Category: Guest Posts
0 Hard Rock Nights Radio Show on ClassXradio.com
Tonight on Hard Rock Nights we are pleased to have Joey Allen scheduled to chat with us. Joey is one of the guitarists for Warrant, and he’ll talk to us about the band and their new singer Robert Mason.
In addition to that, we’ve got plenty of Warrant songs to play, as well as some classics from Guns N’ Roses, L.A. Guns, and Ted Nugent, forgotten tracks from Judas Priest, Skid Row, and Gary Hoey, and new stuff from Queensrÿche, Joetown, Souls of We, Whitesnake, and Chickenfoot!
Don’t miss Hard Rock Nights, every Saturday night from 9-11 pm EDT on classxradio.com!
0 Crystal Pistol – S/T (Release Year – 2005)
Today’s post comes from Tania from the Hard Rock Hideout Forum! Have you checked out the HRH forum lately?
Band –
Mike Ireland – vocals
Greg Laikin – bass
Dave Troutman – drums
Brian Bresett – guitars
Pinto – guitars
1. Watch You Bleed
2. Rockstar
3. Locomotive
4. Line It Up
5. Salt of the Earth
6. XXIII
7. Shake
8. All The Freaks
9. Live Fast
10. Teenage Parasite
11. No Fun City
Producer: Jeff Dawson
Hailing from Canada, Crystal Pistols self titled full length debut starts off promising. The first three tracks are nice little rockers. Singer Mike Ireland has a great sleazy, grimy sounding voice and the first two songs in particular, Watch You Bleed and Rockstar, show off his dirty gritty snarl perfectly.
I’m not really sure what Crystal Pistol are trying to do with
the Crystal Pistol band shot rest of the tracks on this CD. Some of it has a punk element to it, some have a rock element, some goth sounding. I guess its “punk rock”, but to me it sounds as if they are trying to put too many different types of musical sounds into each song.
The songs are fast and short, in fact this CD only clocks in at just over 35 minutes. After the third song, the rest of the songs are decent. I’m not saying they are bad, some are catchy but there is nothing really standout after Locomotive. Salt of the Earth is a nice change of pace but it all gets fairly boring and predicable fairly quickly. All in all a mixed bag. Good enough but not great. Check them out at their myspace to get a taste of some Crystal Pistol.
www.myspace.com/crystalpistol
3 Aerosmith Obsession
Today’s post is by Allyson B. Crawford, from Bring Back Glam. Check out Allyson’s amazing glam coverage at Bring Back Glam today!
You know the ones.
Those obsessive fans who will go to any lengths to “appropriately follow” their favorite band.
I consider Aerosmith my favorite band, but now I’ve really got a handle on my addiction. I rarely write about them over at Bring Back Glam! and I don’t spend hordes of money on the Bad Boys of Boston like years past.
I’m 27 and I’m learning to set boundaries. Right now, I’ve got a creative obsession with music writing. I want to transition from a current news-based journalism career to one in which I get paid to listen to music all day. In a lot of ways, I can thank Aerosmith for my music drive.
I didn’t know much about Aerosmith until I was probably 13. Then, Get a Grip was released on April 20, 1993 and suddenly, I was a die-hard rock fan. Back in the early 90s, MTV still played videos, and Aerosmith had the name and the cash to crank out awesome clips. From Get a Grip alone there was “Cryin,’” “Crazy,” “Amazing” and of course, “Livin’ on the Edge.” As Aerosmith’s first album in their third decade of rock started to hit big, MTV started playing more of the band’s older clips. Soon, I found myself scraping together money to buy every Aerosmith release. After I owned just about everything on CD (sometimes I had to settle for cassette when I just didn’t have enough cash), I switched to collecting vinyl. Then T-shirts and other memorabilia. Then magazines with any member of Aerosmith on the cover. It didn’t matter: if my band was out there, endorsing something or on a special television appearance, I had to have it or watch it. No exceptions.
When I was older, I finally got a chance to see Aerosmith live in concert. In fact, I’ve seen Aerosmith in concert more times than any other band, and when they roll through town again, I’ll buy more tickets.
In my senior year of high school, my English teacher assigned the class a project. We had to tell the future of another classmate. One of my friends – who knew my Aerosmith obsession quite well – wrote that I would return to my high school reunion as the president of a record label. While I don’t even work for a label, she was close in guessing that I wanted to turn my passion for music into a money-making venture.
I’m not terrified of success; in fact, I think I’m getting a little closer to my goal every day. Still, I’m terrified at the prospect of meeting – let alone interview – any member of Aerosmith. Would sitting just inches from the one and only Joe Perry turn me into the shell of the woman I’ve become? Would Steven Tyler intimidate so much that I wouldn’t even be able to ask coherent questions?
I like to think that someday I’ll get there: backstage at an Aerosmith show, press pass proudly dangling from my neck. Hopefully, I’ll be able to pull off a quality interview and review…and still tell Boston’s most famous rockers how much they’ve changed my life.
Photo credit: Yahoo! Kids
4 Lita Ford-Out for blood/Dancin’ on the edge
Today’s post is by Metal Mark from Heavy Metal Time Machine. Be sure to stop by and check out Metal Mark’s site.
Lita Ford-Out for blood/Dancin’ on the edge
Remasters 2007
The kind people at BGO (Beat goes on) records recently re-mastered Lita Ford’s first two releases and stuck them on one disc. I used to have both titles on cassette back in the 1980’s, but have not heard either since the early 90’s. Ultimately it seems that her debut is not quite as good as I remembered it while the sophomore effort is perhaps even better than I recalled it being. Out for blood sounds a little like Ford’s previous band the Runaways at times. So it was even slightly dated for 1983 and it’s more rock with hard rock undertones. It’s decent, but a little clunk y at times as the band seems to be reaching to establish a style and the slightly fuzzy production also makes it sound a little amateurish. Still it’s lively and energetic for the most part.
Dancin’ on the edge (originally released in 1984) is the real prize here though. It’s obvious that someone with some say wanted Lita to go in a more hard rock direction and she does with some proficiency. The production values are much stronger than the debut with a more professional sound. Also Lita’s vocals are way more focused and powerful here. I think she also manages to somewhat establish her own guitar style as well. Unfortunately she didn’t really follow up on this guitar style on her later albums. As far as the level of heaviness I would say the overall sound might be comparable to what Ratt or KISS were doing at the same time. The one thing that maybe really makes this album is that the band manages to keep the songs interesting by having new riffs interjected down the stretch. This is done on several songs and it keeps the music from being too repetitious which is a trap that too many hard rock artists fell into. This version is re-mastered and overall sounds fine. There are no bonus tracks, but there is a thick booklet with some history about what Lita Ford did between the end of the Runaways and when she finally did these these two albums. It runs about $21-23 so that’s not bad for two complete albums.
Here’s a track listing with Out for blood being tracks 1-10 and Dancin’ on the edge is 11-19.
1. Out for Blood
2. Stay with Me Baby
3. Just a Feeling
4. Ready, Willing and Able
5. Die for Me Only (Black Widow)
6. Rock ‘N Roll Made Me What I Am Today
7. If You Can’t Live with It
8. On the Run
9. Any Way That You Want Me
10. I Can’t Stand It
11. Gotta Let Go
12. Dancin’ on the Edge
13. Dressed to Kill
14. Hit ‘N Run
15. Lady Killer
16. Still Waitin’
17. Fire in My Heart
18. Don’t Let Me Down Tonight
19. Run with the $
2 Sacred Heart – Shake (Release Year – 2007)
Today’s review comes from Bill Leslie from Rock of Ages. Be sure to stop by Bill’s excellent site, where you can also find a new interview with Sacred Heart singer, Paul Stead.
It’s been many years now since the UK had a true melodic rock band that I felt could match the best of this often maligned genre. “Ten” had promise but despite some success in Japan, line-up changes and reluctance to tour have seen their chances of worldwide recognition diminish. Likewise Dare, who despite some significant airplay on the national BBC Radio 2 station have been unable to turn it into sales. No, the days of the likes of Shy, Tobruk and the mighty F.M. et al flying the flag for Britain are long in the past… but maybe that’s about to change.
Sacred Heart, a four-piece outfit comprising of Paul Stead on guitar &
vocals, Mark Stephenson on lead guitar, Claudio Cafolla on drums and Darren Jhuboo on bass have taken the polished rock sound of the late 80’s, modernised it by adding a heavier feel that has welcomed comparison to the like of Nickelback and Hinder, and across twelve all original compositions have produced a debut that makes you wonder why it doesn’t bear the label of one of Europe’s premier AOR/Melodic Rock labels.
That’s right, despite no major label support, their persistence and belief in these songs has seen the band self-finance the whole thing, and through hard work and impressive use of the internet for promotion should see significant returns.
Having only heard their 2004 demos album “Lay It On The Line” before, the first thing that hits you is the sheer depth of sound they’ve achieved. Opening track “Afraid”, a brooding, mid-tempo rocker with a slight hint of Dio in its pulsing riffs, just sounds so ‘full’. The nearest comparison I could think of is that achieved by Europe on the “Out Of This World” opus and that’s an interesting one to recall as in a few places on this disc I found myself remembering that album and that band. Lead singer Paul Stead shares similarities in both voice and phrasing with Joey Tempest whilst the guitar work of Mark Stephenson possesses similar traits to that of Kee Marcello. Specifically it’s technical and impressive and often attention grabbing yet always seems appropriate to the song and never overly ‘flash’.
Further harder songs such as “Tonight”, a number that builds from a quiet opening toward a monster mid-section and solo, or the magnificent “Lift You Up” leave a lasting positive impression whilst the sleazy lap dancer tale of title track “Shake” will result in a smile from the listener either for the picturesquely suggestive lyrics or the guitar riff straight out of George Lynch’s book from Dokken’s heyday.
Memories of Jagged Edge and their quite English melodic blues-rock single “Out In The Cold” were stirred during “Lost”. One of the albums many highlights it’s already gained some radio airplay for the band in the UK and with its catchy chorus and “hooks that kill” could be an ideal candidate to lift as a single. Likewise the closing track “1000 Tears” which as the albums heaviest number tears up the final five minutes or so and leaves you in no doubt of the bands hard rocking credentials. Of the other tracks, “Paradise” also evokes memories of Europe in sound although it’s a cracker in its own right. “Carry On” is a big, grooving number with speaker rattling riffs and a touch of Warrant about it whilst “Perfect” again makes me recall those American pretty boys although this time it’s along with Whitesnake 1990 in the mix.
Of course, no melodic rock album would be complete without its ballads and here Sacred Heart offer the heartfelt tale of “Natali”, a song benefiting from a pulsating bass line, and the mid-album “Maybe”. Now I must admit that the soft acoustic opening of the latter hasn’t quite clicked with me yet, maybe too much of a come down from the fine opening five song salvo, but there is no denying that it’s a fine vocal performance from Stead and once it erupts pre-solo it’s real power ballad material. That only actually leaves “Promise” left to mention. A slick pop-rocker that like “Natali” perhaps errs on the pop side a little much for my personal taste yet along with the ballads gives the album wider breadth and variety and ultimately more appeal.
In summary, it’s an album that has impressed me greatly. I did initially think maybe I was going overboard and it was down to the sheer leap this band have taken since the demos release however placing the album next to personal genre favourites like the aforementioned Jagged Edge’s “Fuel For Your Soul”, FM’s “Tough It Out”, Ten’s debut album and even added a few of Europe, Dokken and Tyketto releases and I decided it’s not out of place in their company at all.
Of course, it’s not going to redefine a genre but it sure as hell should give the UK melodic rock scene a long overdue shot in the arm. It’s a superbly accomplished debut, which deserves the attention of any melodic rock fan. And that they’ve done it this well down the self-financed route has to be heard to be believed.
Score: 8/10
