Best of 2012: ROBB JOHNSON

Robb Johnson as ever has been a busy man and we even mange to sneak a football related question in…

What have you got planned music wise for next year?

well… quite a lot! there is a “sort of best of” album that was originally intended to go out as part of a book of my dad’s poems, but my dad decided against this! so it may well become an album called “West Pier Serenade” & with luck it might be released as a LP for Record Store day. really nice recordings with the sublime Saskia Tomkins on violin. Then there’s the next album of new songs, probably called “Here Comes the Moon”, which will be an acousticky album but with various musicians adding their magic to it… there’s a fairly wide-ranging tour to go with that, too. Then we will be doing a new recording of the “Gentle Men” songsuite, with Roy Bailey & Barb Jungr.

Plus I hope to be doing lots of stuff with the Bandana Collective, where I play bass & my son Arv plays drums.

Were you pleased with the reaction to ‘Happily Ever After’ and how hard is it to get new music known to the outside world?

Generally, yes, though with our electric band albums we still seem to fall between pigeonholes… too old & intelligent & melodic for Kerrang but too old school rocknroll unruly & noisy for the fFolk establishment. we had some great gigs though, & got as far north as Lancaster!

Where do you think Brentford will end up this season? Have you been pleased
with the club’s football and direction under Uwe Rosler?

Haven’t been able to get to many matches in 2012, but have enjoyed those I have seen. I like Uwe’s style & although I am aware of some grumblings about his ideas of strategy, I think he’s done a lot of good for the team, developing an identity that avoids ostentation but nonetheless develops both flair & determination.

Top five albums…
1 Tempest Bob Dylan
2 Wrecvking Ball Bruce Springsteen
3 Apres Iggy Pop
4 Handwritten Gaslight Anthem
5 Old Ideas Leonard Cohen

Top gigs…
Johnny Hallyday at the Albert Hall
Johnny Hallyday at the Stade de France
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Albert Hall
Blink 182 at the O2 Millenium Dome
Delain at O2 Islington
Leonard Cohen at Wembley Arena
Ian Hunter at Concorde Brighton

Best re-issue…
Velvet Underground 1st album remastered vinyl version

Highs and lows of 2012…
highs: lots of great gigs, including playing the main stage at Tolpuddle with the Irregulars & doing This Land is Your Land there with everybody & their ukeles joining in, getting to do a couple of regular folk festivals too, & meeting lots of great people everywhere I go. some great albums & gigs (see above) & films – The Dark Knight Rises & Skyfall, & a superb production of hamlet at the Globe.

lows: well, obviously there were some pretty dismal things happening in the wider world, the coalition bastards, the jubilee, the olympics, Frank “Singing Toff” Turner, Bumfluff & Sons… but we don’t let these bastards get us down.

Any tips for bands/musicians to keep an eye on in 2013?

Steve White & the Protest Family
Grace Petrie
The Bandanas

Message for your fans…

ermmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….
thankyou for your kind interest in what i do. hope you have a good festive season & see you in the new year. no pasaran.


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)



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