We had the pleasure of sitting and chatting to the blues rock guitar legend about his current touring and his plans for the future. Check it out below!
How would you describe your sound?
Definitely bluesy, but also hear plenty of Nunu Bettencourt influence!
My tone is the result of years of research and development. Nuno Bettencourt and Van Halen are easily in my top ten greatest influences—not just in sound, but in overall musical approach. Their impact is embedded in my DNA, shaping how I craft lead tones and solid riffs. I don’t overthink my tone; I follow what feels right, creating sounds I’d want to hear and letting that flow naturally. That confidence in my playing has led to collaborations with several amp brands, and now, I’m a signed artist with Tone King Amplification from California. Their gear feels incredible, and playing with it throughout my Electrifying tour this year has been an amazing experience. The band is sounding massive!
How’s the tour going so far?
The tour is going incredibly well! The response from audiences in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Switzerland has been amazing. It’s been a long journey, and now we’re continuing in the UK. The love and energy from every country have been overwhelming—music truly transcends borders, and I absolutely love being on the road.
How would you compare the scene in the UK to the rest of the places you’ve played in?
The UK is always special—especially London, where everything began for my band. The audience here is passionate, loyal, and incredibly engaged, which is something I deeply appreciate. Every show feels like a true connection, and being here always feels like home.
It’s been a few years since we’ve had studio stuff aside for ‘Fragile Hearts’, are you writing much currently?
“Fragile Hearts” was released last year, and since then, I’ve been constantly working on new music—juggling it between touring and other projects. There’s a wealth of material waiting in the folders, and now that I’m back from a long tour across Europe, I’m focusing on shaping it all.
Currently, I’m working on my upcoming album, set for release by the end of the year. Finding the right time and focus is a challenge with so much happening, but I’m committed to making it work.
Meanwhile, I’m also writing and producing The MotherZ’ debut album—a heavy stoner rock project featuring Cedric Pfiser on vocals and bass and Jake Cook on drums. We’re hitting the road this year with a series of dates alongside The Vintage Caravan, kicking things off on October 25th at Margate Rock Festival. That one’s going to be unforgettable!
Would you plan on another studio album or stick to more singles or EPs?
So hard to decide on which way’s best these days!
There will be a few singles released first to introduce the new material and build momentum. With three upcoming tours already lined up, the plan is to drop these singles in between, leading up to a full, solid tour next year featuring the new album.
Do the Southern Vultures contribute to much writing for you, or is it mainly you?
I handle most of the songwriting and production, but some tracks feature great collaborations. As we tour, the band is growing stronger, and the chemistry is evolving in exciting ways—something that will shape the sound of this new material. Flo brings a solid fusion-rock energy on drums, and Bruno—who recorded with me on Live in Birmingham—is also part of the lineup. The sound is a natural progression from The Red Album, maintaining that stabilized southern rock vibe while weaving in raw blues elements.
You’ve been pretty consistent at putting out live recordings alongside the rest, is it something you’d recommend to other bands?
I feel like the songs evolve while touring to a point where they’re no longer just mine—they come alive. The audience sings along, and they flow naturally and effortlessly. The energy of a live performance is entirely different from the studio, where overthinking can sometimes take over.
The crowd has embraced this album, and I can tell they really connect with it. It’s been a huge success, and I absolutely believe bands should explore and showcase their true live sound—it’s where the magic happens.
I saw that you’re also a graduate of the Conservatory of Jazz Music; have you found that influences your rock playing at all? Did you always
I come from a traditional family, and for a long time, I thought I needed to follow a certain path. But fate had other plans. While busking one day, a director came across my music, got hold of my records, and invited me to a meeting the following Monday. They were eager for me to join the conservatory, and I seized the opportunity—it was a beautiful experience.
My DNA is undeniably rock, but music is vast. I believe it’s essential to explore different genres and, most importantly, dive deep into music theory and harmony—the foundation of songwriting and analysis. With knowledge, many things start to feel effortless. As a multi-instrumentalist, constant exploration is key. There’s always something new to uncover on the guitar, and understanding other instruments enriches the creative process when composing and producing music.
You’ve already got a busy year planned by the look of things for live shows, but I imagine you have even more in the pipeline for the year?
As I mentioned, there are three upcoming tours for the rest of the year — it’s shaping up to be a packed schedule. After wrapping up this final leg of gigs in the UK, I’ll be heading back to Europe again soon, then returning for a big headlining show in London this September 25th (www.miguelmontalban.com for tour dates and updates). Everything has come together seamlessly this year, and we’re embracing the momentum — giving our all at every show, as if it were the last.
Do you have a dream tour lineup you want to be a part of? Anyone you’d want to take on the road with you or support?
I’m thrilled to debut The Motherz alongside The Vintage Caravan this October 2025 — it’s an exciting new project, and I know it’s going to be a blast! Personally, I love Rival Sons and Richie Kotzen; their sound really resonates with the vibe of Southern Vultures, but also, in the other hand, classics like David Gilmour or Marc Knopfler. That kind of energy would make for an incredible experience—so much fun; experiencing it live would be something truly special.
The NWOCR rising stars are set to release their sophomore album this coming Friday. We’ve been a fan of the banda couple of years now so this release is pretty highly anticipated for us! The pair fronting it are insanely talented and if the singles are anything to go by, we’re in for a real treat with this release!
‘Over and Over’ sets the album up in perfect fashion; the fast-paced drums giving way to an awesome sleazy guitar riff. Dave Winkler’s vocals fit perfectly over the top, it all having such a great 70s/80s throwback sound to it. It all builds to a MASSIVE pre and chorus, designed to be played to massive arenas and festival crowds. It’s an infectiously catchy track that is already firmly lodged in my ears and brain for surely days to come. We also get some awesome soloing in the middle from both the organ/synth and the guitars, once again giving the track that awesome nostalgic classic rock feel! I love the instruments dropping out for the first two lines of the last chorus too, leaving just the massive, multi-tracked vocals and really highlighting how greatly written it is. The album starts off with a very strong bang, and this an easy one to immediately make the playlist!
‘Chained to You’ picks up right where the previous song leaves off, with some awesome riffing and drumming. Once again Dave’s vocals and lyrics are great over the top of it all, too. And, once again, it all builds to one of the honest to god best choruses of the year so far. Like I cut my teeth playing this sort of music back in the day, and I can assure you this is of the highest quality of classic/hard/sleaze rock there is. It drops down in the middle, a beautiful clean guitar tone ringing through for seconds before it builds perfectly into another fantastic, swagger-dripping guitar solo. The technical ability, as well as the feel, is off the charts. And the band are so far two for two on absolutely amazing songs on this album!
‘The Wreckage’ is a little slower and heavier and darker, while still feeling very Star Circus. It is a nice change of pace, keeping the album fresh already. It still builds up perfectly through the verse and already catchy pre into the stadium-sized chorus, the harmonies on the vocals making it somehow even more catchy! It almost feels like a metal ballad more than a sleazy rock song, and I love it! Another awesome solo leads to a great stripped-back clean section, much like the previous track. It fits even better in this song, and builds up into the fantastic chorus again perfectly. What a damn good song; the album is so far three for three with hits!
Single ‘One Hit Wonder’ picks up the pace again and brings the sleaze back in full force with that riff. However, the verse immediately gives me more EOL vibes than anything, not that that’s a bad thing! It still builds up to that massive hard rock chorus though, the parts all fitting together surprisingly well. It follows the standard formula the others have to this point in terms of structure, but once again feels pretty different to the other tracks, keeping it constantly interesting. And, shock horror, it’s another awesome song!
Another single, ‘Turn the Tide’, takes a surprising turn into more of a folk sound, again not that I’m complaining! The more acoustic-style riff to open is awesome, and the track builds through the instrumentation and lower vocals perfectly into a big hard-rock-ballad chorus. It’s an ear-worm of a chorus if I’ve ever heard one, too. The solo is another great one too, fitting the tone of the song perfectly, yet another example of the band’s incredible writing skills! The fact that yet again the album has changed up feel and pace so effortlessly is amazing, and we’re only halfway through the thing!
The bass intro to ‘Destiny’s Door’ was nice, and the main riffs actually give off big early Maiden vibes. It’s a pretty bass-driven track, which again is something different for the album, and is another dip into the more traditional hard rock sound like ‘The Wreckage’. I feel like it’s redundant at this point to mention how awesome and catchy the choruses are. Dave is a master at writing and singing/producing them, and every single chorus on this album is banging. And THAT chorus after the chorus… DAMN. The more Egyptian work from the guitar throughout is actually incredible, blowing me away with yet another style. The whole thing so much instrumentation and is all just 80s Maiden, and it’s yet another huge highlight of the album.
Songs like ‘Masquerade’, ‘Last Dance’ and ‘Floodlight’ somewhat thankfully chilled out just a little, still being fantastic but fitting a little more into the formula of the band at this point so my mind doesn’t end up in pieces all over the floor yet again. Having said that, the former does have some slight folk/power metal leaning, and I assume has some Sophie vocals on it, which also sound fantastic. Meanwhile the latter goes back to more of the slower, menacing-like ballad sound that the band do so well! As I said, all songs are good, but are styles that have all been done on the album at this point so I want to avoid repeating myself too much as this review is pretty long as it is. Still, all three of the songs are awesome and well worth checking out!
The final track on the album and the most recent single, ‘Two Odds Make an Even’ is somehow an amalgamation of everything that’s come before it, in the best way! It’s a ballad yet still has both heaviness and sleaziness in equal measure, and is packed full of awesome riffing, soloing and big choruses. It’s another awesome song that kinda gives me Gypsy Pistolerosvibes! It’s a great way to close out such an album too, going out with a bang (although damn do I hate a fade-out)!
Overall: This is a phenomenal album1! I love the band so was expecting good, but this blew all my expectations out of the water! It really is banger after banger, without a dud track throughout. And as I’ve said, the band constantly keep it interesting and change it up a fair bit, making for a truly engaging listen. The band have been going from strength to strength on the live circuit, and this album may quite easily push them up a level or two! A must for an rock fans out there, and an album I’ll be spinning for months to come!
As usual, a week stacked full of awesome new releases, featuring everything from country to metal! Let’s dive in!
Dylan Scott: Easy Does It
We’ve already checked out this awesome album! Read our review of it here.
Stray From the Path: Clockworked
So, I only heard about the release of this album at Slam Dunklast weekend. It turns out that the album is somewhat of a surprise release but, not only that, it is set to be their last, with the band calling it quits after a decade and doing some farewell touring for the rest of the year. So, already that’s put a downer on things, as I fucking love this band. However, I’m sure this will be a bittersweet release, to say the least.
It very much is, as this is a fantastic release. The perfect blend of hardcore and rappy nu-metal, some of the riffs and breakdowns are fantastic. Plus, the band are just as angry as they always have been, the lyrics calling out just about everyone in a way only Andrew can do. It’s absolutely packed full of awesome tracks too, with single ‘Shot Caller’ and the heavy AF ‘Shocker’ being personal highlights. Heck, my only issue with this is that it’s just too damn short. I get that hardcore has a tendency to not overstay it’s welcome (or just stay long in general) but just 30-minutes… goddamn do I need more! It again might be a case of I know this is the last release from them, at least for the foreseeable, though, that I just need double this pumped into my veins.
Still, it’s a fucking fantastic album from start to finish, the bands energy being infectious and makes me wanna break stuff and start a revolution. Everyone works their asses off throughout this whole thing, including guests from LANDMVRKS and Poison the Well, and have crafted something that more than lives up to their previous releases. I’ll be spinning this a lot moving forward, and it gets another very easy 9/10 from us!
Trampled by Turtles & Alan Sparhawk: Self-Titled (kinda)
The legendary Low member joins the indie-folk/alt country band for a really interesting collaboration album! Right off the bat, it’s not for everyone. However, despite its simplicity, I found myself really enjoying it! Alan fits in perfectly with the band, and they’ve all crafted a really interesting epic folk/Americana record. Songs like ‘Too High’ and ‘Princess Road Surgery’ are personal highlights for me. However, at barely over half an hour long, it’s short and sweet, and was great to just lay back and relax and listen to in one sitting. Everyone involved is clearly talented and have crafted something pretty special here. It won’t be something I revisit very often, but it is certainly not a bad album and if you are a fan of either party’s work prior, or the styles I’ve mentioned here, it’s definitely worth checking out! It’s definitely come out the right time of the year, too. It gets a pretty solid 7/10 from us, I enjoyed it more than I expected to!
Rivers of Nihil: Self-Titled
The fifth album from the US tech/prog death metal titans goes just as hard as their previous releases, and is absolutely AMAZING. ‘The Sub-Orbital Blues’ is such a fantastic track in its own right, and sets the tone and pace for the album perfectly! Then you have stuff like… well… all of it. This is 50-minutes of not only a technical masterclass when it comes to metal instrumentation and singing/screaming, but also a masterclass on how to write it. From brutal screams to catchy, clean-sung choruses to crushing breakdowns to the awesome dropped-down bits on songs like ‘Despair Church’, it’s all so good. Heck, they even threw in some sexy, SEXY sax in a couple of tracks, somehow making them even better! It’s not even a case of “if you can handle prog…” this time, as the whole thing goes by in a flash. If you are in any way into metal, or are in any way a musicians, you have to give this a spin at least once, so you can have your mind blown as much as I did. I’m bound to be listening to this a lot moving forward, and it may very well be my favourite album by the band. I can’t give it any less than 10/10, phenomenal stuff!
Ty Segall: Possession
The multi-genred soloist is back, following up his two releases from last year. We somehow haven’t covered any of his stuff here before, and I’m not all that familiar with his work, so I am oddly curious heading into this!
It’s certainly on the quirky side, but in a rather endearing way. While it’s not my usual sort of music, I found myself enjoying it, especially to listen to in full kinda in the background while I worked on other stuff. It had an old-school vibe to it, almost giving slight Beatles vibes to it, but of course more garage and indie. Tracks like ‘Possession’, ‘Shining’ and the epic closer are all big personal highlights. However, there isn’t a bad song on the release, and is worth listening through at least once! He’s clearly a very talented player and songwriter. It’s not something I’d necessarily revisit often, but I certainly enjoyed my time with the album and will most certainly be keeping an eye out for future releases from Ty! It gets a solid 7/10 from us!
LessDMV: |E|
We’ve also checked this one out already! Read the glowing review here!
The Haunted: Songs of Last Resort
The legendary melodeath titans put out their first album in eight years this past Friday. It’s been a long time coming but, to the surprise of I’m sure almost no one, it’s another banger of a release! Right from the offset it’s heavy and technical in all the best ways. ‘Warhead’ is an awesome song and almost the perfect melodeath track! Then you have stuff like ‘Unbound’, the thrashy ‘Hell is Wasted on the Dead’ and ‘Collateral Carnage’ that are all massive personal highlights. However, this is 40-minute of melodic death metal awesomeness; there isn’t a bad song on it! It’s essentially a supergroup at this point, but even then the talent between the five of them is off the charts. I hadn’t listened to this band for a while before now, but goddamn do they have a huge renewed fan in me! If you are at all into metal, be it melodeath or even lighter, I’d still recommend checking this out. It’s a phenomenal album from start to finish, and one that I wouldn’t be surprised to see high on our albums of the year list come December. An easy 9/10 from us!
Anderson East: Worthy
The Southern soul artist’s first release in nearly four years is a great album! I’ve been really getting into this sort of sound again recently, whether it’s from Cardinal Black’s latest albumor older stuff like Jamie Joseph, Tom Seals or even Jody Blount, and this is another great addition to that growing list! Songs like ‘Anyway’ and ‘Before it Gets Better’ are personal highlights, but this whole thing is pretty great and certainly worth sticking on if you want something to sit back and chill with! It certainly isn’t going to be everyone reading this’ bag, but I really enjoyed this and have listened to it a couple of times over this weekend already. It’s one I’ll definitely be revisiting pretty often moving forward, and it gets a 8/10 from us!
Shrouded in Darkness: 11:11
Album number three from the Swedish blackened-doom metallers is an awesome-yet-short release. It’s dark and evil and epic all in equal measure, as well as being perfectly heavy. I love the organ behind it all, adding so much depth to the song and really adding to the doom vibe. And instrumentally, as well as the growls, it’s all amazing! Tracks like ‘Cruel Winds’ and ‘The Lurking Devil’ are both personal high points. However, it somehow feels both too short, and kinda repetitive. It’s only six tracks and an intro, but each of said tracks is a similar feel and tempo, leading to it all blending together a little. It’s a great blend, and the album went by in a flash, but it meant that the whole thing was memorable instead of certain tracks. It’s a great sound they have going on, but a little variety, especially after three albums, would have been amazing. The band are talented and have made a great album, one I’d recommend to any doom/black metal fans reading this. But yeah, it did get a little much by the end. 7/10
Dead Daisies: Lookin’ for Trouble
Something a bit different from the supergroup this time around as they’ve pulled a Whitesnake; chasing last year’s big releasewith a fun, foot-stomping blues album. We’re pretty familiar with the band here, heck I’m a firm believer that Jon Corabi can make gold out of anything, so believe me when I say that this is the most fun I’ve had with the Daisies in a while. Any long-time readers here know that I’m a big blues head at heart, but even still, this is a fantastically made album. Yes, it is technically a covers album, the band recreating everything from ‘Black Betty’ to ‘Crossroads’ to ‘Walking the Dog’. However, the band put their own spin on each and every one of these 10 tracks, and it makes for a damn enjoyable listen! As much as I enjoy the harder, heavier and sleazier stuff the band usually produces, this is a fantastic addition to their discography and a must for any fans of the band or blues music. It is clear that each member of the band is a true fan of the music they are playing, and more than do it justice, while also making it sound pretty damn Daisies in the process. It’s a great stop-gap between their written material, and gets a very solid 8.5/10 from us!
Somehow, we’ve been doing this whole Overtone thing for nearly four years now, yet this was our first time at Wolverhampton’s own Gifford Arms! So, weren’t we lucky that it was for a night of awesome rock music from three incredible young bands? There was no way we weren’t telling y’all how great of a night we had!
First up were a band I was unfamiliar with until they were announced for the show, Skint Lilly. However, they absolutely blew me away, and gained a big new fan in me! They said they haven’t been going all too long but you wouldn’t have guessed it by the way they played. They sounded incredible, and put on a damn good show given the small stage they were on. They played a fantastic set of their own awesome music, too. From the great instrumentation to the phenomenal vocals, it all fit together so well, and their songwriting is a lot of fun. The band could go very far indeed if they get the chance to, and seemed like genuinely good guys too!
Eddie & The Wolves were up next. You know the drill by now. I had a blast as always, and though we were a member down, I still think we sounded pretty decent! Heck, if anything it gave Edd more of a chance to show off, and the extended solo at the end of ‘Nine Lives’ was a lot of fun! After two gigs with Shaman’s Harvest, it was arguably nicer to get on a smaller stage again in front of slightly more intimate crowd. We had a blast, and I’d like to think we played and sounded good!
Not long after the headliners, AK & The Red Kites, took to the stage. The band have been causing quite the stir in the underground rock scene recently, so to finally be able to get to see them live was pretty awesome. Their particular brand of blues-drenched hard rock was just as awesome live as it is on track, and they do a fantastic job at matching the sound between the two perfectly. The band are all incredible musicians and really got to show that off in a headline set! And, for such a small stage, they put on a great show; their magnetic stage presence as a three piece-proving to be awesome! They of course played their 2024 EP, recent single ‘Proverbial Storm’ being a particular highlight for me. The band have already shown they’ve got what it takes to go far in the short space of time they’ve been active in the scene, and it’s sets like this that are proving that in spades!
Overall, this was a damn fun night! I know that I was playing it so may be a little bias, but both other bands absolutely smashed it and put on great sets in their own right. Skint Lilly have a big new fan in me, and AK proved why they are so buzzed about these days. I cannot recommend seeing any of the bands live enough, or checking them out on track, as you’ll surely enjoy them as much as we did!
NWOCR newcomers Revenant are making big waves in the UK underground scene currently, and are set to capitalise on that in a big way with the release of their sophomore EP. We loved their last one, and have been highly anticipating this since it was first announced. So, without further ado, let’s dive right in, shall we?
The release instantly harkens back to the 80s with the awesome riffing to open ‘Public Service Announcement’. It’s a fantastic riff with some great drumming backing it up, and immediately starts things off on a fun foot. The vocals come in over the top and fit the rest of it perfectly. It all builds to the MASSIVE, catchy chorus that will immediately have you singing along. I love it dropping down after the second chorus to that chuggy riff, and then to follow that with a sick guitar solo was awesome! It’s a straight-forward hard rock song that feels both old-school and modernised, and was a fantastic choice to open the EP with! Starting off strong!
Next up is the massive recent single and title track to the EP. I’ve loved this song since the moment it came out, as has everyone else! Opening on that infectiously catchy chorus is a great idea, and it flows incredibly into the verse. The driving bass through it all is a massive highlight too, showing not only that the band are great at structuring songs, but whoever mixed this did an awesome job! And again, it drops down awesomely after the second chorus into some great soloing. The band handle their dynamics spectacularly well! It’s another well put together, straight-up foot-stomin’ rock song, and a huge highlight of the EP. It’s already been on our playlist for a bit!
‘Runaway Rage’ is another foot-stomping rock song with a little Southern edge to it this time, the slide guitars doing an awesome job and adding so much to the sound! As a big fan of the sub-genre I loved this, and it pulls so perfectly from plenty of the greats yet still feels distinctly Revenant. It’s bluesy, catchy, fun and technical all in equal measure, and it’s another massive highlight of the release! The solo in particular was awesome; *chefs kiss*. It’s a simple-structured track but something different-feeling out of the band to what we’ve had so far, and demonstrates their range pretty perfectly!
‘Least I Can Do’ is the ballad of the release, and a damn good one at that! The chord progressions to open it are beautiful, and it dropping down a little in the verses gave big Bon Jovi vibes in all the best ways! The lyrics are fantastically written, telling a great tale, and it all swells into another hugely catchy chorus, made to be played to arenas full of people. And was that a horn solo in the middle I heard, or simply a cool guitar tone? Either way it’s a great solo, and then to lead into the harmonised guitar one was incredible. Heck, it even goes VERY Slash by the end of it too, which is never a bad thing! And then a final chorus and outro take us home in style. It’s another excellent song, and a third in a row to make our Spotify!
Another slower track closes things out, the beautiful acoustic song ‘Miss You’. It’s again full of emotion in the lyrics and delivery, and they fit so well over the simple instrumentation. And we even get a great little acoustic guitar solo too, a nice touch. It gives off GnR Lies vibes (minute the racism of course), a sound and side of rock few rock bands touch on these days. It’s a really great acoustic rock song, and is a surprisingly perfect way to close out this EP!
Overall: This was awesome! Every song was just as good as the last, and I feel like they really built on everything they did so well on their debut. I loved their first EP too, but this one feels like a step up, really being on another level. I’m going to be listening to this a lot in the coming weeks and months, and I truly think this will be the release to push the band to an even bigger level than they’re already at. I can’t recommend this enough to any rock fan reading this, and it’s certainly going to be up there as one of my favourite EPs of the year!
A typically stacked week for new albums, with everything from rock to country to metal having some awesome releases! Let’s check it all out together!
P.S the awesome Trouble County have released physical copies of their debut album this week, check out how much we loved that here.
Bleed from Within: Zenith
As little as the band seems to stand out to me live, there is no denying Bleed from Within slap on track. This album is more of the same too, and exactly what I expected from them in the best way! Firstly ‘God Complex’ may be not only the best song the band have ever done, but a strong contender for one of the best modern metalcore songs. And, following it with the equally incredible ‘A Hope in Hell’, and Bleed from Within are not fucking around on this album. And that’s not even mentioning the likes of the opening track or ‘Known by No Name’ or the epic closer. This album is packed full of awesome tracks, and there isn’t a bad one on here! While I don’t think it’s quite as impactful on me as their previous release, it is a damn good followup to Shrine. It’s a fantastic release from one of the most consistently great metalcore bands of this generation. It’s insane to me that they still aren’t getting the recognition I feel they deserve, but hopefully this release does just that for them! I’ll certainly be spinning it again, and it gets a solid 8.5/10 for the Scots!
Parmalee: Fell in Love with a Cowgirl
We’ve already reviewed this awesome release! Check out what we thought here.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs: Death Hilarious
The Scouse stoner metal titans are back a follow-up to their 2023 banger Land of Sleeper. We enjoyed that album when we checked it out, and while this is more of a similar thing, for some reason it didn’t quite hook me in as much. Stuff like the opener, the almost Sword-like, riff-heavy ‘Stitches’ and ‘Carousel’ are still awesome and big personal highlights. However, some of it, especially the vocal delivery, felt a little too Soft Play and hardcore/punk-esque for me. The instrumentation even felt a touch stripped-back at times, not so much of a focus as a lot of it was pretty simple stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big fan of the band or anything, so I imagine this is pretty par for the course and that big fans of them will love this. It’s certainly not bad, either. But, for reasons so-far unknown, it isn’t grabbing me as much as I hoped it would. As I said, fans of the band will probably love this, so I’d heavily recommend it to any reading this, or if you’re heavily into the stoner metal kinda vibe. I do think I’ll have to revisit it at a later date to see if I still feel the same, but for now it gets a 7/10. Still good, but I hoped for slightly more.
Unbound Terror: Something is Wrong with Humanity
The Spanish death metal legends are back with their fourth studio album. It’s about as straight-up, old-school death metal as you can get, so if you’re into that sort of thing I’m sure you’ll love it! Heck, it’s not fully my sort of thing, but even I found myself getting won over by the sheer brutality of the riffs and the awesome instrumentation throughout. The guitars, bass and drums go hard, and I love it. My only issue comes with the growls, and even then I think it’s more of a typical death metal mixing issue than it is anything about how they sound. If it didn’t feel quite so grating, I’d probably love it. Still, tracks like ‘Destiny of Evil’ and ‘The Disappointment’ are personal highlights. If you’re into this particular brand of metal, you’ll probably get a lot of enjoyment out of this. And, given that it’s only just over half an hour, it’s a pretty easy listen! It’s not particularly something I’ll be revisiting much, but there is no denying that what it is is a damn good death metal album. It’s a solid 6.5/10 from us!
All for Jolly: Self-Titled
It’s pretty rare we get new celtic punk these days, it being very much a late 90s/early 2000s sound, so whenever we get some I am genuinely excited. The pirtatey band’s sophomore album, following up their 2020 debut, was my first foray into the band, but they instantly have a big new fan in me! Hailing from Penzance, the theming and style makes a bit more sense, even if it is still a little odd for me to hear this sound without hearing a vaguely forced/exaggerated Irish accent (or Scottish in Alestorm’s case). However, after taking a little to get used to it, as well as the songwriting being that damn good that it quickly won me over, I got a little obsessed! The more I listened the more I fell in love, every song being just as good as the last. There’s a lot of different pacing and sounds, from acoustic folk stuff to all out punk and even edging on metal, making it constantly interesting.
And, it’s impossible to pick out highlight tracks, as all are so good and so many of them made my personal playlist! However, I did like the cameo of (I think) Mr Sweetchunks himself on ‘Spanish Galleon’, though! However, if you are into more light-hearted, piratey, folky punk/hard rock, I cannot recommend this enough! It’s a hell of a lot of fun to listen to, and I’ll be doing so a lot in the following weeks and months! It’s a solid 9/10 from us, and the band have a big new fan in me!
Katie & The Bad Sign: Revolution
The classic/blues/hard rock woman and her band released their highly anticipated debut album last week, and it is every bit as great as everyone was expecting it to be! It somehow gives off equal parts Rolling Stones, Rod Stuart, Heart and Joan Shaw Taylor, yet also feels like a modernised combination of all of them. ‘Wolf at the Door’ is a fantastic, fitting opener, showcasing her incredible sound and lyric-writing prowess. Then you have the likes of the stomping, bluesy ‘Shake Me Down’, the beautiful ballad ‘The River’ and ‘Taste the Dirt’ that are all also big highlights. However, every song is awesome, there isn’t a bad one on the release! It’s 40-minutes of straight-forward, incredible classic rock that doesn’t overstay its welcome and leaves you wanting more. I can’t recommend this enough to anyone who’s a fan of any of the artists or genres I’ve mentioned above, and it really is no wonder she’s gathering so much steam in short order. It’s a solid 8.5/10 from us!
Emily Saunders: Moon Shifts Oceans
This is… certainly something… blending together jazz-fusion, soul, folk-pop and plenty of other styles too, it is anything if not ambitious. The third album from the singer-songwriter comes nearly a decade after her last, so could certainly be classed as anticipated. It’s interesting and quirky and creative… but I’m not sure I ‘got’ it. Maybe it’ll take a few more listens to get into, but I also understand this very much wasn’t made for me. It was a bit of an odd one for us to be sent through, honestly. She clearly has a very dedicated fanbase and has a very specific style, so if you like her other stuff you’ll likely enjoy this a lot, too. But yeah, this was 26-minutes that I struggled to enjoy, as fascinating as it was. ‘Rugged Waves’ was the closest to a highlight for me, so if you’re going to check out anything, let it be that! As I said, I’ll try again in the coming weeks, and this is purely my opinion, but for now I can’t give it any more than a 3.5/10. Sorry.
At least this is a damn pretty video!
Living Tales: HADES
The proggy, symphonic metal band out out their first new album in three years this last Friday. It is everything as epic, technical and heavy as one would expect and hope for. I wasn’t actually familiar with the band heading into this review so had no idea what to expect, but they have a bit new fan in me! More and more of it kept ending up on my playlist and, even though it is over 50 minutes long, I cannot recommend listening to the whole thing enough. It flows perfectly together, and there really isn’t a bad song on the release! From the insanely technical, mind-blowing riffing to the sick drumming to the soaring, powerful vocals to just the songwriting in general, it’s all top-notch. It tells a brilliant story and everyone involved, from playing/singing to writing to mixing and mastering, are so very talented. Heck, even the exceptional bass playing (namely on the Tool-like ‘Persefone’) puts this fellow bassist to shame! I cannot recommend this enough to anyone into the epic side of metal, and I’ll certainly be going back and checking out their earlier stuff. It gets a very easy 9/10 from us!
Black Country, New Road: Forever Howlong
The third album from the experimental/post/art rock six piece is as quirky and light-hearted and interesting as fans of the band would come to expect. I feel like readers may be a little shocked to hear this due to my harsh words about Emily above and my vocal ‘meh’ feelings towards stuff like The Last Dinner Party, but I really enjoyed this! It blended the folky and jazzier elements with the soft rock perfectly, and the vocals and melodies and harmonies were all top notch! It’s a really good album to sit back and chill-out and really get absorbed into, and it’s a real testament to the six people involved’s incredible talent. Songs like ‘The Big Spin’, the theatrical ‘Happy Birthday’ and the title track are all awesome. However, there isn’t a bad song on this release, and they all flow together seamlessly. I don’t know if it was just because it was a nice sunny day here, but I had a great time listening to this, and would recommend anyone into the softer side of music to check this out, as I’d imagine you would too! I’m definitely going to have to check out their earlier music, but for now it gets a solid 8/10 from us!
Messiah Paratroops: Legions of Tomorrow
The LONG-awaited debut album from the Finnish death metal legends is finally out, and it’s a pretty great classic-style album in the genre! It’s fast, heavy and packed full of awesome riffs, drums and screams. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a death metal band formed back in 1989! Tracks like the opener, the bands namesake track and ‘Murders of the Lake’ are all personal highlights, but if you like the genre you’ll love it all, just like I did! It’s honestly hard to say much about, as it’s exactly what you’d expect, and base death metal is such a straight-forward, no-nonsense genre that I don’t want to repeat myself too much. It’s fun, and something I’d love to see live, as I can imagine it popping off! It’s a solid 7/10 from us, and is one of the best albums in its vein this year so far!
Filthy Hippies: A Colourful Trip Through Melancholy
The psych/shoegaze South Africans put out an interesting release this last Friday. It’s again a genre I’m not too into or even familiar with, but I certainly didn’t have a bad time listening to this. It was fun and interesting and well created. It almost had an air of early punk to it too, which I certainly can’t complain about! It’s not something I’d revisit all that often, but it’s a damn good album to sit back and chill with in the background. Songs like ‘Wilt’, ‘Fuzzbox’ and the almost Southern-feeling, acoustic ‘Smells like Rehab’ are all awesome and definite highlights. However, it’s a fun album to just get lost in, and there really isn’t a bad song on it. The band are extremely talented, something that honestly feels understated given the genre. My only slight issue is the mixing; I’d personally prefer the vocals a little louder and more prominent, though I feel that comes with the genre, maybe? Either way, it’s a good release that I enjoyed more than I thought I would! It’s a solid 6.5/10
Cry for Mercy: The Machine
The third album from the powerhouse-blues rock trio is just as good as their previous two releases. ‘A Thing About Me’ is an utterly incredible opener that sets the tone for the rest of the album perfectly. Then you have tracks like ‘Walking With the Enemy’, the beautiful ballad ‘Nothing at All’ and ‘Sometimes’ that are all just as awesome and other big highlights. However, it’s all great, and somehow is 50-minutes long and doesn’t at all feel like it overstays it’s welcome. There is plenty of variety and tempo changes throughout, keeping it consistently interesting. At a time where blues seems to be on the up again, this band are doing it better than almost all of their peers. How I haven’t listened to them much, or how they’re not a massive name in the UK scene by now, is insane to me. I’ll be listening to this a lot in the coming weeks and months, and I’d recommend it to anyone! It’s a solid 8.5/10!
Two of the best bands in the US through the 2010s until now are finally touring the UK, and they’ve been doing so together! They’ve done a whole host of shows up and down the UK over the last month, and there was no way we weren’t covering the tour. We already saw them at the Manchester show, but wanted to put out a review of their show in our hometown as it felt extra special. spoiler alert, we had a blast!
You know the drill by now. Eddie & The Wolves are the best band ever. We’ve been over this before. But, in all seriousness, this was a dream come true for me and the rest of the band. To not only support the two legendary bands in Manchester but in our hometown too was truly special. To everyone who came down, the promoters, the bands themselves, and every single person who worked on every show, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know for a fact that all five of us had an absolute blast playing to the packed room of our favourite venue, and rumour has it we sounded pretty good, too! It certainly felt and sounded great my end!
After a quick, rather stressful changeover, the incredible Blacktop Mojo took to the stage. We obviously caught them in Manchester and loved them then, but honestly they felt like they were somehow on an even higher level at The Dog. They were absolutely incredible from the very first note to the last! Tour opener ‘Wicked Woman’ was incredible, and personal highlights for me are Pollen tracks ‘Red Enough’ and ‘Weary I Roam’ (no surprise there, given that I lovedthe album). Honestly, I’ve had the former stuck in my head since Thursday! ‘Burn the Ships’ and ‘Prodigal’ were also awesome, and capping off the set were two absolutely PHENOMENAL covers. Running into the Alice in Chains classic ‘Them Bones’ off the back of ‘Trouble on the Rise’ will always blow me away. Then, we got treated to something truly special, as the band closed out the set with their much-loved cover of ‘Dream On’.
The band, too, played their asses off throughout. All of the instrumentation was incredible and the sound and tone for it all was off the charts. Their unique blend of hard rock, grunge and blues was on full display throughout, and myself and everyone else in the crowd loved it. Meanwhile, Matt James’ stage presence and hugely underrated vocals fit perfectly over the top. Whether it was foot-stomping, fuzzy rock songs, slower ballads, or even just him and an acoustic, he sounded amazing and you couldn’t take your eyes off him throughout. But then again, Matt Curtis’ harmonies throughout also added so much, and really rounded out the sound perfectly. The band are all born performers who really put on a great, high energy show on such a small stage. I desperately need to see them on something bigger!
Not long after, the headliners Shaman’s Harvest came on. For a band that I have been a fan of over a decade at this point, they played an almost perfect setlist, and I loved every minute of it! Whether it was opening on the one-two-punch of ‘The Come Up’ into ‘Dangerous’, newer bangers like ‘Voices’ or classics including ‘Country as Fuck’, ‘In Chains’ or perennial set-closer ‘Dragonfly’, it was all amazing. Heck, even the new song, ‘Rock and Roll Queen’, sounded amazing live. And the fact that I got to see ‘Broken Dreams’ live on this tour… *chef’s kiss*. It was of course a big reason why I imagine a lot of people got into them in the UK, and for them to finally bust it out live, even if it was just for a couple of shows, was amazing!
Just like Blacktop, the band were really on top form live, too. Everyone sounded incredible, and Nathan Hunt’s effortlessly powerful voice and suave, chilled-out stage presence was magnetic. And, while I don’t necessarily want to use the word chilled for a rock/alt metal band, that’s very much what it was. It was stomping swamp rock, for the most part, and everyone play their parts to perfection. It’s easy to see why they have toured with some of the biggest and best names across the US, as they and Blacktop are both incredible live bands. Everyone in the crowd hung on every second of their set, and Nathan had them in the palm of his hand throughout.
Overall, it was an absolutely brilliant night. The touring bands were incredible, and it’s wild to think that this was practically their first times playing over here, given how much they packed out each venue! We had a blast with an awesome night of live music, surrounded by likeminded people who are surprisingly hard to get out in Derby sometimes! I cannot recommend either band enough, both live and on track, and given that they are already teasing about coming back over here soon, you may not have too long to wait before you can check them out. Because, if you ever get the chance to see either band live, I cannot recommend going to see them enough, they’re well worth it! Oh, and Eddie & The Wolves are also worth a watch, too…
A typically stacked week of New Music Mondays this time, featuring plenty of rock, metal and country albums to sink our teeth into. Let’s get right into it!
Coheed and Cambria: The Father of Make Believe
The third and final part of the Vaxis trilogy of course goes kinda hard, but also not quite as hard as I’d like to at times. However, what it makes up for in big riffs, it more than makes up for in sheer beauty. I mean, just listen to Meri of Mercy and try to tell me that shit isn’t gorgeous. And then to follow that up with that riff and scream on ‘Blind Side Sonny’… DAMN. Okay, I take it back, this does go hard, it just takes a little to get going. It’s surprisingly modern-punk at times, and I’m all for it! The variety on this release is off the charts, and makes for an insanely interesting listen and plenty of repeatability. It’s a solid undertaking, very close to an hour across 14 songs, but it is very much worth it. What’s even more worth it is doing all three on the trot, which I somehow managed to do this weekend and FUCK, amazing!
It’s so hard to pick highlight tracks, too. The two aforementioned tracks are certainly up there, as are ‘Someone Who Can’ and ‘The Father of Make Believe’. And of course all four parts of ‘The Continuum’ are phenomenal, together and apart, specifically I. And while the opening three tracks didn’t hook me as much as the rest of the album, none of them are especially bad. If you are a fan of the band, or even if you aren’t, I can’t recommend this release enough! I LOVED the last record (clearly), but this may top it. Heck, I’d put this up there with Good Apollo, honestly, it’s just that good. I’ve already spun this twice this weekend and will be listening a lot more in the coming weeks and months. If it wasn’t for my initial impression, it’d get top marks. It may still go up, but for now it’s a very solid 9.5/10!
Dorothy: THE WAY
The modern blues rock goddess’ fourth album may honestly be her best yet. The riffs are bigger, better and heavier than ever, her voice is just as powerful and impressive as it always is, and the songwriting feels like it’s somehow taken another seemingly impossible step up. Honestly, her vocals are some of the best and most underrated currently out there, in any genre! I very much enjoyed their last album, but this, as said, is a step up from that. It’s almost impossible to pick highlight tracks as they are all so good. And at only 36-minutes it’s so easily-digestible. Honestly I don’t know what else I can say about it without just repeatedly gushing over and over. If you are in any way a rock fan, you have to check this out immediately. It’s her best album to date and, I’ll make the call again, this should be the release to finally send her to the very top of the rock world. It’s another very solid 9.5/10 in a row!
Charley Crockett: Lonesome Drifter
Yet another studio album from the country musician, marking his 14th in the last decade and second in 11 months. He’s clearly learnt his work ethic from artist like Neil Young and Willie Nelson, that’s for sure!
However, having heaped all that praise on him, this album was kinda average to me. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad by any stretch. His brand of neo-tradional country and Western music makes for a good listen, especially if you are into things more old-school. And tracks like ‘Game I Can’t Win’, ‘This Crazy Life’ and ‘Never No More’ are all personal highlights. However, it doesn’t quite hold up to the same quality and interesting listen to $10 Cowboy. It’s even more stripped-back in a lot of places, and I do feel like generally it’s a little less memorable. But, having said all of that, I do think the album gets better the longer it goes on. The second half, in my opinion, is a lot stronger and more enjoyable than the first half.
If you’re a fan of traditional country, or more soul/blues infused, chilled-out Western music, it’s still certainly worth checking out. It’s still a solid 7/10, and I will certainly be listening to a few of the tracks a lot moving forward!
Ricky Warwick: Blood Ties
The Almighty/Black Star Riders legend is back with another solo release, following up 2021s When Life was Hard & Fast. Honestly, if you’re a fan of any of his previous work, you’ll know almost exactly what to expect heading into it, and it very much delivers on that. Tracks like the opener, ‘Don’t Leave Me in the Dark’ and ‘Crocodile Tears’ are personal highlights and up there with any of his solo or recent Riders work, honestly. It’s truthfully a little hard to come up with things to say about it as it’s just a good straight-up rock album. It combines elements of his Thin Lizzy influence and his own Almighty style together perfectly, and is a surprisingly chilled-out release that doesn’t feel like it’s 40-minutes in length at all. It’s not something I’d revisit often, but I will definitely be listening again throughout the year, and certainly wouldn’t turn it off if it came back on again. It is just a touch of background music, but that is hardly a bad thing, it just means I have less to analyse! It’s a solid 7.5/10 from us, and I’d recommend it to any rock fan reading this!
Warbringer: Wrath and Ruin
The modern Californian thrash band are back with album number seven, and their first since 2020. And honestly, I’d put this up there with any of their critically acclaimed mid-2000s stuff, proving that, much like their contemporaries Evile, the thrash revival is coming back with a vengeance. All eight tracks here are awesome and really are a full-frontal assault from start to finish in the best way possible. However, ‘A Better World’, ‘Neuromancer’ and the more blackened death ‘Through a Glass, Darkly’ are personal highlights, I have to say. The band are all fantastic songwriters, the lyrics being surprisingly awesome for the genre, and are clearly absolutely incredible players. And, on top of all of that, it’s a double album with a stacked set of live shows on the second disc, demonstrating just how awesome the band are in that setting, too. It’s no secret that I’m a massive thrash fan, and this was right up my street, feeling just as fresh and modern as it did when the band started 20 odd years ago. If you like stuff heavy, check this out, you won’t be disappointed! It’s a solid 7.5/10 from me!
P.S. this artwork goes hard. Damn.
Warren Zeiders: Relapse, Lies & Betrayal
The modern country megastar is back and taking no prisoners with this release. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is a deluxe version of his 2024 album Relapse, but we somehow didn’t check that out on here, and it adds more than double the amount of tracks to the release, so we thought it was only fair to give it some love now!
Firstly, I think it’s interesting that the tracks are rearranged somewhat. Though both versions open on the titular track, outside of ‘Betrayal’ the rest of the original album is at the back of this release. I kinda like it though, as ‘Lies’ fits pretty perfectly between the other two songs and sets the tone of the album pretty perfectly. Then you have new tracks like the beautiful duet with Lanie Gardner, ‘Crying Whiskey’ and ‘Take it to the Grave’ that are just as good as anything he’s put out, honestly. There’s a lot of great stuff in the new half, and it’s definitely made a very solid case for it all being released. Such a good case, that I feel like it should have been another album. I completely get feeling like it’s all one project from an artist perspective, as they were probably all wrote and recorded in similar sessions. But, it’s also an hour plus of similar-ish, slower modern country music. And I would still say the main album tracks are still better and more interesting. There isn’t a bad song on the collection, but there are certainly better songs than others, and even Warren’s utterly fantastic vocals and lyrics can quite change that. ‘Intoxicated’ and ‘Stone’s Throw Away’ are still my favourite tracks on the album. It’s worth a listen if you’re into him or country in general, but I won’t be rushing back to the extended cut all too much. Still, it’s a solid 7/10!
Black Spiders: Cvrses
The British hard rockers put out their fifth studio album after their triumphant return to the studio with their self titled and Can’t Die, Won’t Die back in 2021 and 2023 respectively. As you can tell, I quite liked their last album, and have been a fan of the band for years now, so go into this pretty damn hyped! For the most part it lives up to said hype, too. To no surprise, this is a damn solid rock album. Songs like the opener, ‘Idol Hands’ and ‘No Superman’ are personal highlights, though the whole album is pretty great! There’s more of a Wildhearts feel to a lot of it which I love, and makes for a lot of fun to listen to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly long, and 14 tracks does feel a touch bloated, but I honestly wouldn’t know which to cut to trim the fat a little. It flows really well together, too. It’s a damn good follow-up to their previous release, and honestly I may even put this slightly higher in the ranking than it. But, much like our last review, I don’t think it quite lives up to those first two stellar albums from them. I also think it doesn’t help that it’s released into such a saturated market for this sort of music these days, and does very little out of the ordinary or to stand out. Still, it is a good album, and gets a solid 8/10 from us!
The Davidson Trio: Cougar
The debut album of the English power blues rock trio is fantastic, and a lot of fun to listen to! Right from opener ‘Medusa Touch’ to the lead single/title track and the plodding ‘Blue River’ to the epic closer, it’s 35-minutes of sheer blues awesomeness. It’s all just amazing riffs and catchy vocal lines, performed by three people very clearly at the top of their craft. Being in a blues-inspired band has given me a huge new appreciation for the style, but even if it hadn’t, I have a feeling I’d still love this! If you’re a fan of the likes of Hendrix, Bonemassa or even bands like ZZ Top or Quo, do yourselves a favour and check this album out, you won’t be disappointed! The band have a huge new fan in me, and with them being so local hopefully I’ll get to see them live soon! It’s a solid 8.5/10 from us!
An Evening With Knives: End of Time
Another absolutely SICK album artwork, first of all. Secondly, the third studio album from the Netherlands-based trio is utterly fantastic. Masterfully combining everything from post-metal to psychedelic to doom metal, the band have really constructed an epic soundscape that deserves to be listened to in full 38-minute listens just as much as individual tracks. ‘Pride of Lions’ is an excellent opener and single which channels big Mastodon vibes, though more stoner. Then you have the epic, almost prog ‘Death’ and both other singles that are just as excellent. However, as I said, every single track here is awesome, and it all fits together like a perfect puzzle. I cannot get over how good this is, and is a very welcome surprise. Doom-like metal is so good at the minute, and this band are certainly one of the many carrying that torch and setting an example as to why. Yet again, the band have a huge new fan in me, and no matter what sort of music you are into, I cannot recommend this release enough, go and check it out now! I can’t give it any less than 9/10, awesome stuff!
Giovannie and the Hired Guns: Quitter
Another album on this list that I wasn’t expecting to love anywhere near as much as this. I’ve somehow never heard of this band before, but damn, I love them! It’s very much a nod to the early 2000s pop/skate punk scene, but has that heavier edge that the likes of ADTR added to it, though these guys didn’t lose that fun element when doing so! I was hooked right from the awesome opener, the titular Giovannie’s vocals throughout being incredible, be it catchy singing or surprisingly heavy screams. That’s the followed by the HUGE single/title track and a fantastic cover of ‘Talk Dirty’. It’s safe to say the album opens incredibly strong, and continues the same quality and energy throughout. ‘Chiquita’, ‘Pineapple Sunshine’ and ‘Land of the Lost’ are all huge personal highlights on an album packed full of them! It actually has just an air of HARDY’s latest stuff, so that makes sense as to why they get the ‘country rock’ description I guess. I know I wasn’t a fan of that when it came out, but it feels a lot more natural from this band!
I honestly can’t state enough how much fun I had listening to this, even when the album gets a little slower and more reflective. It’s a fantastic album from start to finish that didn’t feel like nearly 45 minutes at all. I love this sort of style, all of them, and the band do it better than few others. I’ll be listening to this a lot moving forward, and it’s another album I’d heavily recommend to anyone reading this. It’s another incredibly solid 9/10 from me; what a week!
HoneyBombs: There is an Elephant in the Room
This release from the underground Italian punk/rock/metal titans has been a long time coming, being first put off due to the pandemic ruining everything, and then it taking a couple of years to record and get out. The wait was probably worth it, as this is a good, interesting release! It combines so many different sounds and influences, and is anything but boring. From punk and metal riffing to even some glam/AOR in the choruses, it wears its heart on its sleeve fantastically. In fact, AOR is honestly the perfect way to describe this album. Songs like the opening two, ‘Spit on You’ and the epic ‘Ascension’ are awesome, and very much highlights. Don’t get me wrong, it’s long, over an hour. However, it shockingly doesn’t feel that long when listening to it, and I came away from it wanting to dive right back in again. The band are insanely talented players and songwriters, and it makes it all the more enjoyable. It’s certainly not going to be for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed this album and if you’re into the proggier side of things, I’m sure you will too! It’s a solid 8/10, and the band have a new fan in me!
We had the pleasure of sitting down with the awesome South African blues man himself, Ross Harding, to chat about settling in the UK, his upcoming release and tour, and the state of the industry! Check it out below!
How would you describe your sound? It’s definitely blues but there also feels like more to it?
I think it’s hard rock music with a heavy blues influence. It’s a difficult one to describe because I don’t really know myself. It started out as more of a blues rock project but admittedly it does take its own shape. Loosely it’s heavy blues rock, but there’s a lot of different sounds, from 90s stuff to old school, 70s heavy metal. If you think of Sabbath, it was all kinda bluesy anyway. That’s the best I’ve got!
And so the tour kicks off in just a couple of days (time of recording) right?
Yeah, it’s on the go at the moment actually. The strategy I’ve taken for this year after basically settled into the UK for a year now and it was just building up the networking and band and my contacts in the industry, and leveraging that throughout the year. So I’m not doing extensive on the road touring, it’s kind of sporadic, lots of weekends and the odd midweek show all around the UK to navigate the landscape and build it up from that.
And it’s just local supports for each show, right?
Yeah, I’m not working with anyone in particular, just the venues or promoters recommending us certain support acts. I don’t know if supports is the right word as a lot of times these guys are as established as I am. It seems to be something that exists in the UK that I’ve had to wrap my head around, is this support act and then headline thing. It seems to be how the industry portrays it while in SA [South Africa] we just did music together. And I understand that this is the main artist, but I think that the industry is so… there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors all the time of who’s doing really well and who’s not. At the end of the day you just have to rock up to the gig and smash it as hard as you can. If you have musicians jumping on the lineup with you, you should be thanking them from the bottom of your heart for them being there and putting in that effort. We’re all in the same boat at the end of the day.
I don’t care what anybody says, it’s the toughest industry to try and make something out of. All of the interviews we do, it’s a lot of brave face. ‘Oh we’re doing so well’ when behind the scenes it’s not. I know it’s tough. Some shows are really amazing and others aren’t. You have issues with booking schedules and touring and the cost of running the whole thing. I think the perspective I’ve taken since coming to the UK is just a position of gratitude. The fact that I’m even playing shows in the UK blows my mind. I’m just doing the best I can!
Was it the music that made you move out here?
Yes and no. It was definitely part of it but my wife got an opportunity with a company where basically we were able to leverage for visas and so forth. That was a real blessing. But of course, as far as my music career is concerned, it was a trajectory that I wanted to fulfill, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that.
Are there any differences you can think of from the scene back home compared to here?
Yeah, you can’t even compare them really! The UK industry is way bigger for rock’n’roll. The music scene in Africa is massive if you think about house musicians and electronic music. But the rock’n’roll industry is much smaller. So there are fans, and there is a scene, especially in South Africa. I don’t know how much of a scene exists in other parts, it would be very niche in places like North Africa. I could be wrong, but it never came up on any tour schedule or anything like that.
The South African scene definitely has die-hard supporters, but it’s way smaller. If I think about the tour schedule and the way you can tour in the UK and branch that out into Europe compared to what you can do in SA, it’s not even a comparable thing.
You put out a single last year, are you writing some more and planning another EP or?
Yeah, I’m busy finishing up an album! the tour that I’m doing now is the Blood and the Blues tour, and that’s gonna be the album release as well. As I mentioned earlier there’s a few things that have had to be re-looked at from a distribution process. But it’s pretty much gone through the mastering process now; it’s right there! Then the release schedule starts.
Yeah, that’s almost as much work as everything else these days!
Absolutely, it’s 24/7, just trying to tick all the boxes. Not even doing performances but making sure the music is as high quality as possible.
Is it just you that writes it or do you bring the band in to help?
I’ve been through kind of a transitional period in that essence. The short answer is I do 95% of the writing. But it’s always influenced by the people you work with, whether their contribution is something that’s going to come up in a royalty or not. For example, the way the music sounded when I performed it with artists in SA, compared to the musicians in the UK is different, even though it’s the same song and the gents I’m working with here had no input in the writing. Their style and musicality is naturally gonna be portrayed; their personality comes out.
In SA we got to a point where the musicians I was working with were contributing a lot more to the process. But I do try to leave it as fluid as possible as I know that the way it’s going to be portrayed to the audience in its highest form is ironically by letting it go. Letting those musicians do with that music what they would. As soon as you try to box anything you aren’t getting the fullness of those personalities.
Have they done any of the recording of the album?
They haven’t done any of the UK. I actually did all of the recording in SA. It‘s still being mixed and mastered by my friends at Studio 31 in Johannesburg, but I’m still doing some of it virtually so recording it at my home studio and sending it all the way out to SA. It’s amazing what you can do these days! It’s been an interesting process to be able to do it that way. It’s not the ideal way I’d like to do it, I’d like to do it old-school and live tracks. But 90% of the guitars are live tracked.
I would say it’s more of a compilation. I’m reluctant to call it an album, although I suppose we’re just dealing with semantics. I really wanted to showcase different facets of my musical style. I do think that there are lots of influences that all form this thing. People are going to make up their own minds. Some of the diehard blues community could be like ‘nah, he’s not real blues’, and then the hard rock side can be like ‘ahh, it’s too bluesy for me’. I don’t really care, I just do my thing! What that’s done is allow me to showcase these different elements. There’s tracks with tonnes of acoustic guitar, and then ones that are really stripped back, and then some real aggressivey hard rock with longer songs and structures and moving parts. It’s kinda like a showcase!
And so you’ve got the tour through April, right?
Well really it’s like the full year. There’s dates all the way up until December. But it’s not five shows in a row kinda touring. There’s probably 40 dates. In 2023 I did 150 performances made up of lots of different types of shows, three different formats. But the first part of this tour is until the summer, then from the summer onwards will be the second part!
23 tracks. 23 TRACKS. Strap in guys and girls, let’s do this.
Modern country legend Kip Moore is back with his sixth studio album, and my gosh is it a big one. I remember checking out his last release, 2023’s Damn Love, and looking back on it I was shocked I didn’t like it too much. That album has certainly grown on me since and I’ve always been a fan of Moore, so when this came over my desk I knew I had to dive in head first and check it out! It’s a big undertaking, but everything Kip has said about it has gotten me hyped, so I can’t wait to hear it!
‘High Hopes’ starts things perfectly, setting the country-Americana-rock vibe amazingly well. A great acoustic guitar riff starts, Kip’s powerful, amazing vocals soon coming in over the top. It builds excellently through the opening chorus too, almost giving off vibes of Drew Holocomb or even Shane Smith. It’s catchy as anything, too! I absolutely ADORE the drumming in the second chorus too, adding some pace and rock and energy to it in all the best ways. The whole song is awesome though and put together so well. It’s definitely a highlight and certainly makes it onto our playlist. What a way to open the album!
The albums title track is up next, and slows the pace down a little. it does still have the same folky-Americana feel to it, though. It’s a beautiful, lower energy song that highlights Kip’s strengths of lyric writing and the versatility of his voice. And it still builds to a huge, stadium-filling chorus! It’s another amazing song, and definitely a good choice to name the album after. If you’re into Kip or any of the genres or artists I’ve mentioned already, I’d definitely recommend checking this out!
‘Pretty Horses’ and ‘Livin’ Side’ keep the slower, folkier vibes going through the middle of the first side. Both are beautiful, good songs, but this release is massive so I can’t go in depth about every single track, or you’ll see the length of the article and click off again! They’re both worth a listen, and fit perfectly in the context and flow of the album! The strings in particular in the former are amazing.
The first (and most recent) single on the album, ‘Around You’, is a beautiful song that feels as much soft rock as it does country/Americana. It builds perfectly through the simple, folky verse into a massive chorus. It still stays pretty stripped back, but Kip’s powerful vocals really step it up a notch and sound awesome! The lyrics are also fantastic, and his vocal delivery as a whole of them is amazing, giving off slight Bryan Adam’s vibes in the best ways. We even get an awesome, vert fitting little guitar solo in the middle. It’s an amazing Americana-rock song and a very good choice for a single. It’s easily a highlight of the album!
Starting off Side-B, ‘Bad Spot’ is a very stripped-back ballad track, focusing mainly on Kip’s raspy vocals, the simple drums and acoustic guitar. It’s also another incredibly catchy chorus, fitting the tone of the track and album as a whole perfectly. It’s an awesome, emotion-filled breakup track, and another huge highlight of an album so far filled with them!
‘Rivers Don’t Run’ gives off big Police vibes, combined perfectly with Bryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen. It’s the least country and most soft rock track so far, and is another awesome song! It’s infectiously catchy and at least a little different feeling in tone to the rest of the album so far, breaking it up nicely. It’s a fun song, and yet another personal highlight.
Single ‘Like Ya Stole It’ is another beautiful ballad track, clearly dedicated to his father. It’s packed full of emotion and certainly brought a smile to my face! It was at this point that I was starting to feel the length of the album a touch (already, I know), but the track is so good it’s impossible not to love. And honestly, they’re pretty good lyrics to live by! It’s a fun, slow country song, and definitely worth checking out!
‘Southern Song’ is another beautiful, heartfelt track that is so well written that I can’t not love it, no matter how many times I listen to it. His vocals are maybe at their peak on this song, as is his amazing lyric writing. It’s a simple track yet hugely effective, and another song that I’m a little obsessed with. It’s one that will easily make it onto our Spotify alongside a lot of others on this record!
‘Learning as I Go’ was another fantastic choice for a single, and starts off side C incredibly strongly. It has a bit more of a powerful rock edge to it again, and that chorus is absolutely phenomenal. And again, that may in large part be down to his amazing vocals and delivery throughout. And the simple yet incredibly effective guitar solo in the middle is also amazing. It’s a tall tale, but it may be my favourite track on the album. I may change my mind on another listen, but for now it’s very much a frontrunner. It takes the best parts of Adams, Shane Smith and his own stuff, rolling it together into this incredible package.
Out of nowhere, we get a blues rock song in ‘Alley Cat’. It was much more in line with what I was expecting from this record, and is a more than welcome addition to it! It’s still pretty simply crafted, but has that real old-school blues/soul feel to it, making it a lot of fun to listen to. And that chorus with the subtle harmonies… *chef’s kiss*. It’s the shot in the aim this album needed at this stage, and was performed and written amazingly. It also felt like a shift in the tone of the album, as ‘Live Her to Work’ is also another up-beat country-blues-rock track. It’s crazy fun, and the lyrics are amazing, surely relatable to just about everyone these days. Both are huge highlights but the latter I think is slightly stronger, probably because it’s slightly more relatable to me! Amazing stuff!
The rock vibes continue on through the awesome, Springsteen-y ‘Love & War’ before we get an acoustic country return with ‘Flowers in December’. The side C concludes with a beautiful, slower folk ballad in ‘Forever is a Lie’. Meanwhile, the final side continues along the same vein as the earlier stuff. ‘Tough Enough’ is another big highlight, the chorus being incredible and the lyrics again being awesome. Also the higher energy, funk-rock ‘Good Things Never Last’ is yet another great song! It almost has Quo vibes to it, which was amazing. And ‘Only Me’ finishes the album off in style with another soft country-rock, almost U2-like anthem.
Overall: I know I ended up rushing through those last handful of tracks, but that shouldn’t be a reflection of the quality of the album at all. For a 23-track long album to hold my attention this well and keep me guessing on what comes next is no easy feat, and for it to have so many bangers on it too is nothing short of incredible. It feels like it builds on his last couple of albums perfectly, honestly more of a bit of a culmination of his sounds up to this point. Moore hit the nail on the head when he said that he wants to feel authentic to himself, as this feels like it took his heart and soul to write and release, and the journey it takes you on is really incredible. Not every song is my favourite, but as a whole they all work perfectly and, though it’s long, I’d recommend checking it out in full at least once.
