Author Archives: GRTR! HQ

Album review: SESSION AMERICANA with Jefferson Hamer – Great Shakes

 SESSION AMERICANA with Jefferson Hamer - Great Shakes

[Release date 14.10.16] Session Americana are a Boston area collective formed in 2003 with six previous releases and a significant number of local area nominations and awards.  And while guitarist/ singer Jefferson Hamer has been an integral part of the … Continue reading

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Album review: FAVNI – Windswept

FAVNI - Windswept

[Release date 20.05.16] With a name change from Fauns (primarily because of the clash with the British band The Fauns) marking the introduction of new electric guitarist Thomas Glase and vocalist, flautist and fiddler Kirsten Middeke, this five-piece from Berlin … Continue reading

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Album review: BURNT BELIEF – Emergent

BURNT BELIEF - Emergent

Alchemy Records [Release date 09.09.16] I must be getting old; from the opening chords of ‘The Bubble Bursts’ the lead track on an album featuring Porcupine Tree bassist and founder member  Colin Edwin I was sucked in.  Recalling the fusion … Continue reading

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News: JOHN VERITY UK dates and interview (August 2016)

John Verity

On Sunday 14 August, John Verity was special guest in The Pete Feenstra Feature on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio. More information John Verity began his music career in the early 1960′s, supported Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in the … Continue reading

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Quick plays: ROGER ROGER

Roger Roger - Fairweather

ROGER ROGER  Fairweather Roger Roger?  Two for the price of one?  Well, almost as this Canadian folk/roots release features the Rogers twins Lucas and Madeline Roger. And in many ways it is an album of two parts with the songs … Continue reading

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Album review: BILL WYMAN/RHYTHM KINGS – The Best Of

The Best Of Bill Wyman and Bill Wyman

Edsel Records [Release date 29.07.16] Ask almost anyone to name three things about Bill Wyman, and the chances are you’ll get three of 1) Rolling Stone, 2) Mandy Smith, 3) (Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star, and 4) Rhythm … Continue reading

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Album review: URIAH HEEP – …Very ‘eavy … Very ‘umble/Anthology

URIAH HEEP - ...Very

BMG [Release date 16.09.16] Uriah Heep were to a large extent defined by their early 1970s albums  – the 1970 debut, ‘Salisbury’ (1971) and – moreover – ‘Demons And Wizards’.  Over the next twelve months or so a new reissue … Continue reading

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EP review: THE ANN WILSON THING – Focus

THE ANN WILSON THING - Focus

Rounder Records [Release date 12.08.16] Essentially Heart minus Nancy Wilson, The Ann Wilson Thing is a vehicle for Ann to ‘give it large’ without her younger sibling by her side. The band’s second EP features two cover live covers – … Continue reading

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Album review: CHRIS WHILE & JULIE MATTHEWS – Shoulder To Shoulder

CHRIS WHILE & JULIE MATTHEWS - Shoulder To Shoulder

Fat City Records [Release date 16.09.16] The one thing you’re assured of with a Chris While and Julie Matthews release – Shoulder To Shoulder is their tenth studio album – is some of the finest folk music and female singing … Continue reading

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Album review: PAVLOV’S DOG – House Broken

PAVLOV

Rockville Music [Release date 19.08.16] A rarely seen and heard prog phenomena.  So, Pavlov’s Dog 40 years on, pedigree, mongrel or pup? Formed in St Louis, Missouri, in 1972 Pavlov’s Dog were a brief starburst in the 1970′s prog constellation, … Continue reading

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Album review: RUN LIBERTY RUN – We Are

RUN LIBERTY RUN - We Are

earMUSIC [Release date 22.07.16] There’s something in the ether.  Having just reviewed goth/metal revivalists Sinnergod I’ve also been privy to a new German band and their debut album.  The read across – albeit with less heavy guitars – is quite … Continue reading

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Album review: MAVERICK – Big Red

MAVERICK - Big Red

Metalapolis Records [Release date 26.08.16] Maverick, from Northern Ireland, have been building their fanbase since 2012 and four years later their second album may well propel them further forward. Whether or not they need the assistance of Alice Cooper guitarist … Continue reading

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Gig review: STEELHOUSE FESTIVAL – Ebbw Vale, South Wales, 24 July 2016 (Day 2)

The Darkness - STEELHOUSE FESTIVAL - Ebbw Vale, South Wales, 24 July 2016

After the success of the previous day and coupled with great weather, arriving on site on the Sunday morning to damp and drizzly conditions soon brought us back down to earth with a bump. Sunday’s line up for myself was … Continue reading

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Gig review: STEELHOUSE FESTIVAL – Ebbw Vale, South Wales, 23 July 2016 (Day 1)

STEELHOUSE FESTIVAL - Ebbw Vale, South Wales, 23 July 2016

As a founding fan from the very first event where a couple of hundred people showed, I have been fortunate to see Steelhouse grow year on year.  Along with many others I heard the rumours almost every year that Thunder … Continue reading

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News: Curiouser and Curiouser – The Return of Medieval Prog Rockers Gryphon (August 2016) and Radio Interview

Gryphon

This interview was first broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sunday 31 July.  Co-founder and guitarist Graeme Taylor chats about the band and selects some of his favourite tracks – both from Gryphon and from those artists who have … Continue reading

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Album review: SINNERGOD – Sinnergod

The Best of 2016

[Release date 09.09.16] www.sinnergod.com Described as “Goth Metallers” this is the Wigan/Manchester quintet’s sophomore album release.  There’s a confidence at play, the more so when you realise it has been conceived and produced locally and by the band’s twin brothers … Continue reading

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Album review: CORNERSTONE – Reflections

CORNERSTONE - Reflections

Atom Records [Release date 29.07.16] One of the most extensive PR packs that I’ve seen accompanies this release – it looks more like an upmarket property purchase pack than a band/album synopsis.  Although listings for the last three years of … Continue reading

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News: The Great British R&B Festival, Colne, Lancashire 26-29 August 2016 – win tickets!

Willie And The Bandits - GREAT BRITISH ROCK & BLUES FESTIVAL - Skegness 22-24 January 2016

In his weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio on Sunday 24 July, David Randall previewed some of the acts appearing at this year’s Great British R&B Festival. (10:39) The 27th Great British R&B Festival takes place Bank Holiday … Continue reading

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Album review: TUCKY BUZZARD – The Complete Tucky Buzzard (Box set)

TUCKY BUZZARD - The Complete Tucky Buzzard

Edsel [Release date 15.07.16] Tucky Buzzard.  You might vaguely recall the name if not the music.  You could be forgiven in thinking that they were long haired southern rockers.  Truth is, they morphed out of UK psychedelic rockers The End, … Continue reading

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Album review: GRAHAM BONNET – Reissues

Graham Bonnet - Line-Up

Hear No Evil Recordings/Cherry Red [Release dates March-May 2016] The Graham Bonnet “backstory” before his tenure with Rainbow is highlighted by these reissues.  It was clearly evident in 1979 that Bonnet came from the pop mainstream – coming to wider … Continue reading

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Gig review: SOS FESTIVAL, Manchester, 15-17 July 2016

Absolva - SOS FESTIVAL, Manchester, 15-17 July 2016

With suitable tunes on the car stereo we headed over to Prestwich, Manchester for the Rocksector Records annual get-together, ‘SOS Festival’.  Now in its ninth year it has a new home and has moved out of the now demolished Civic … Continue reading

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Gig review: Festival D’ete De Quebec, 7-17 July 2016

Festival D

If I was to ask you if you had ever heard of Festival D’ete De Quebec I am betting the answer would be NO … me neither so when I was handed the opportunity to experience this event I jumped … Continue reading

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News: LEVEL 42 – October 2016 UK tour and interview/feature (Sunday 24 July)

LEVEL 42 - The Lowry, Salford, 4 October 2016

David Randall chatted to Mark King for Get Ready to ROCK! Radio in July 2016. This hour long special traces the rise of Level 42 in the 1980s and their subsequent reformation. Part 2 of this feature showcases some of … Continue reading

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Album review: GUNHILL – Nightheat/One Over The Eight (John Lawton)

GUNHILL - Nightheat/One Over The Eight

In 2012 David Randall interviewed John Lawton for an hour-long special on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.  In this exclusive edit he chats about the band Gunhill.  (2:36) JLB Media/Gunhill [Release date 08.07.16] Gunhill is the missing link in the … Continue reading

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Album review: CURVED AIR – The Curved Air Rarities Series Volume 1 – Tapestry Of Propositions

CURVED AIR - The Curved Air Rarities Series Volume 1 - Tapestry Of Propositions

Curved Air Records [Release date 05.08.16] We live in age when every album, every gig, seems to be heavily choreographed.  With albums pieced together and artists not necessarily sharing the same studio, or even continent, and gigs fixed to a … Continue reading

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