century, and that $immons
and company play two nights at Wembley in two months’
time, it was a bit of a no-brainer. So don’t go
calling me bonkers!
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thursday
4th March
There are just 98 days till the World Cup begins.
Frankly, on the evidence of last night’s game against
Egypt, England don’t stand a snowball in hell’s
chance of winning the tournament. Sure, the national side
was missing several key players (including the disgraced
Ashley Cole), but their first half performance was especially
poor. Capello’s decision to change things around
after Mohamed Zidan put the African champions ahead was
vindicated, but the final score of 3-1 flattered the Thee
Lions. Peter Crouch equalised with incredible style for
a big fella but was blatantly offside for his second goal
and England’s third. Whatever anyone says of Crouch,
20 strikes in 37 games – many of which were off
the bench – is an impressive stat. Bring in James
Milner for the overrated Lampard for me please, Fabio!
Gerrard, too, is living on his reputation.
_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wednesday
3rd March
It’s hard to believe that my last sighting of
John Waite was at the Marquee Club in Wardour Street wa-a-a-a-y
back in 1986. So imagine my frustration when I realized
that last night’s gig clashed with Kiss’ not-so-‘secret’
appearance at the Islington Academy. I had to return my
guest ticket for the latter, but even though Waite played
for just 90 minutes – less than charitable, given
the size of his catalogue – I don’t regret
doing so. As my friend John Dryland and I enjoyed a pre-gig
cider or three, UFO’s Paul Raymond strolled into
the World’s End, the boozer above the Underworld.
Paul and his other half, Helen, were fine company and
meeting them amplified the ‘refreshment’ factor.
The posters for Waite’s tour suggested he would
revisit solo material and offerings from his days with
The Babys and Bad English and, excepting a gratuitous
cover of Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’
and a single-song encore of the Zeppelin standard ‘Rock
And Roll’, that’s exactly what we got –
a mouth-watering smorgasbord of all that’s best
about Lancaster’s finest export. Although the Underworld
was only two-thirds full, the crowd went absolutely wild,
and one of my fondest memories of the night was turning
around to survey the scene during ‘When I See You
Smile’ and realising that a beaming John Mitchell
of It Bites was just a few feet away to my left. We exchanged
knowing grins and got on with mouthing the lyrics to the
Bad English classic. Here’s the set-list: ‘Change’,
‘Back On My Feet’, ‘Encircled’,
‘When I See You Smile’, ‘In Dreams’,
‘How Did I Get By Without You’, ‘All
Along The Watchtower’, ‘Mr Wonderful’,
‘Everytime I Think Of You’, ‘Suicide
Life’, Guitar Solo, ‘Best Of What I Got’,
‘New York City Girl’, ‘Missing You’,
‘Midnight Rendezvous’, ‘Head First’
and ‘Rock And Roll’.
And so… the SE25 pantomime continues... Paul Hart
has been appointed Crystal Palace’s new boss till
the end of the season, with CPFC Legend Dougie Freedman
returning to the club as his right-hand man and Cup Finalist
John ‘Pembo’ Pemberton taking charge of first-team
coaching duties. It could have been far, far worse. As
I got in from the Underworld, administrator Brendan Guilfoyle
was on Sky Sports News claiming: “[Neil Warnock]
told me didn’t have the stomach for the fight; if
he wasn’t committed I needed to let him go.”
If that’s true, it’s funny/tragic that Warnock
has the “stomach” to take on the running of
a club that’s just one position above Palace in
the table. A huge pile of cash versus principles and loyalty?
No contest, it seems. For me, NW has gone from hero to
zero in 24 hours.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tuesday
2nd March
Thankfully,
today is crammed with work – all enjoyable, and
enough to take my mind off the depressing situation at
Selhurst Park. I’ve got a phone interview with Rudolf
Schenker of the Scorps after lunch, before heading off
for a face-to-face chat with Judas Priest’s Rob
Halford and Glenn Tipton. The only bad news is that said
arrangement excludes me from attending a launch reception
for the ‘new’ Jimi Hendrix studio album, ‘Valleys
Of Neptune’. I’ll then head over to the Underworld
to see a gig by John Waite… see what I mean about
a hectic schedule??!!
[Edit: Despite coverage on BBC’s Breakfast News
and right across the media, the official CPFC website
now says that QPR’s statement is “somewhat
premature”, and that discussions regarding Warnock’s
release remain “ongoing”. What an absolute
farce.]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monday
1st March
It’s
10pm and my evening has burst into flames. After conducting
a great interview with former Survivor man Jim Peterik,
I’d settled down to watch some telly. The first
text came from my CPFC buddy Neil Pudney. Neil Warnock’s
‘transfer’ to QP-Hahaha was official. Oh,
bollocks. It was inevitable, but the reported compensation
package of £1.5 million that had been so vital to
keeping Crystal palace running till the end of the season
had dwindled to a paltry £400,000. Worse still we
have no idea who will be in charge against Sheffield United
on Saturday, or for the rest of the campaign – should
the club last that long (and with the taxman appearing
to play hardball with Portsmouth, being wound up looks
like a distinct possibility). All the usual names are
being linked with the vacancy (listed in my own order
of preference)… Sir Steve Coppell, Gareth Southgate,
Alan Smith – also such non-CPFC names as Gary Megson
and Paul Hart. The most unbelievable one is… Iain
Dowie. Holy. Fucking. Shit. The man that lied to us and
then walked out to join the Clowns. Had it happened in
an episode of Dream Team, you’d have said it was
too far-fetched for words.
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