The Christmas issue of Record Collector is in the shops this Thursday and features Pete Paphides talking to Benny from ABBA and also picking – and writing elegantly and elegiacally – about the Best 40 ABBA songs. There’s also a remarkable interview by Mike Barnes with Jeff Cotton aka Antennae Jimmy Semens of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, a Joe Strummer annotated photo gallery, we meet 60s sunshine pop family The Cowsills, New Jersey rockers Skid Row and Stax smooth operator Johnnie Taylor, Todd Rundgren talks about his new album, we showcase the wares of a fanatical Duran Duran collector, and so much more. Oh, and a 1973 / 2023 glam calendar.
Guided by the highly trusted tastemakers at Speedy Wunderground with production from the one and only Dan Carey. On “Tired Of Liberty” the Hebden Bridge risers deliver an eleven-track opus of masterful storytelling, chaotic instrumentals and addictive riffs. An energetic statement made to be played live, The Lounge Society are the new breed of post-punkers ready to rip up society with unabashed commentary and polished sonics. It’s just the beginning, yet with this debut the band cement themselves as one of the greatest emerging UK rock acts of the moment
‘Upheaval” by The Lounge Society, taken from the band’s debut album ‘Tired of Liberty’ – out 26th August 2022 on Speedy Wunderground.
Heads up y’all, this one packs a real punch. Far from the superficialities of select indie rock songs of old, ARXX‘s Hanni and Clara pen and play deeply authentic, storied songs, told through a queer lens.
In 2023, the Brighton duo arrive with a spirited debut album that boasts a killer title track, a guest appearance from excellent Irish indie rockers Pillow Queens and some seriously addictive hooks.
Produced by the band’s long-term collaborator Steve Ansell (Blood Red Shoes), and mastered by Katie Tavini (Arlo Parks), this is an accomplished, infectious exploration of raw emotion and life experience. Released in March of next year, we could all benefit from exiting winter with a decent dollop of sonic catharsis and a kick-ass collection of songs with true heart, so look no further.
The last time the original lineup of Hanoi Rocks performed together was at the Tavastia in Helsinki, Finland on July 27th, 1982. On September. 23rd, 2022, the band got back on stage at the Helsinki Ice Hall together for a special occasion. Closing the night, celebrating singer Michael Monroe’s 60th birthday, the original five members of Hanoi Rocks—guitarists Andy McCoy and Nasty Suicide, bassist Sam Yaffa and original drummer Gyp Casino—played through a 13-song set pulled from the band’s first five albums, including “Tragedy,” “Million Miles Away,” “11th Street Kids,” “Malibu Beach Nightmare,” for the first time in more than 40 years.
Throughout the evening, Monroe played with the many pigments of his musical past, and present, from the current solo band of Yaffa, guitarists Steve Conte and Rich Jones, and drummer Karl Rosqvist and past members joining on stage for the birthday bash. Monroe also regrouped the short-lived Demolition 23, formed in 1993 with Hanoi bandmates Yaffa, Nasty, and drummer Jimmy Clark—former guitarist Jay Hening died in 1997—around the band’s recently rereleased self-titled album.
Initially recorded as a tribute to Monroe’s late friend and collaborator, Dead Boys’ and Lords of the New Church singer, StivBators, Demolition 23—a name pulled from the 1973 William S. Burroughs book Exterminator—was originally recorded at the Power Station in New York City and produced by E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt.
“Demolition 23” is a collection of covers—the Dead Boys’ “Ain’t Nothing to Do,” the U.K. Subs’ “Endangered Species,” and “I Wanna Be Loved,” originally released by another one of Monroe’s late friends, Johnny Thunders (and The Heartbreakers), in 1977. Several original tracks co-written by Monroe, his late wife Jude Wilder, and Van Zandt, including “Hammersmith Palais,” “Dysfunctional” and “The Scum Lives On,” also appear in earlier demo form on the reissue, along with the Monroe- and Bators-penned “Deadtime Stories.” The reissue also features new detailed liner notes with commentary on each track.
A huge favourite of rock gods like Alice Cooper and Nikki Sixx, Crossbones Skully has a new album slated for next year. But fans can check out the music video for the album’s debut single, “Evil World Machine.” Says Cooper, “Crossbone Skully has written a galactic masterpiece about one of the most mysterious characters of the cosmos. Is he a villain or a hero? I don’t know. Maybe a little of both. All I know is don’t cross Crossbone Skully. This album rocks every galaxy out there.”
Crossbone Skully is an avenging superhero, beginning his journey to rescue humanity on “Evil World Machine.” Legendary producer Mutt Lange (AC/DC, Def Leppard), emerged from retirement to serve as executive producer on the album which was written by Tommy Henriksen and Tommy Denander, the song talks about the evil currency of the world.
Tommy Henriksen (Alice Cooper/Hollywood Vampires) serves as lead vocalist and bassist on the album, with additional voiceovers on “Thing #1” by Hollywood A-lister Johnny Depp (The Evil Sorcerer), and an impressive list of rock royalty including Alice Cooper (The Bringer of Light), Joe Perry (The Big Bad Bone Crusher), Nikki Sixx (The Crooked Crow), Kane Roberts (The Alpha Watchman), to name a few in the short, animated film.
Rounding out the band’s line up are Tommy Denander (Alice Cooper), keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac (My Chemical Romance, John Mayer, Seal), bassist Chris Wyse (Hollywood Vampires, Ace Frehley, the Cult, Ozzy Osbourne), drummer Glen Sobel (Alice Cooper, Hollywood Vampires), the late UFO bassist Pete Way and producer/mixer Mike Plotnikoff (AC/DC, Cher, Aerosmith).
This has been an amazing journey,” says Henriksen, who began the project with Denander almost four years ago.
“Evil World Machine”, the first single from the exciting new multi-dimensional Crossbone Skully project dropped today.
Bruce Springsteen was featured on the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Backed by a band and the Roots, he sang his cover of “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied).” In the middle of the performance, Springsteen riffed on Thanksgiving foods.
Springsteen appeared on three episodes of The Tonight Show last week. He kicked off the mini-residency with “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do),” followed by “Turn Back the Hands of Time” and “Nightshift.” All of the songs appear on the musician’s new covers album “Only the Strong Survive”.
Nearly a month after releasing his soul covers album, “Only the Strong Survive”, Springsteen has more music in the pipeline and confirmed a future box set of five previously-unreleased albums, which he mostly recorded in the 1990s.
The set of unheard music would follow suit of his 1998 release “Tracks”, which featured a collection of alternative and unreleased tracks.
“I have a box set of five unreleased albums that are basically post-1988,” said Springsteen. “People look at my work in the ’90s and they go, ‘The ’90s wasn’t a great decade for Bruce. He was kind of doing this and he wasn’t in the E Street Band…’ I actually made a lot of music during that period of time. I actually made albums. For one reason or another, the timing wasn’t right or whatever; I didn’t put them out.”
Springsteen added that he put the collection of music together while “cleaning out the vault” during a recent winter. “Some of it is older stuff that the band plays on, and some of it is newer stuff where I was conceptualizing during that period of time,” said Springsteen. “It’ll give people a chance to reassess what I was doing during that time period. Also, a lot of the stuff is really weird. I can’t wait to see the response to some of it.”
The box set will be released in the “near future,” according to Springsteen, who said he is nearly finished recording a follow-up to “Only the Strong Survive“.
“‘Volume 2,’ I would say, is probably three-quarters recorded,” he said. “It’s very similar. I continued working in soul music because I was just having so much fun. But I thought of doing a series of these records in a variety of different genres with songs that I love.”
Frequently lumped in with scenes that didn’t quite encapsulate what they were truly about, Reading’s Chapterhouse dealt in brooding, simmering space-rock at the turn of the Nineties. Their debut EP ‘Freefall’ was released in 1990, containing one of their most well-known tracks ‘Falling Down’ that later appeared on 1991 debut album ‘Whirlpool’.
Formed in Reading in 1987, Chapterhouse took the unusual step of rehearsing and gigging for well over a year before recording even a demotape. Initially, the band got lumped in with the British acid rock scene of the time, a mistake hardly rectified by the band’s early performances supporting the rather laidback Spacemen 3. Chapterhouse eventually escaped from one genre only to find themselves amongst the infamous shoegaze groups of 1991 such as Lush, Moose and Slowdive.
“Freefall” was their 1990 debut EP and includes the popular track “Falling Down”, which was also included in their debut full-length album “Whirlpool“. The other three tracks, “Need (Somebody)”, “Inside Of Me” and “Sixteen Years”, were never included on their albums on vinyl and only appeared on this EP.
“Freefall” is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on red & white marbled vinyl.
Tracklist: A1. Falling Down , A2. Need (Somebody), B1. Inside Of Me, B2. Sixteen Years
‘Made of the Earth’ our new album is released into the world. Special thanks to Trouble In Mind Records for their continued support in helping getting this set spun onto tape and launched. They are a multi-directional audio ensemble from Glasgow formed in Summer 2019. Currently featuring artist Eothen Stearn, also of 2 Ply& Difficult, Chris White of Spinning Coin, Andrew Doig aka Robert Sotelo and of Order of the Toad and Georgia Harris of Slippy & Pelvis. They have been described as hypnotic punk and certainly employ repetition in their sound at times, as well as embracing a variety of other musical stylings be they hyper rhythmic, noise based, pop inclined or emotive. There is no preconceived idea to the band’s identity. The band favours democracy and balance. Primarily dealing in humanist themes there is an optimistic, utopian slant to Nightshift’s group persona. Never afraid to broach the absurdist strains of life that surrounds them, they revel in everyday confusion and find respite in the small wonders of the natural universe and beyond.
Their recent 2021 album “Zoë” was released on Trouble in Mind from Chicago, the follow-up to a self-released cassette in 2019. “Made Of The Earth” represents the last document of the band’s initial incarnation, with odds & sods as well as unreleased tracks combining to form a surprisingly cohesive whole. Surely a testament to the band’s vision & execution.
A follow-up album (also on Trouble in Mind) will be forthcoming. The group continue to navigate friendship, create new music and play shows whenever the opportunity arises.
