Interview with Durcel Haze

Comprised of two Austrians, a German and a Hungarian, Durcel Haze formed not too long before the pandemic and have now hit the shelves with their great debut release Down The Rabbit Hole.  I recently talked to the band about the new album, recording during the pandemic and more.  

Can you give me a little history on how the band got together?

Edi and Woif knew each other from the local music scene for a long time, Edi and Klaus play ice hockey together. When Woif's former band dissolved in 2019, they founded the new project, but at first without a singer and bass player. Edi has a very extraordinary monthly event in Kufstein, an open stage jam session called LIVEheit, where Janos started to join the stage from time to time, so Edi asked him out for a beer. It was a love at first sight, so the band looked for a rehearsal room and started to work together. One of the first common investments was a fridge for the beer, that operates and supports the band since 2019. (https://youtu.be/YHYJReM56p8)

What kind of impact did covid have on the band?  Also, were you able to record the album together or did you have to do that remotely due to the pandemic?

There was a major impact. From one day to another we were not allowed to meet anymore. This triggered the band to go for a level up. Woif came up with the idea to found a company from the band, as according to the measures, work was an excuse to meet. This way with regular testing we could meet.

The preproduction of our first Album went offline. We recorded our demos at home, sent it to Reini, our producer. The main production was possible to record together, however, we paid attention to keep the least number of the people in the studio, so that the risk of getting sick stays low. The post production went also remote, as it was tricky to cross the border at that time.

However it was one of the most productive times of the band and we are very proud of the result.

Two of you are from countries that speak German and the other two are from Hungary where it’s Hungarian, but then the lyrics are in English.  Was it difficult working that out when you were writing the songs?

So Edi and Wolf are from Tyrol, Klausi is Bavarian, so they have a kind of a common language. Janos moved to Tyrol on carrier reasons and his German is very basic, therefore the communication turned to mainly English. There were no challenges on the communication, as everybody speaks the international language of music and beer. It was more challenging to find the common style we would like to present Durcel Haze, which ended up in a quite diverse debut album. At the end we believe the diversity holds the speciality of the record.

How does your songwriting process tend to work?

Well, there are many ways. It can happen, that one person comes with an idea which is almost complete. This could be a full instrumental demo, or even including vocals and additional harmonies.

We also have the luxury of 2 rehearsal rooms, one is for demo recording, the cellar, the other is where we prepare for the stage. When we get together in the cellar, it also can happen that one arrives and he had an amazing idea at lunch break.  We start to directly record it and capture all the additional ideas which comes up in the meantime. Then the lego adventure is starting to try different combinations of the recorded parts.

The final steps are happening in the live rehearsal room, when we arrange the songs in a way that we can imagine them on stage too. Then for the album we sent it to Reini, in other cases, we try to play it on stage and check out the reaction of the audience. When it works the song will stay in the repertoire.

I really like “Unleashed Confusion” a lot.  It’s a little more aggressive than most of the other songs and to me at times has an almost Bad Religion punk vibe. Can you tell me about that track?

Thank you very much, we are happy to hear that. The main riff came from a lunch break idea, most probably after a stressful meeting... First we arranged the instrumental parts, and then the song was resting, until we got to the situation that due to the main production timelines we had to finalize many songs in a very fast, and the measures did not let us meet. We have distributed the work in between us.

The lyrics came from the situations when loneliness leads to the point of self reflection and digging down in your mind and in your memories. This is the source of the confusion. You cannot always justify whymyou make certain decisions, but re-thinking those will help you to learn and improve yourself. This way you can reach a more conscious status. We also love it.

“Stand Together” really stands out from the rest of the songs.  It has a hint of a Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys vibe at the beginning.  Can you tell me about that song?

You are completely right with the vibe of the song. Actually the name Durcel Haze was chosen on a trip we had visiting Dublin to a Foo Fighters show, and I also think it is not a secret that all the band members are a fan of the Irish culture including all the food and beverages. This way it made sense to add a song to the album which shows a different side of the band and talks about belonging and unity. The song just brings up very sweet memories every times we have the chance to play it.

The bass on quite a few of the songs is more prominent than is the norm for most bands.  Was that something you consciously tried to do?

Shaping the main sound of the record was influenced by the passion on bass and distortion. Also on the guitar recordings we used additional octavers and fuzz effects. The interference of these frequencies ended up in an even bassier sound, which has been controlled in the post production. Anyways, it was an intention to give a strong garage taste to the record as we wanted to provide something special to our listeners.

The lyrics to “Nighthawk” are dark, but unfortunately a reality for some in the world we live in.  Can you tell me a little about that?

It is a bit embarrassing, as when the song has been written there was no news about the Ukranian-Russian conflict and the song was meant to be an anti-war song recalling an imaginary scene of an airbattle. In this battle the main focus was to be on the pilot who turns into a soulless killer due to the fear. However we are just simply very sorry about the current situation, it is still unbelievable that it is happening.

Are the lyrics to “Deadbeat” biographical or did the inspiration come from somewhere else?

The inspiration for the "Deadbeat" lyrics came from a rough meeting with a client during a Workday.

In the evening Edi was having dinner with a bunch of friends in our hometown Kufstein. There was lots of good food, beer and just having a good time. Then – Two tables away – Edi spotted his client which was really rude to him that day – sitting there and having dinner all alone. Thats the Story.

The lyrics to “Agnus Die” tell more of a story and are a bit different than the other songs.  What was the inspiration there?

The lyrics are a kind of a remake of the story from the bible. The main character is a young girl, who incarnates as the lamb of god. She faces all the sins, sacrifices herself and summons the four horsemen to clean-up the mess. For us it made sense to group it with the other songs, as to be honest most of our lyrics are rather pessimistic, but still transferring a message which can be motivating.

There’s a live show on Youtube that was recorded last April, and amongst the songs you played were three, “Fukusumi Tittnipple High”, “Raise Your Fist” and “Come Get Ready”, that aren’t on the album.  Do you think we may be seeing those released sometime in the future?

We really hope that we will have the chance to record them, but currently it is not on the schedule. You have to join the concerts to hear such songs as we have more than just the songs on the album. We are also in a song writing period currently and those songs are more in the focus.

You have a Donnie Darko looking rabbit that has been on all your single covers and now is on your album cover.  What can you tell me about that?

We wanted to bring our “Durcel Haze” to life. If you like you can it imagine like “Captain Planet”. When all four of us are coming together to play music something arises which is bigger than us and it can do things no one of us can. So everytime we team up – Durcel Haze rises.

I know most of you, if not all, were in other bands prior to Durcel Haze.  Are any of you currently in other bands or is it strictly this band?

We have only Durcel Haze on everybody's desk at the moment. The other bands are not active unfortunately.

I usually don’t ask this, but is there a story behind the band name?

“Durcel Haze” is a Modification of the German “Duracell Hase” which means the Duracell Rabbit you may know from the Battery commercials. As Klaus and Edi play a lot of ice hockey in their free time, one day it happened in a locker room that there was a Hockey Magazine lying around. One of the Team started reading it and there was written something like “player XY is running like a young Durcel Haze”. So the Teammate got a bit confused because he didn't knew a famous hockey player with the name “Durcel Haze”.  After a while another player took over the magazine and it turned out that it just was a mistake.

The original text was “player XY is running like a young Duracell Hase”. But we liked the sound of Durcel Haze and put it on the list of potential Band Names. The Rest is History. Also the connection to our rabbit on the artworks comes from there.

Have you been able to get back out there and do live shows again and if so how has that been going?

Happily we have had many shows. We could play in Innsbruck, Wörgl, Salzburg and Vienna too. We are planning shows in Rosenheim and also in our hometown Kufstein too. We are also looking for further opportunities. Currently it is quite challenging to get shows as all the bands which were incubated during the pandemic are back again, the scene is very competitive.

What kind of plans do you have for promoting the album?

The most important way for us is also the classic one: gigs, gigs and gigs.

As mentioned earlier, it's difficult at the moment, because the scene has to consolidate again first, and many bands are pushing onto the stages.

Therefore, we are working on social media to get more exposure, but all bands do the same.

However, advertising is part of the music business, because everyone does that, too. It is not the best part of playing music, but you do not have a good chance without proper promotion.

Anyways, we always try to stay natural, honest and true and do not use artificial tricks (e.g. bots) to create a fake image.

Is there anything else you would like to share with readers?

By now, we have a strong presence on the internet, so visit us on Youtube, Spotify, Instagram or on any other platform of your choice. We also released three music videos, which we managed with limited budget and ended up with a decent quality. You will find some entertaining content, so it is worth following. We are also actively answering on the social media channels, so when you are interested in which beer is our favorite from the region, or how was the screaming guitar solo of ‘Dream Dark’ created, or just want to get a CD or T-shirt send us a message!

(Hicktown Records / Durcel Haze)

  

Peter Bardens - Long Ago, Far Away

Throughout the Sixties keyboardist Peter Bardens participated in what’s become known as the “British Blues Boom”.  During that time he found himself working with the likes of Ray Davies, Mick Fleetwood, Van Morrison, Peter Green and Rod Stewart along with many others.  In 1969 Bardens headed into the studio and the following year released the first of two solo albums that were released prior to him joining Camel.  Long Ago, Far Away contains both of these albums, originally released on Transatlantic Records, along with five bonus tracks.   

With a band that included bassist Bruce Thomas, later of The Attractions, drummer Reg Isidore, who went on to play with Robin Trower, and guitarist Andy Gee, The Answer is often rooted in the bluesier sounds of his prior work, but expands in a variety of directions.  The disc starts off with the title track, a catchy tune with a bit of a mystical vibe, merging a laid-back, soulful blues jam with prog elements and some hints of psychedelia.  “Don’t Goof With A Spook” finds them slowing things down a little, and is a bluesy, psychedelic rocker that really showcases his keyboard work and has some Hendrix-like guitar playing.  The ten plus minute “I Can’t Remember” has a laid-back, soulful psychedelic groove that at times has a bit of a Sly and the Family Stone vibe and then evolves into a bluesy, psych jam with Bardens’ organ really taking charge.   The pace picks up a bit on the next two tunes, “I Don’t Want To Go Home”, a bouncy cut complemented by flute, playful percussion, guitar and some really nice backing vocals from Linda Lewis, and “Let’s Get It On”.  Interestingly, both of these songs featured an uncredited Peter Green on lead guitar (he also contributed some guitar to the title track).  Closing the album out is the thirteen plus minute psychedelic prog rock tour de force “Homage To The God Of Light”.  Driven by a propulsive beat and extended jams on guitar and keyboards, this tune had already been a staple in the live shows of his pre-solo band Village and was also a highlight of his solo shows as well as early Camel shows.  Speaking of Village, the first two of three bonus tracks here are the A and B side of the sole single released by that band.  “Man In The Moon” is an organ drenched psychedelic rocker with a bit of an early Pink Floyd vibe at times, while the flip “Long Time Coming” is another organ driven tune, this time a prog instrumental partially based on Mars from Holst’s The Planet Suite.  Closing out disc one is “Long Ago, Far Away” a nine minute instrumental recorded during the sessions for The Answer that has a nice laid-back jazz groove and really allows everyone in the band to show their stuff.  

With what for the most part was a new band, the self-titled follow-up, found here on disc two, is a solid release and contains what is possibly the best song of his solo career in “Write My Name In The Dust”.  Right out the gate things move in a bit of a different direction with “North End Road”, a jaunty instrumental with a ragtime vibe.  The aforementioned “Write My Name In Dust” is next and is a gorgeous, laid-back bluesy tune that is complemented by Bardens’ organ and is often reminiscent of the Small Faces.  “Down So Long” and “Simple Song” are a couple of tracks that find the band branching out a little.  The former is an unusually heavy track meshing doomy guitars and organ that at times brings to mind early Alice Cooper and even has a little “Schools Out” like riff at one point.  The latter strips things down to vocals and whistling with a little acoustic guitar, some bare bones percussion and keys and reminds me of some of the quirky, more novelty Beatles’ songs.  Amongst the other highlights are “My House”, a laid-back easygoing blues instrumental with some prog elements and “Feeling High”, a mellower, soulful psychedelic tune.  Closing out disc two are a couple of bonus tracks - "Homage To The God of Light" Part One and Two, which is basically an edited version of that song split in two for a French single.  Just a few months after the album's release, Bardens answered an ad in Melody Maker to join what became Camel, and as a member of that band recorded six albums over the next six years before leaving to play on one album with Van Morrison, his former Them bandmate, and then further pursue a solo career before passing away in 2002. Another highly recommended release from Esoteric once again giving a largely lesser known artist some deserved recognition.  

(Esoteric Recordings)

Billy Mackenzie - Satellite Life Recordings 1995-1996

Although he is best known as the co-founder and frontman of the Associates, Billy Mackenzie also had a short solo career with several outstanding releases, but unfortunately most were released after his death in 1997.  Now, coinciding with the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death, Cherry Red Records has released the excellent three disc box set Satellite Life, which was curated by Steve Augle from sessions he and Billy recorded, and is comprised of thirty-nine tracks, sixteen of which are previously unreleased.  Augle says he was never happy with the way the songs were originally presented, so he has resequenced them more cohesively with each disc having it’s own theme.  

The first disc is titled Winter Academy and contains the ballads.   Most of the tunes here are stripped down with him accompanied by some combination of piano or keys and violin with guitar or a string section on a few.  Opening things are "Sing That Song Again", a gorgeous torch song, and "Winter Academy", which has an insanely emotional and expressive vocal performance.  Next up is "Wild Is The Wind", the first of three covers on disc one and a song that has been covered by many other artists, most notably Bowie, Nina Simone and Johnny Mathis.  In Mackenzie's hands it sounds like it written for him.  The other covers are the Sparks tune "Mother Earth", which is more stripped down than the original, but has a similar vibe, and Randy Newman’s "Baltimore", a haunting version with vocals that border on spoken word, except in the chorus, with Dennis Wheatley’s keys swirling around them.  "The Soul That Sighs" is a subdued atmospheric ballad with subtle electronic elements, while "And This She Knows" contains another haunting vocal performance and also includes a little guitar accompaniment.  "When The World Was Young" is slightly more upbeat than the rest of the songs on disc one and contains some gorgeous harmonies with his voice layered over itself.  On the slow, dreamy sounding "Beyond The Sun", he shows just how incredible his vocals are with a delivery that sounds like he is using his last breath, while “Return To Love” is a slower, hypnotic track with a hint of electronica.  Quite possibly the high point on disc one, and one that is definitely unlike anything else here, is the previously unreleased “Tallahachie Pass”.  With new music added by Aungle, Tom Doyle and Anth Brown, the gorgeous acoustic guitar, subtle drumming and keys come together to create a country flavored tune reminiscent of Glenn Campbell or Jimmy Webb. 

Disc two, titled Consenting Holograms, collects his electronic and more dance oriented songs.  After kicking off with some nightclub ready dance tunes including “3 Gypsies In A Restaurant”, with it’s techno beat and middle eastern flourishes and “Falling Out With The Future”, things move in a more experimental direction.  High points here include “Hornophobic”, an aggressive drum ‘n’ bass tune with some melodic, almost industrial elements, that comes off a little Bowie-ish, “14th Century Nightlife”, a hard driving industrial soundscape that is definitely unlike anything else here, and the high energy electronica instrumental “Consenting Holograms Have More Fun”.  Next is the upbeat “Fear Is My Bride”, which has a really strong vocal performance and is closer to a more traditional Mackenzie sounding track, a solid electronic dance cover of Eurythmics’ “Here Comes The Rain Again”, and “Mysterious Lover”, an upbeat track with a driving beat that takes you back to the clubs.  Other highlights here are the beautiful, dreamlike version of “Return To Love” that has a bit more of an electronica sound than the version on disc one, and a subdued, nine minute remix of “Give Me Time”. 

The final disc is titled Liberty Lounge and is primarily band oriented songs, many of which had the potential to be hits if given the chance. The disc opens really strong with “Tomorrow People”, an extremely catchy pop tune.  Next up is the gorgeous sixties sounding ballad “The Mountains That You Climb”, a tune that would fit perfectly on disc one, with a vocal performance that is one of the best in the box, and superb musical accompaniment including organ, which is a brilliant touch.  “MacArthur’s Son” has a nice soul pop vibe with another of his strongest vocal performances.  The next two tracks move in more of a rock direction with “Liberty Lounge” being a slower tune complete with electric guitar and an everpresent organ, while “Sour Jewel” has a bit of a glam Roxy Music feel.  Things are a bit more pop again with the laid-back “14 Mirrors”, a tune that shows up again a few songs later, with a previously unreleased version that is stripped down to just piano and vocals.  The pace slows down on the next couple of tracks with the original version of “Give Me Time”, which draws you in with it’s synth blasts and slow burning beat, and “At The Edge Of The World”, a moody trip hop tune that was produced by Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins fame and sounds like a lost James Bond theme song.  “Satellite Love” is a very captivating tune, again stripped down to vocals and keys, that has an air of mystery about it.  For “Your Own Fire” Mackenzie collaborated with Stiv Lester to create a strange tune that is raw and edgy with a bit of a garage rock feel complete with a ragged honky tonk piano rattling in the background, and is quite unlike anything else here.  Closing out the box is “Van Hamburg”, a nice little piano and violin instrumental.  Rounded out with a twenty four page booklet containing notes from Augle and a couple other collaborators this is an outstanding, highly recommended collection that shows just what a talent Mackenzie was.  

(Cherry Red Records)

Graham Bonnet Band - Day Out In Nowhere

Over a fifty-five plus year career starting with The Blue Sect in 1965 and then having a hit single with the song “Only One Woman” (interestingly written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb) in 1968 as part of the duo The Marbles, Graham Bonnet has had an incredible career that has included fronting Rainbow, Alcatrazz, MSG, Impellitteri and many other bands.  His latest release is Day Out In Nowhere, the third album from the Graham Bonnet Band, which is rounded out by Beth-Ami Heavenstone (bass), Conrado Pesinato (guitar), Alessandro Bertoni (keyboards) and Shane Gaalaas (drums).  Also featured throughout the album are guest appearances from guitarists Jeff Loomis, Mike Tempesta, Roy Z and Takanori Ozaki, drummers John Tempesta and Levi Dokus and legendary keyboardist and Bonnet’s former bandmate Don Airey.  In describing the album he said, “Similar to the first two albums, it will reflect different eras of my career, but with a contemporary twist”, which is a very good description of what you can expect to hear.  While most of the album is rooted in classic hard rock, there is a lot of diversity here that touches on various parts of his career.  Right out the gate with the upbeat, high energy rocker “Imposter” there is no denying that Bonnet’s voice is still in great shape, the band is at the top of their game and that this has the makings of a great release.  Things move in more of a progressive metal direction next with “Twelve Steps To Heaven”, a song that takes a blunt look at the struggles of trying to maintain sobriety, while “Brave New World” features some great guitar work from Roy Z and has a “classic” Bonnet vocal.  “Uncle John”, a dark song dealing with pedophilia and based on a real person from Bonnet’s youth, and “When We’re Asleep”, featuring the Tempesta brothers, are a couple of really strong classic rockers that have a bit of a modern edge to them.  The title track takes things down for a moment and is a nice, leisurely paced tune that then leads into the faster “The Sky Is Alive”, a cut that takes you back to his days fronting Alcatrazz.  With “David’s Mom” and “It’s Just a Frickin’ Song”, a track featuring Airey that musically is reminiscent of their time in Rainbow, they lighten the mood a bit with lyrics that are sillier and more tongue in cheek, before they tear into “Jester”, a cut featuring Jeff Loomis on guitar that is a fast paced rocker and the heaviest song here.  Closing things out is “Suzy”, an over the top ballad that features an orchestra and while a great showcase for his voice, seems a bit out of place here.  Day Out In Nowhere is definitely a release that Bonnet should be adding to the high points of his amazing career. 

(Frontiers Records)

 

Strangeways - Complete Recordings Vol. 1 1985-1994

Over a five year period starting with the release of their 1985 self-titled debut, Glasgow’s Strangeways released three outstanding AOR albums that are considered by many fans and music critics to be some of the best of that genre.  Complete Recordings Vol 1 1985-1994, the new four CD box set from Cherry Red Records (through their HNE Recordings label) brings these three releases, along with their fourth (more on that later), together, and also includes eighteen bonus tracks.

On their debut, the band comprised of Tony Liddell on vocals, brothers Ian J. and David Stewart on guitar and bass, Jim Drummond on drums and Alan Thomas on keys, worked with producer Kevin Elson (most notable at that time for his work with Journey on Departure, Escape and Frontiers) to create an album full of solid American styled AOR with a bit of a British rock bite.  Liddell’s vocals are strong and Stewart’s guitar work and soloing stand out throughout.  Some of the high points are “Breaking Down The Barriers”, which had all the makings of a hit, “The Kid Needs Love”, “Hold Back Your Love” (this tracks has some really good Neal Schon styled guitar), “Close To The Edge”, “Cry Out” and “Hold Tight”.  Closing out the disc are five demos, including three for tracks that didn’t appear on the album.  One of these is “Hold On”, which is interesting because it’s a ballad and there are really no ballads on the album.  

For their sophomore release Native Sons, the band parted ways with Liddell and added American singer Terry Brock along with David “Munch” Moore now on keys.  This time around they worked with John Punter as producer, who had worked with the likes of Japan, Roxy Music and Slade.  With the combination of Brock’s smoother, more hit friendly voice, that has a bit of a Steve Perry quality, Stewart’s at times Schon like guitar playing and Moore’s keys, along with a more polished production, the album has a definite Journey vibe.  If you’re a fan of eighties AOR there really isn’t a bad cut to be found, but the semi ballad “Goodnight LA”, “Only A Fool”, “So Far Away” and “Where Do We Go From Here” are definite highlights.  Six more bonus tracks can be found on this disc, starting with three live tracks.  The sound quality on these is the equivalent of a good bootleg and does a good job of showing what they were capable of live.  The other three bonus cuts are a couple of single edits and an AOR Mix of “Dance With Somebody”.

Walk In The Fire, the band’s third album, found them with the same lineup, but this time around guitarist Ian Stewart co-produced with John Lee and the mixing handled by Mike Shipley (Whitesnake, The Cars, Journey).  Like it’s predecessor, this is another album full of classic eighties AOR songs that should have been hits.   Again, no weak cuts to be found, but highlights here include “After The Hurt Is Gone”, “Where Are They Now”, “Danger In Your Eyes”, “Every Time You Cry” and “Modern World”.  Closing out the disc are six more bonus cuts, starting with four demos. While the first, “Jackie’s Gone”, is another solid tune with a bit of a Journey vibe and was recorded during the Walk In The Fire sessions with Brock on vocals, the other three were recorded with vocalist Charles Bowyer for a projected fourth album.  Bowyer is a solid vocalist, although his vocals are a little grittier, and while “Big Tom” and “The Last Chance” are strong AOR cuts, “Liberty” adds a little variety to their usual sound with a bit of a bluesy groove (this song was actually released on their 2010 album Perfect World with Brock back on vocals).  Live versions of “So Far From Here” and “Where Do We Go From Here”, again with the sound quality the equivalent of a good bootleg, round out the disc. 

Album number four, And The Horse, was a radical departure for the band and if you ask a fan what they think you might just see their head explode.  Ian Stewart handled production again, but also took over on vocals after the departure of Brock.  The music climate at this time was changing and the band decided to shift as well.  From the opening strains of “Precious Time”, with it’s catchy, laid-back funk rock groove, you can tell this isn’t going to be another album of AOR classics.  Contrary to what die hard fans might lead you to believe, this doesn’t mean this is a bad album.  In fact it is a very creative album, showing a more experimental side to the band and to me it’s just as good as any of their prior releases, just different.  While “Out Of The Blue” is a slower, kind of dreamy tune that treads fairly close to earlier albums, songs like “Through The Wire” and “The Great Awakening” are haunting, moodier tracks that show a definite Pink Floyd influence.  Other high points include “Head On”, another slower, laid-back track with a soulful jazz groove, the simple acoustic “On” and the nine minute “Some Of Us Lie”, a beautiful, introspective tune with hints of prog, that’s full of dreamy instrumental passages, some bluesy guitar work and great keyboard passages.  The band’s musicianship really shines throughout the album, especially Stewart’s guitar work.  It’s a shame that while they were a huge critical success, Strangeways never really got their just due, so if you long for the days when AOR bands were in their heyday, this is a great way to discover this deserving band. 

(HNE Recordings)

The Corps - From Oblivion

Four years after their last release, the full-length Tales From 2814, Vancouver’s The Corps are back with their new EP From Oblivion.  With the exception of the slower cut “The Pocket”, this EP is full of hard charging skatepunk, driven by breakneck guitar riffs, pummeling drums and an everpresent sense of melody that often brings to mind Bad Religion (vocalist Dan Garrison reminds me a little of Greg Graffin).  Lyrically the band has taken their love of comics to address real life issues around us with a comic book view.  While they have somehow eluded me before now, I am quite impressed with this EP and will definitely be checking out all their previous releases.

(Thousand Island Records)

Prowler - Reactivate

Formed in Basildon, Essex in 1975, during the early days of NWOBHM, Prowler steadily built a fanbase playing live shows and opening for bands like Budgie and Atomic Rooster.  At a gig in 1980 they met the legendary producer Chris Tsangarides, who after hearing one of their demos, recorded “Gotta Get Back To You” for the compilation Brute Force, an album that would end up becoming a NWOBHM classic and also included tracks from Fist, Diamond Head and Raven amongst others.  That song, “Gotta Get Back To You” is a gritty NWOBHM styled rocker that has some killer guitar work that even includes a bit of “Hava Nagila”.  A few months later the band recorded three more demos with Tsangarides, all of which are also found here along with a live track recorded at The Marquee Club in London in December 1980.  At the urging of Bronze Records, 1981 found the band changing their name to Samurai.  While the name change was short lived as the band went back to Prowler later in the year before actually calling it a day in 1982, there are two tracks here under the Samurai name, one a studio recording and one recorded live.  For the most part the rest of the songs are really solid twin guitar rockers that are often reminiscent of Judas Priest and Saxon, and in the case of the live version of “Samurai” there’s a little Maiden thrown in for good measure  Having said that they still manage to maintain their own identity.  In 2010 and 2020 the band reunited, first to record a 30th Anniversary version of “Gotta Get Back To You” and then to record a 40th Anniversary version of“Heavy Metal Hero”, which has a Deep Purple vibe to it.  While they are a little more polished and the vocals are a little rougher on the 2020 cut, both tracks stand up to what they did decades earlier.  It's a shame the recognition didn't come back in the day, but it's nice to see Prowler get the album they deserve. 

(HNE Recordings)

Jeremiah Moon - Sputnik

Although he’s a classically trained cellist, a challenge from a friend in 2018 to take himself more seriously as an artist, got Jeremiah Moon to start seriously working on his songwriting.  As a result of this he has now released his debut five song EP Sputnik.  Recorded with his friend and producer Adam Black in a cabin in Florence, Oregon and then finished over the next couple of years, he melds his cello, delicate vocals and various subtle noises and instrumental touches with arrangements that have a strong pop sensibility, to create a set of tunes that are hypnotically captivating.  “Melusine” opens the disc and is a haunting, almost ethereal tune, and is followed by “Housesitting”, which has a similar feel but with an arrangement that is a little livelier.  With “Kinds of Light” and “Sugarbrain” the pop sensibilities of the songs really come to the forefront and while still maintaining his sound, both cuts are a bit more fleshed out musically and have hooks for days.  Closing the EP is “Coda”, a slower, wistful song with very vulnerable sounding vocals.  Quite an impressive debut that has me looking forward to hearing what the future holds. 

(Enci Records)

Flush - Conspiracies, Threats and Chaos

After releasing their debut album in the midst of the pandemic in 2020, Helsinki, Finland’s Flush was of course unable to perform live, so they headed into a shipping container studio, and over two days self-produced and recorded the EP, Conspiracies, Threats and Chaos.  With a sound that’s largely rooted in hard rock, the four songs they have produced make for a fairly diverse EP.  Kicking things off is “Kings and Queens” which starts with a loose, rattling bassline and crunching guitar before shifting into a solid rocker that balances a melodic side with a raw edginess.  “Weak and Wrong” moves in more of an aggressive and dirty punk direction and at instances is a bit reminiscent of Bad Religion, but with more of a garage rock vibe, while “Cut Me Open” has a more dynamic, laid-back groove and borders on being a bit grungy.  Closing things out is “Entertainment”, a pub rock singalong with a straight-ahead hard rock bite.  This is a very impressive EP that really has me looking forward to hearing what they have up their sleeves next.

(WormHoleDeath / Flush - Facebook)

Harry Chapin - Story Book: The Elektra Albums (1972-1978)

Although his initial foray into music was in his teens with his two brothers as The Chapin Brothers (they released an album called Chapin Music! in 1966 and also occasionally performed with their father Jim, who was considered a legendary percussionist), Harry Chapin intended on being a documentary filmmaker and was even nominated for an Academy Award in 1968 for the boxing doc Legendary Champions.  After shifting his focus to music and playing New York City nightclubs, there ended up being a bidding war between Columbia and Elektra before he signed a multi-million dollar deal with Elektra (considered one of the biggest at that time) and releasing his debut Heads And Tales in 1972.  Story Book: The Elektra Albums (1972-1978) is an outstanding new six CD box set that starts with that debut and covers his nine Elektra releases from that time period, all newly remastered in 2022.  He did release one last album on Elektra, 1979’s Legends Of The Lost And Found, which was a combination of some live and studio tracks, and is owned by the Chapin Family and not included here. 

Produced by label head Jac Holzman, Head And Tales is a beautifully arranged collection of tunes with Chapin's warm, relaxed vocals accompanied by his core band and the subtle use of cello and recorder. Chapin had an incredible way with telling stories through his lyrics which was evident from the start with the album’s biggest hit and one of his best known songs “Taxi”.  Hitting number 24 on the US charts, the semi-autobiographical tale of a taxi driver picking up a former lover and addressing their reflections of the past and present does a brilliant job of painting a picture of the taxi ride and the emptiness of their lives.  Both “Taxi” and the album sold over one million copies within the first six months of the album’s release. 

While the follow-up Sniper And Other Love Songs wasn’t as successful as his debut, overall it is really a stronger and more diverse release. Album highlight “Sniper” is one of the most powerful storytelling songs he ever wrote.  Written about a real-life mass shooting in Texas, the song is an almost ten minute musical movie.  Many of the other songs continue to show just how good a storyteller he is.  “Burning Herself” is an intense tune addressing self-mutilation and punctuated with some hard rock like guitar riffs, musically “Better Place To Be” is somewhat reminiscent of “Taxi” and basically tells the story of someone who feels being with anyone is better than being alone, and “Woman Child” tackles teenage pregnancy and abortion.  Another notable song here is “Circle”, an infectious tune that was covered by The New Seekers the same year the album was released and became their biggest hit.

With Short Stories Chapin once again found himself on the charts with “W.O.L.D” hitting 36 in Billboard.  The song is basically a bittersweet conversation between an aging DJ and his ex-wife as he realizes his life has passed him by as he chased his dreams of being a DJ around the country.  “Mr Tanner”, another movie like song about a dry cleaner who is encouraged by friends to go to New York to sing in a show because of his beautiful voice, but gets panned when he gets there and never sings again except by himself at night (one of Chapin’s backup singers “Big” John Wallace is featured as Mr Tanner), “Mail Order Annie”, a beautiful, laid-back tune that’s basically a love letter of sorts from a North Dakota farmer to his mail order bride, and “They Call Her Easy” are amongst several other songs here that became crowd favorites.

Opening with “Cat’s In The Cradle”, his only song to hit number one, Chapin’s next album Verities & Balderdash sold over two million copies.  The song started as a poem written by his wife and today has become a part of pop culture (there’s a segment in the Chapin documentary When In Doubt, Do Something where they show clips of the song being referenced in many TV shows including The Simpsons, Friends, Modern Family, Blackish, Stephen Colbert, The Goldbergs, Two and A Half Man and The Office along with Shrek and being covered by both Johnny Cash and DMC with Sarah McLachlan).  The album also contained a couple more singles that charted in “I Wanna Learn A Love Song” and “What Made America Famous”.  “30,000 Pounds of Bananas” and “Six String Symphony” are lighthearted tunes that showed his sense of humor, while “Shooting Star” is another gorgeous movie-like story song. 

Even though Portrait Gallery ended up being one of his least popular albums it still has plenty of great songs and the overall sound of the album harkens back to his earlier releases.  Along with “Bummer”, an epic nearly ten minute track with an outstanding orchestrated arrangement full of horns and even utilizing backing vocalists, some of the other highlights are “Dreams Go By”, a bouncy tune that’s upbeat musically, but very bittersweet lyrically, and “Someone Keeps Calling My Name”, which was originally on The Chapin Brothers release and has been rerecorded here.  

Compiled from shows recorded over three nights in San Diego, Santa Monica and Berkeley, Greatest Hits Live is largely just that, live versions of his biggest hits and most popular songs along with a song apiece written by his brothers Tom and Steve.  Chapin always shined live and had a great rapport with the crowd and it really shows here.  Along with the eleven live songs are three new studio tracks, “She Is Always Seventeen” “Love Is Just Another Word” and “The Shortest Story” (while these songs were on the original vinyl version of the album, they were removed from past CD versions and have once again been included here). 

For On The Road To Kingdom Come, Chapin turned to his brother Stephen to handle the production.  The resulting album contains the most elaborate production to that point in his career with electric guitars, horns, keys and even some sound effects.  At times this gave the album a little more of a rock sound and on the opening title track there is even a hint of a reggae beat at times.  Some of the highlights include the beautiful “Corey’s Coming”, “Caroline” and “If My Mary Were Here”, all of which are a little more reminiscent of his earlier stuff, along with twisted tale “The Mayor Of Candor Lied”.

With his brother Stephen at the production helm once again, the double album Dance Band On The Titanic is his most ambitious sounding disc.  The production is outstanding as it expands even further than it’s predecessor and the diversity of his songs are at their peak as evidenced by the opening title track, a tune with an earwormy dance beat that breaks out into an all out rocker complete with screaming electric guitars.   Along with a couple of standout ballads in “Mismatch” and “I Do It For You Jane”, other standout tracks include “We Grew Up A Little Bit”, “Country Dreams” and the humorous bluesy “Bluesman”.   Another track of note is the fourteen plus minute closer “There Was Only One Choice”, an absolute brilliant conceptual piece. 

Living Room Suite is the last album from this period and found him shifting back to the more stripped down singer/songwriter style.  While the album is still full of classic “Harry Chapin” songs, most notably “Flowers Are Red”, a really catchy upbeat tune that deals with conformity in schools and was apparently quite popular in Ireland, the record buying public’s tastes had shifted and the sales weren’t very good.  Songs like “Poor Damned Fool” and “Jenny" are great ballads, and others like “Dancin’ Boy” and “I Wonder What Will Happen To This World” find him dabbling in a bluesy gospel direction.  Chapin did go on to release a couple more albums before his untimely death in a car accident in 1981.   Cherry Red/Strawberry has done an outstanding job with this collection.  The CD’s sound great and the enclosed booklet contains a detailed bio as well as a rundown on each album and credits.  This is a highly recommended collection. 

(Strawberry)

Dramatis - Dramatis

In late April 1981, Gary Numan performed three shows at Wembley Arena that signaled his retirement from live performances.  At this point, his band, RRussell Bell (guitars, keyboards), Chris Payne (vocals, keyboards) and Ced Sharpley (drums), along with Gary’s extra keyboard player, Denis Haines, decided to form their own band Dramatis (bassist Paul Gardiner wanted to start a solo career).  A few days after those shows the band was signed to Elton John’s Rocket Records and over the next few months they released three singles, “Ex Lunia Scientia”, “Oh! Twenty Twenty-Five” and “No-One Lives Forever”, then in September they released their debut album For Future Reference, which is where this new two-disc deluxe version kicks off. 

Opening things is the album version and differently spelled “Oh! 2025” a catchy synth rock tune with a hint of Devo in the vocal delivery.  On “Human Sacrifice” they go in a bit of a colder, darker direction with some tribal percussion, viola and jolting synths.  This darker sound continues on the next track “I Only Find Rewind”, which at first reminds me of Berlin’s “Metro” (ironically also released in 1981) with vocals that are sung lower than the prior songs, and a really nice upbeat melodic break towards the middle.  "No-One Lives Forever" is another bouncy, upbeat catchy synth tune with some really good guitar work setting it apart.  This brings us to “Love Needs No Disguise”, which largely due to the contribution of Numan on vocals was their biggest hit.  The lyrics are about their time in the Gary Numan band and it just so happened that he had stopped by the studio the day they were recording it.  He liked the song and asked if he could sing on it and it ended up reaching 33 on the UK charts (it also ended up being released on Numan’s label Beggars Banquet and was credited to Gary Numan and Dramatis).  The song itself is without a doubt the album’s high point, a very captivating tune, again kind of darker and with a very hypnotic, atmospheric sound full of swirling synths, viola and piano.  Starting with a very beautiful classical sounding section of piano, viola and keys “Turn”, another standout track, evolves into a very upbeat song meshing synth heavy dance beats with very dynamic prog instrumental passages.  “Take Me Home” is a hauntingly beautiful, somewhat distorted, piano piece accompanied by viola and pleading vocals repeating the title, while “On Reflection” is a bright, pop tinged tune that brings to mind Ultravox.  Closing things out is “Ex Luna Scienta”, which was initially their first single and the first song they recorded as Dramatis, and sounds like Visage meshed with ELO, thanks to their use of vocoder.  Disc one also contains eight bonus songs consisting of three single tracks and five twelve inch mixes.  The single tracks here are “The Curtain” (b-side of “Oh! Twenty Twenty-Five), a very captivating piano/synth instrumental, “Face On The Wall”, a hook heavy synth driven pop tune and “Pomp And Stompandstamp”, an edgy instrumental with modern day classical and prog synth runs twisting and turning around the occasional crunching guitar licks (these last two were non-album tracks released after the album. 

Following the opening cut on disc two, which is a medley of four album tracks stitched together as a sales sampler and included on the flipside of “No One Lives Forever”, are six seven inch single tracks.  Included in these are “Lady DJ”, which is driven by a really cool funky synth beat and finds them using vocoder in the chorus, and was released as the b-side to “Ex Luna Scientia”, and “The Shame”, an epic song, where all the pieces really come together and was released as a single after the album was released.  Their final release was the single “I Can See Her Now”, a really pretty pop tune that saw them hitting the charts again peaking at 57 on the UK charts.  “One Step ahead, which was the single’s flipside, is a spritely synthpop instrumental.  Closing out disc two is a previously unreleased BBC in Concert performance from the Paris Theatre in May 1982.  Opening the show is the previously unreleased “Sand and Stone”, a fairly taut tune that leads into “I Only Find Rewind”, which has a rawer, almost punk energy not present on the album version.  The performance of “Face On The Wall” maintains all the hook heavy catchiness here and “I Can See Her Now” is heavier than the studio version with more of a rock edge.  While the playful, more dynamic sounds of “Turn” and “Pomp and Stompandstomp” showcase their musicianship, their take on “Love Needs No Disguise” is outstanding with Chris Payne handling the vocals just as well as Numan.  “The Shame” then closes the show out brilliantly.  The CD also comes with a booklet containing a really good band history, an interview with RRussell Bell and recollections on all of the songs. 

As the band were working on songs for a second album they received a call from Numan asking if they would consider returning for both recording and touring (at this point Denis Haines had left the band and joined The Hollies), which they decided to do.  Around 2012 they had plans to reunite, but those plans failed to materialize after the passing of Ced Sharpley.  After several more years of uncertainty, 2020 saw the release of a new Dramatis single “A Torment of Angels”, which can be found on their bandcamp page (Dramatis).   Since then they have also played some live shows and have plans for a new album. 

(Cherry Red Records)

Gadgets Sons - Gadgets Sons

The moment this self-titled debut from Oklahoma two-piece Gadgets Sons starts it’s complete in your face brutality.  For the most part, the songs are aggressive extreme/death metal, but if you dig a little deeper there are a lot of dynamics with elements of stoner, groove and hardcore coming through.  The guitar work from Charles Ian Ireland is very impressive, aggressive and heavy, but with a lot of little nuances throughout like the shredding that pops up for a moment in “Perrika”, which at times musically reminds me of Fear Factory, and his acoustic playing on the gorgeous, atmospheric instrumental “You and I”, a song that gives you a quick reprieve halfway through the EP.  In the vocal department Ireland largely shifts deftly from a death metal growl to a scream. Phillip Eyad Mofadi’s drumming is for the most part brutal and precise, but there are also times like on “Song One”, which is a thrashier groove metal song that’s a touch more on the melodic side (I say that lightly) and “IWBY”, which is a little doomier, where he does a great job of falling back a little in the groove.  This is quite an impressive debut, made even more impressive by the fact that it sounds like a full band and not two people.  Looking forward to hearing where they go from here. 

(WormHoleDeath)

Michael Weston King - The Struggle

For over thirty years UK singer-songwriter Michael Weston King has had a very successful music career, initially as a member of the bands Fragile Friends, Gary Hall and the Stormkeepers and The Good Sons, followed by a solo career and then for the past ten years as half the duo My Darling Clementine with his wife Lou Dalgleish.  Now he is back with The Struggle, his first solo album in ten years, which was recorded in a rural studio in Wales and features guest appearances from Elvis Costello’s long-standing keyboard player Steve Nieve, Jeb Loy Nichols, his wife Lou, his daughter Mabel Dalgleish-King and others. The resulting album is a gorgeous set of tunes rooted in the sounds of late 60’s and early 70’s singer songwriters with a bit of country and folk added to the mix, at times bringing to mind artists from John Prine, Townes Van Zandt and Jesse Winchester to Van Morrison, Harry Chapin and even Scott Walker.  Lyrically King does an outstanding job of tackling subjects as a storyteller and paints a very visual picture with his words.  Several of the songs tackle the struggles of life and getting older.  “The Hardest Thing Of All”, details battling depression and just getting through the day, “Valerie’s Coming Home” is a heartbreaking song about packing up everything after the passing of his mother-in-law and “Another Dying Day” is about the despair of being alone after a relationship ends.  While “Weight of the World” finds him displaying his disgust with Trump’s march to St. Johns Church to deal with Black Live Matters protestors by looking at it from the view of a policeman who voted for him but now sees who he really is, “Sugar”, co-written with Peter Case, shows how quickly love can get it grips in you and “Me And Frank” is a buddy song with hints of “Pancho and Lefty”.  King's rich, soulful vocals along with the musicianship and arrangements are top notch throughout and the added touches in the instrumentation like the slide guitar and mandolin on “Sugar”, the organ on “The Hardest Thing Of All”, the string arrangements on “Another Dying Day” and trombone on “Old Soft Shoe” really enhance them.  Another track of note is “Theory Of Truthmakers”, which contains unused lyrics from Michael’s late friend and collaborator Jackie Leven that were passed on to him by a mutual friend, and is somewhat reminiscent of Scott Walker, fleshed out beautifully with mandolin, keyboards, strings, piano and has his wife Lou sharing vocals with him.  The Struggle is definitely a welcome return to the solo world of Michael Weston King.   

(Cherry Red Records)