Feature: Albums that time forgot … NATIVE CAIN – The Primitive Soul

NATIVE CAIN - The Primitive Soul

ProActive (1999)

Chatting to Pete Feenstra for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio in 2020  vocalist/songwriter Lee Small commented about his love of Glenn Hughes.  And it is Hughes vocal influence that permeates the 1999 album ‘The Primitive Soul’.  Small has had an interesting career, as part of the Phenomena project and fronting bands like Shy and most recently Lionheart.

Native Cain came together in the late 1990s, developing from the band Pride, with Connor Emms (guitars), Jon Hayward (bass) and Dez Wootton (drums).  But the album came and went just like the band.

There was a connection with Magnum (Bob Catley/Tony Clarkin) in the late 1990s in the form of keyboard player Paul Hodson who had worked on the Hard Rain album (1999) together with backing vocalist Sue McCloskey and Native Cain supported Bob Catley on his solo tours in 2000.  Hodson also played on ‘Where Empires Burn’ Catley’s 2003 solo album.

Once you get over the Hughes-isms ‘The Primitive Soul’ is a good listen with ‘The Holy’ a particular standout.  Overall, melodic hard rock but with prog influences.

What happened to Native Cain?  There are a series of demos on YouTube for a projected follow-up album dating from 2001 but without Lee Small.  The original album surfaced in a new guise via Escape Music (2006), but the band name was changed to Surveillance and the album entitled Angelstation.

Essentially the same band cropped up as ‘Band Of Brothers’ with Small in 2012 when he promoted his solo album ‘Jamaica Inn’ (Escape Music).  Connor Emms and Dez Wootton now play in the metal band The New Saints.

David Randall

In this interview edit, Lee Small tells Pete Feenstra about his Glenn Hughes influences.  First broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, November 2020 (4:50)

2020 Vision - Rock. Reviewed. Revisited.


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