New York, NY (July 8, 2014)—Deep Purple, fresh off a European tour to support their 19th studio album NOW What?!, is heading stateside for a North American trek! The tour kicks off August 4 in Scottsdale, AZ (all tour dates below).
NOW What?! was originally released in North America in April 2013 via earMusic / Eagle Rock Entertainment. The album marked the next great chapter in the band’s 40-plus year career, blending the classic '70s Deep Purple spirit with modern production and a progressive mindset.
Having reached #1 in Germany, Russia, Czech Republic and Austria, charting Top 5 in 7 countries and Top 10 in 10 countries, not to mention hitting the British Top-20 for the first time in 20 years, Deep Purple celebrated with the release of NOW What?! Gold Edition earlier this year, which included additional songs and a live bonus disc.
In anticipation of their return to North America, Deep Purple will release their next single to radio: “All The Time In The World.”
Blazing off the success of NOW What?!, Deep Purple is ready to bring the sizzle to the States this summer!
For more information regarding this and other Eagle RockEntertainment releases/projects, contact Carol Kaye at Carol@Kayosproductions.com. Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KayosProductionsInc.
Making rock 'n' roll dangerous again By Peter Lindblad
Motley Crue - The Final Tour
Being that it was the Fourth of July, Motley Crue didn't skimp on the pyrotechnics on the second night of what is being billed as the glam-metal ne'er-do-wells' final tour.
Getting a late start, technical problems reportedly being blamed for the delay, as the crowd was still being herded in right around the scheduled concert start time, Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Tommy Lee appeared onstage at Summerfest in Milwaukee after a full blast of loud, dazzling fireworks announced their arrival.
Alice Cooper had already worked his dark, twisted magic on the audience, giving Cooper fanatics exactly what they wanted – a mock electrocution gone horribly wrong, Cooper shackled in a straight jacket and tormented by a demented nurse, flares shooting from Glen Sobel's drumsticks, a boa constrictor draped over Cooper's shoulders, and, of course, a final beheading staged with a guillotine.
The act may be familiar, but like the Harlem Globetrotters' old bag of tricks, it's still a fun, vaudevillian treat for the senses, and the band's tight, rousing renditions of Cooper classics like "I'm Eighteen," "Under My Wheels," "Poison," "No More Mr. Nice Guy," "Feed My Frankenstein" – complete with a 20-foot singing monster – and "Billion Dollar Babies" were performed with theatrical panache, punk energy and vicious playing from a band that now includes new guitarist Nita Strauss. She didn't disappoint, tearing through full-throttle solos and leads that let everyone know there's a new sheriff in town, and when Cooper and company close with a galvanizing "School's Out," he had the whole Marcus Amphitheater in a stranglehold. Cooper was in fine form, acting out every well-worn scene as if he was doing it for the first time, and his durable, switchblade vocals cutting through crowd noise with ease.
Appetites sufficiently whetted, it was time for Crue to come out and bid farewell to Milwaukee with a fiery, defiant send-off. In between explosions, blinding flashes of lights and plumes of fire shooting from every orifice the industrial-designed stage had, the Crue delivered revved-up, razor-sharp versions of "Live Wire," "Too Fast for Love," "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)," "Looks That Kill," "Wild Side" and "Smokin' in the Boys Room," among other favorites, including a stomping march through "Shout at the Devil" that shook the Marcus Amphitheater to its foundation. A "Carnival of Sins"? Perhaps not, this set being somewhat more spartan and business-like, though still elaborate and never threatening to detract from the band's rough-and-ready power. Mars' guitar riffs had that raw, down-and-dirty tone that's so delicious, and Sixx did his best to get everyone to believe Crue's hype, his rock-star swagger still as entertaining as ever. If this is, indeed, the end, it's clear they intend to go out with guns blazing.
With flames shooting from Sixx's bass at one point and scantily-clad back-up singers gyrating all over the place, Crue refused to tone down their lusty bravado, not that anyone there would have wished for that. A non-stop thrill ride from beginning to end, plus a run through a scintillating new song called "All Bad Things Must End" – culminated by a mind-blowing solo from Mars – the show didn't exactly go off without a hitch, though. Neil's vocals were often barely audible, and Lee's punishing drum work busted up a snare drum fairly early on, leading to Lee not-so-sheepishly admitting that perhaps he was hitting his kit "too f--king hard."
Due to the limitations of the venue's facilities, Crue was not able to haul out its most death-defying maneuver, known as "The Cruecify," where Lee's drum set-up is extended out over the crowd. Nevertheless, with all the fire and ear drum-shattering bangs surely scrambling their senses, Crue seemed to be courting danger at every turn. Say what you will about their music – and critics have lobbed plenty of insults their way, as Sixx so eloquently dismissed in an expletive-laden rant – nobody can accuse them of playing it safe, and on this night, they put on a display of dangerous rock 'n' roll that left the paying customers breathless.
NOLA band's debut LP was produced by Crosby By Peter Lindblad
Steve Blaze and his band Lillian Axe in 2014
Knocking around the Louisiana club circuit in the 1980s, the somewhat dark and deeply spiritual New Orleans metal and hard-rock combo Lillian Axe had established itself locally and regionally as a band on the rise.
Steve Blaze, Lillian Axe's leader and the only remaining original member, remembers that time fondly.
"People were going out and supporting the bands that were
playing, and we had a huge following."
said Blaze.
Lillian Axe - One Night in
the Temple 2014
Perhaps it was only a matter of time then until Lillian Axe, who recently released the career-spanning, acoustic live CD/DVD set One Night in the Temple, caught a big break, and crunchy Los Angeles glam-metal guttersnipes Ratt had a lot to do with it.
"We were asked to open up for
Ratt, Queensryche and Poison … and then after the second show, the security guy
or our tour manager or whatever, stage manager, for Ratt came up to me and
said, 'I need to get your phone number. Marshall Berle wants to talk to you,'" recalled Blaze, who talked to the All Access blog some weeks ago about the band's history and its current work (we'll post the entire interview with Blaze in the coming days).
The nephew of beloved funny man Milton Berle, Marshall Berle was at one time the manager of L.A.-based bands like Van Halen and, of course, Ratt, the group he was representing back then. Berle had pull in the industry, and he was somebody Lillian Axe wanted to get to know.
"That was like one of those moments you talk about and just realize that, holy
cow, this is really happening," said Blaze. "You know, those were the two biggest rock bands
at the time and everybody knew who their manager was. But I got a call two days
later, and it’s Marshall. He said, 'Steve, it’s Marshall Berle. Do you want a
record deal?' Of course, at that time, when you’re in your early 20s, we’re not
thinking about the possibility you could ever get screwed over by record
companies. We were willing to take it, so we said, 'Absolutely.'"
Continuing on with a series of shows booked for that jaunt, Blaze recounted that Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby had taken a shine to the band, which did encounter label troubles down the line, and that he wanted to produce them. Not long after, Berle met with record-industry mogul Irving Azoff, and Lillian Axe was signed to MCA.
"The rest is just a roller coaster ride," said Blaze.
It's been 12 years since the Crosby died from a heroin overdose, his battles with addiction and AIDS well-documented. Blaze misses him dearly.
"He was a wonderful guy," said Blaze. "I just wish I’d gotten to know him more, and I wish he was still around."
When Lillian Axe recorded its self-titled debut, released in 1988, it was Crosby who helped the band refine its sound and define who they were musically. And yet, for all that Crosby had accomplished with Ratt, one of the biggest bands of the '80s with mega-hits like "Lay It Down," "Wanted Man" and "Round and Round" – a song co-written by Crosby – he was, as Blaze relates, insecure about a lot of things. (Watch the video for "Round and Round" below)
"Robbin was great," said Blaze. "I always tell people, Robbin was
really … I call him kind of a fork in the road, because … just the whole fame and rock ‘n’ roll part of success, I don’t think he
really adjusted to it or really embraced it."
In his heart of hearts, Blaze thought Crosby was not only a wonderful person, but also a talented musician, even if Crosby didn't always believe it himself.
"He was always such a good man, and
he’d say, 'I’m going to give you a call later,' and he’d call and say, 'I’m not a
good guitar player,'" said Blaze. "I’d be like, 'Robbin, you’re with one of the biggest bands
in the world, buddy. Just relax. Quit worrying.' He was
one of the nicest people in the world. I wanted him to be happy, you know. Great guy, very generous, we had fun working on the album, but I always
felt that he didn’t quite really know how to accept the situation that he was
in. And I don’t know if that’s what led to his problems, his addictions and
whatnot, and it was really too bad, because of anybody I’ve ever met in this
industry, he didn’t deserve to have that happen to him."
Blaze wasn't around Crosby or Ratt when Crosby's life spiraled downward.
"We never really ever saw that side of
Robbin," said Blaze. "I don’t know what went on with him there."
What does bring a smile to Blaze's face when thinking about Crosby is a story he has from the time they worked on that first Lillian Axe album.
"The last day of our pre-production, he came down to Jackson, Miss.,
and we had this room that was a rehearsal room that we rented out, and it was
in a bad, bad part of town," said Blaze. "I don’t know who set this up for us, but we were rehearsing and during the day, he and I went and ate
Mexican food. And so, that night, after it was finished, he goes, 'All right
guys, we’ll do the video next week,' and he broke out the Crown Royal. Well, I
was the only one that didn’t drink. For the other guys, Crown Royal was like
orange juice. Robbin broke it open and just swigged and guzzled at least half the bottle of Crown, but Robbin was a big guy. And he just
completely guzzled that sucker, and all the other guys are taking hits and
whatnot."
Lillian Axe 2014
Blaze describes what happened afterward. It's not for the squeamish.
"Next thing you know, Robbin went into the back room and throws up all
over the place, and he comes down and wipes his mouth off, like everything is
okay," said Blaze. "And I’m like, 'Holy crap, man. Are you okay?' He said, 'Yeah, man. I
think my nachos must have had some meat in it, today, and I’m a vegetarian.' It
wasn’t the half a bottle of Crown he just swigged. It was that he got a little
piece of meat in his nachos that made him throw up. And I was like, 'Okay,
buddy (laughs).'"
Blaze will have much more to say about what Lillian Axe is up to these days, as well as the recordings and trials and tribulations of a band that was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2010, in our complete interview with him. Look for it to be posted here soon.
Veteran East Coast thrashers release new video for virulent new single By Peter Lindblad
Overkill - White Devil Armory 2014
Anticipation for Over Kill's upcoming White Devil Armory LP, the successor to 2012's highly acclaimed The Electric Age, is nothing short of feverish, and the Center for Disease Control isn't working on an antidote.
Spreading the disease, so to speak, the East Coast thrash-metal stalwarts today unleashed an "in your face" new performance video for the raging, white-hot "Armorist," their newest single, and in typical Over Kill fashion, it is intense and full of righteous fury.
Debuting exclusively via NOISEY MUSIC, the clip was directed by Kevin J. Custer, who is no stranger to Over Kill or its fans. He was the mastermind behind videos for "Bring Me the Night,"off 2010's Ironbound, and "Electric Rattlesnake" from Over Kill's blazing 2012 inferno, The Electric Age. You can use this link to view the video for yourself: http://noisey.vice.com/blog/overkill-armorist-video-premiere
Custer doesn't go in for flashy concepts or high art in his visual treatment of "Armorist." Filmed in what appears to be a large empty warehouse or urban loft that, if nothing else, looks fairly clean, the "Armorist" video is edited with frenetic quick cuts, ratcheting up the already unbearable tension and ferocity of a fast song that is no-frills thrash conceived by junkyard dogs. And this is what Over Kill is like in a live setting, uncompromising and full of venomous energy.
Swept up in an F-5 tornado of bare-knuckled shredding and brutal drumming, Bobby Blitz's gritty vocal bark rises above the mayhem, like a rabid hyena hungry for flesh and blood, and the tempo is blistering, with crunching, raw riffs that grab you by the throat and throw you into a pit of hell fire – the band going for broke, or least acting that way. When Blitz declares himself to be the "swift cold hand of retaliation," be prepared to duck and cover. He means business.
Although it'll undoubtedly whet appetites for White Devil Armory, the song itself is pretty straightforward, although it does changes courses abruptly near the end. While not letting up on the sheer aggression of instrumentation that snarls and growls, this devastating breakdown, accomplished with tight precision and focus, somehow manages to turn the track inside-out, as if it wants to chew off its own arm. Of course, this isn't some sort of arty prog-metal experiment drawn over a half hour. "Armorist" is explosive and volatile, and is meant to be experienced in small doses.
CD/DVD Review: Lillian Axe – One Night in the Temple CME Records All Access Rating: A-
Lillian Axe - One Night in the Temple 2014
A slight twist on the well-worn "Unplugged" and "Storytellers" formats, One Night in the Temple places Bayou hard-rock survivors Lillian Axe in a cozy little room in a Masonic Temple with about 100 of their most ardent supporters for a night of song, camaraderie and interrogation.
Interspersed with probing questions from the audience as Lillian Axe performs acoustic renderings of fan favorites and deep cuts from its rather extensive catalog, this being the band's 13th album, One Night in the Temple – filmed in high-definition with intrepid camera work – comes extravagantly packaged as a two-CD/DVD or two-CD/Blu-ray set via CME Records. Steve Blaze, the sole remaining original member, answers queries from the audience with grace and good humor, talking candidly about his Christian faith, delving deeply into the songwriting process and relating the inspiring and heartbreaking story of a boy felled by a horrible disease, right before launching into a profoundly affecting reading of "Bow Your Head."
Reeling off a series of tasteful, wonderfully executed guitar leads and solos, Blaze leads Lillian Axe through melodic, haunting readings of classics such as "Ghost of Winter," "See You Someday" and "True Believer" and "Waters Rising," while a stirring version of "Crucified" gets the blood pumping. Bonus footage on the DVD and Blu-ray editions includes a smattering of videos and sizzling performance footage of Lillian Axe from a 2013 engagement at the Paragon Casino, but what's truly remarkable is how durable and compelling these songs, often so moody and moving, come across when the volume is reduced and the instrumentation is stripped down to the bare bones in such an intimate environment.
– Peter Lindblad
CD Review: Vicious Rumors – Live You to Death 2: American Punishment
Steamhammer SPV
All Access Rating: A-
Vicious Rumors - Live You to Death 2:
American Punishment
Still chasing his speed/power-metal muse all these decades later, Geoff Thorpe has kept Vicious Rumors going through thick and thin – the "thin" part being singer Carl Albert's death in 1995 and Thorpe's own battle with carpal tunnel syndrome, and the "thick" being their salad days of the late 1980s and early '90s, when the band, founded in 1979, was on Atlantic Records back when being on a major label meant something.
Undergoing a renaissance of sorts, having released the critically acclaimed Electric Punishment in 2013, Vicious Rumors is upping the ante with a searing new concert album for Steamhammer SPV, Live You to Death 2: American Punishment. Gripping and relentless, with the high-pitched wail of new singer Nick Holleman swooping and diving in and around stampeding double-kick drums, tenacious bass lines and serrated, stinging guitars, the energetic romp Live You to Death 2: American Punishment finds Vicious Rumors thrashing as hard as ever, getting into gritty street brawls with "Towns on Fire" and "Lady Took a Chance," riding roughshod on a frenzied and melodic "Don't Wait for Me" and defiantly pounding away at the Anthrax-like declaration "I Am the Gun," with its ever-shifting tempos and tightly wound riffage that's at once heavy and thick and later lightning fast and razor sharp. As for "Minute to Kill" and "You Only Live Twice," they are electrifying and single-minded in their approach, always on the attack, speeding and raging until their dying breath.
Recorded with startling clarity and richness, Live You to Death 2: American Punishment documents where Vicious Rumors is at right now and where it's been, the set list throwing exciting new material in with wicked old favorites like the surging anthem "Soldiers of the Night." Comparisons to Iron Maiden and Metal Church have always been spot-on, but Thorpe is, and presumably will be until death, his own man, and with Live You to Death 2: American Punishment this version of Vicious Rumors carves out its own identity.
– Peter Lindblad
The rumors were true after all. KING DIAMOND has confirmed a full North American tour this Fall! A long time coming, the jaunt will commence on Oct. 11 in Atlanta and die happily after the previously announced performance at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, whereupon King Diamond will be returned to his coffin for a well-deserved slumber.
A limited-edition KING DIAMOND jacket will be available through the SHOWstubs.com fan club presale, which begins tomorrow, June 24. Tickets will be on sale online and at box offices nationwide on Friday, June 27.
KING DIAMOND will be joined on stage by longtime band members Andy LaRocque, Mike Wead, Hal Patino, and Matt Thompson. Additionally, North American fans will bear witness to the band's full European festival stage show. Reportedly, these will be the most ambitious and largest North American productions of the band's entire history. Stay tuned for news of a special guest support act for the tour will be announced in the coming weeks.
If The Sword, Kyuss and the Meat Puppets all gathered together at some lonely desert crossroads to ingest peyote and summon the spirit of Robert Johnson, the resulting jam session might sound a little something like Wo Fat's The Conjuring. A crusty morass of monstrously heavy, churning riffage and fuzzy, swampy grooves lost in a howling storm of constantly mutating psychedelia, the fifth album from these Dallas, Texas, voodoo priests finds the band expanding and lengthening their stoner-metal instrumental forays into the deep backwoods of the soul on such tales of the strange and weird as the propulsive "Read the Omens," the hazy, menacing "Pale Rider from the Ice" and the dark, 17-minute opus "Dreamwalker."https://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
CD Review: Eyehategod – Eyehategod
Housecore Records
All Access Rating: A-
Eyehategod - S/T 2014
"Sometimes I'm stuck together/sometimes I'm so unglued," rages Eyehategod vocalist Mike IX Williams in "Parish Motel Sickness," a trudging, Sabbath-like dirge off the legendary NOLA meat grinders' latest epistle of vitriolic sludge metal. And sometimes life gets almost unbearably tough, as it has for the infamous Eyehategod in recent years –culminating with the death of drummer Joey LaCaze. Eyehategod ends its long silence with this visceral, tortured self-titled release, surging so forcefully ahead with brutal, writhing riffs and bulldozing rhythms driving "Quitter's Offensive" and "Trying to Crack the Hard Dollar" and blasting through the hardcore intensity of "Agitation! Propaganda!" Though monolithic and lugubrious, Eyehategod never settles into predictable tempos, and when it downshifts or speeds up, the path they're on, however rocky and twisting it is, takes them exactly where they want to go. Every note is played with careful deliberation and delivered with a sledgehammer. http://www.thehousecorerecords.com/
CD Review: Corrosion of Conformity – IX
Candlelight Records
All Access Rating: B+
Corrosion of Conformity - IX 2014
Simply titled IX, Corrosion of Conformity's newest offering from Candlelight Records is a brilliant hot mess of heavy electric blues, doom-loaded sludge metal and trashy hardcore. Raw and utterly organic, the bludgeoning IX takes its cues from Blue Cheer, Black Flag, Black Sabbath and rebellious, anthemic Southern rock, throwing it all in a blender and pouring out this tasty gravy over a bed of grits and razor blades. With the power trio of bassist/vocalist Mike Dean, drummer/vocalist Reed Mullin and guitarist Woody Weatherman stretching out jams a little further than before, IX on rare occasions lacks focus, but they still know how to manufacture brawny, meaty riffs. Between the stomping blues of "Elphyn," the blustery punk of "Denmark Vesey," the catastrophic breakdowns and chugging insistence of "The Nectar" and the renegade tempos of "On Your Way," IX flies Corrosion of Conformity's freak flag with pride. http://candlelightrecordsusa.com/site/
DVD Review: Pink Floyd – The Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett Story Eagle Rock Entertainment All Access Rating: B+
Jerry Shirley, ex-drummer for Humble Pie, saw the old creative spark return on occasion while helping Syd Barrett record his solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett. He was also there when Barrett put down his guitar and simply walked off the stage June 6, 1970, at the Olympia Exhibition Hall.
Predicting what the erratic Barrett would do by then was an exercise in futility, his mind scrambled from taking too much acid. In 2001, a documentary titled "The Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett Story," which included Shirley's observations, examined Barrett's sad decline through a somewhat stodgy, if well-arranged and professionally edited, mosaic of vintage video snippets, performance clips and promotional videos, and poignant, candid interviews with those who knew him best.
Now reissued by Eagle Rock Entertainment as a two-disc DVD set with complete, unedited Q&A sessions with Roger Waters, Nick Mason, David Gilmour and Richard Wright and Graham Coxon's bonus cover of "Love You," off The Madcap Laughs, this version of "The Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett Story" fleshes out what was already a well-rounded, in-depth portrait of an artist whose mind was set adrift long before he shuffled off this mortal coil.
Told chronologically, it's a concise and insightful look at the rise of Pink Floyd as inspired psychedelic-rock oddballs, these experimental delinquents led by a cult figure in Barrett, whose ability to make the mundane seem strangely magical led to wonderfully mad musical creations that set the band on an artful journey of imagination and wonder. Barrett, though, would only travel so far with them.
Amid the expected gushing tributes, the sense of loss and wasted talent, and the behind-the-scenes peek into Barrett's life beyond the Floyd, "The Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett Story" – Barrett would surely balk at such a pedestrian title, as well as the film's bland narration – is a focused examination of his impact on the band and popular music in general. A kindred spirit, Robyn Hitchcock, admires his genius from afar, offering his personal thesis on why Barrett still matters. There's also a detailed analysis of the song "Bike," so blissfully strange and childlike and yet crazed in its manic musique concrete episode, from Pink Floyd's psychedelic masterpiece Piper at the Gates of Dawn, that gazes at the Barrett's idiosyncratic artistry and shakes its head at its audacity. Fading remembrances, both happy and still troubled by his disintegration, flow like rivers of colorful paint from witnesses of Barrett's bedraggled character, his unique vision and his growing detachment, which led to a hermit-like existence and self-imposed musical exile until his death.
At the end, there's still emptiness. What remains is a wide gap in our understanding of how Barrett lived during all those years of radio silence, his story a frustrating mystery with an unsatisfying resolution. And yet, as is argued in the film, perhaps Barrett was fated to burn brightly, just before having his candle snuffed out.
– Peter Lindblad
Iconic metal band lines up Rockline, Town Hall appearances
The tracks that Judas Priest has been offering the public as a prelude to the official July 8, 2014 release date of their 17th album overall, Redeemer of Souls, are stirring up quite a buzz within the heavy metal community.
On June 17th, eager fans will be able to sample another winning metallic rocker from the legendary band, when "Dragonaut" is made available for purchase via iTunes and other digital retailers.
In the mean time, you can listen to "Dragonaut" via the Rolling Stone site, which has premiered the track:
Also, the band has confirmed that the night before the release of Redeemer of Souls, Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford, and Richie Faulkner will appear on the Rockline radio program, joining host Bob Coburn on Monday July 7, 2014 at 8:30 PT / 11:30 ET. Fans are encouraged to speak with Judas Priest at 1-800-344-ROCK (7625).
For a station near you and for information regarding how to log onto the Internet for the broadcast go to www.RocklineRadio.com. The show will be streamed for free on the Rockline website beginning the evening after the day of broadcast.
And on the day of the album's release, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner will appear on Sirius XM's 'Town Hall' program. Fans are being asked to submit questions that winners will be able to ask the band in person:
Comprised of Rob Halford (vocals), Glenn Tipton (guitar), Richie Faulkner (guitar), Ian Hill (bass), and Scott Travis (drums), Judas Priest is responsible for some of heavy metal's all-time classic songs ("Living After Midnight," "Breaking the Law," "You've Got Another Thing Coming," etc.) and albums (British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Painkiller, etc.)
The countdown to the release of Priest's latest studio triumph has officially begun, and "Dragonaut" provides further proof that Redeemer of Souls will be a prime slice of Judas Priest metal.
NYC siblings poised for something big By Peter Lindblad
The Raskins - S/T 2014
In light of recent news of a possible reunion of The Kinks, it's interesting that another brotherly combination, The Raskins, is just starting to make waves in the world of rock 'n' roll.
Their self-titled debut album is out now, and it's a stylish, high-energy fireball of East Coast retro-rock, outfitted with surefire hooks, attitude to spare and an electric New York City vibe that's impossible to deny. Tracks like the first single "We Had It All" are impossibly catchy, owing to their ability to pen well-crafted pop-rock that sets pulses racing.
Twin siblings Logan and Roger Raskin, the sons of well-known Broadway singer Tommy Raskin and a renowned jazz/blues singer in Judith Raskin, have already made a name for themselves writing and recording music for TV and movies. Having established their own record label, MIRAL Records, they're now ready to unleash their turbocharged, guitar-driven sound on the world, performing on the same stages as Scott Weiland and Saving Abel.
In Part 2 of our interview, Logan Raskins talks about his influences, what it's like working with his brother, the making of their first record and their experiences creating music for movie and TV.
How long as brothers
have you been making music and with the history in music of sibling combos,
you’ve probably been asked this a thousand times, but does that make it easier
or harder for you guys?
Logan Raskin: Well, I mean,
I grew up in a musical family. My dad was a big Broadway singer. He did all the
shows on Broadway. “West Side Story,” “South Pacific,” “Oklahoma,” “Annie Get
Your Gun,” “Damn Yankees” – my dad did all of those. I grew up going to see my
dad in all those shows, and my mom was a big jazz singer in the city, and she
traveled all over doing that. It was pretty much inevitable that we were going
to fall into the music industry, so the three brothers growing up … my mom had
three boys in one year. And the three of us just always grew up doing music
together, singing together. One of the first rock concerts I ever saw my parents took the three
of us to see Ray Charles at Eisenhower Park. That was the first show I’d ever
seen. I saw Ray Charles playing at that piano, man, I was just like, “Damn …
mom, you’ve got to get me a piano.” And she said, “Yeah? All right.” And she
stuck a piano in my room. I had a piano in my bedroom for the next 14 years.
So I was composing music from when I was six, just fiddling
around on the piano and writing these songs. So we grew up writing music
together, my brothers and I, doing little talent shows and acoustic shows for
the family. So we were raised on that, but getting the opportunity to do it on
this level with my twin brother Roger is pretty amazing. I mean we do
everything together. We live together. We write and record music together. We
bounce ideas off each other. It’s pretty amazing. It’s not always sunflowers
and sunshine and dandelions and roses. We go through our battles. We’re guys
writing music. We fight, we have our ups and downs, but at the end of the day,
it’s amazing. I always have someone I can rely on, and I always have someone I
can trust and we bounce ideas off each other, creatively and emotionally, and
it’s incredible. And he gives me his honest opinion.
That means a lot to me, especially as a songwriter. What’s
funny with Roger and I, our personalities, even though we’re twins, are so
different, and it shows in our writing styles and it makes for an interesting
combination when we combine our music. Sometimes we write music together,
sometimes we write music separately. Sometimes we have partially written songs
and we give them to each other and we finish each other’s songs. So it’s been a
very cool relationship in that regard, being able to do music with your brother
like that, and we’re starting to really make it work for us. We’re starting to
have a little bit of success, and who knows what the future is going to bring
for us? We want to keep it going.
The Raskins - We
Had It All single
What was the easiest
song on the new album to write and what was the hardest?
LR: That’s a good
question. I think there’s a song on the album that we wrote, “Where Do We Go from
Here?” I was always playing two really simple chords in the song, and before we
wrote the song, I was always feeling around like a C or a D chord, and I was
just kind of playing with these opening chords, and I came up with this cool
melody with these two chords, and I was just, “It’s just so simple. I don’t
know if I want to write a song that simple. There should be more chord
structure to it.” So I just put it to the side, but I couldn’t get the melody
that I was singing over and those chords out of my head, and I just said, “You
know what? Let me bring it into the studio, and throw it up in a session and
see what happens.” And literally, I probably wrote the song and it took me a
matter of 10 minutes.
It trips you out a little bit to write a song that quickly,
and you say to yourself, “It can’t be that good to write a song that quick.” But I couldn’t
get it out of my head, couldn’t get the melody out of my head, so we put it
into a session and starting layering guitars over the thing, and I was just
blown away at the melody we were doing layering it. And then when we started
doing the vocals, the hair just started standing up on my neck, and it ended up
being one of my favorite songs on the record. We haven’t played it out yet, but
we’ve prepared it, we’ve prepared to play it out and we have it prepped for
this tour. We haven’t played it yet. I sure hope we get to play it, because
it’s just amazing. I mean, because we have a certain amount of time we have to
keep in for our set list, it’s a longer song, but yeah, it’s just funny. It’s
one of my favorite songs on the record. I love playing it acoustically, I love
playing it electrically, I love singing it. It feels so good to me, and the
song was written in an instant.
So there’s that, but I would also probably say that one of the
last songs we wrote, “Scream Out Loud,” was probably the last song that came to
the table, and it was actually a song that Roger and I got our bass player
involved in, and he had this really aggressive riff that I was just like, “Wow!
This is really different and really, really cool.” He was just like, “Yeah, but
it’s not really in you guys’ style,” and his name is Johnny Martin, and I said,
“Johnny, I tend to disagree with you on that.”
I mean, my whole concept behind this record is like, “Look, I don’t want
to … it’s a rock song. Just because the riff is a little different doesn’t mean
… Let me get my hands on it.” So I took the riff and we brought it into the
studio, and it took a long time for us, because the style was a little bit
different than what we were more used to, because it was a little more of a
modern-rock kind of a riff – almost had kind of a drop beat kind of a feel to
it. It’s just something we don’t do too much of, but I do like it. So, it took
a while, man. I sat with that song for honestly about a month, and failing with
different melodies, I wasn’t sure if I could go aggressive, but finally, it’s
just one of the songs we banged out and we just chipped away at it and got to a
point where it just felt so good to me (laughs). And I said, “Johnny,
congratulations. You’re making the record.” He couldn’t believe it, you know? I
love writing with other people, too. Roger and I, we’re open to that. We’re not
those guys where we’re like, “Well, we’re going to write all the music.” I’m
just a music lover, and on this second record, I tend to do a lot more of that
by the way.
What’s different about writing a rock song for yourselves as The Raskins as opposed to
what you were doing writing music for shows?
LR: Well, I mean, there’s a huge difference. And like I was
saying earlier in our conversation, when you’re writing for like a film,
basically they’re telling you what they want. You’re writing for someone else.
They’re giving you a scene to a movie, or something like for a movie like
“Middle of Nowhere” we did with Susan Sarandon, they basically … like the
trailer we did, they wanted like a love song, but they wanted something like an
up-tempo love song. And I was like, “Oh, that’s interesting,” because like
normally, you think of love songs, the first thing that comes to my mind is a
slower ballad kind of thing, which we have a lot of that. We get requested a
lot times for this slower ballad, love song kind of thing. They wanted the
up-tempo one, and I didn’t really have something like that, so we had to write
a song and we wrote this song called “Kiss You One More Time,” and it was
actually used as the trailer for that movie, “Middle of Nowhere,” which is
actually on Showtime right now. It’s airing on cable right now, and we actually
play it in our set. It’s a song that’s not off of our album, but it’s such a
cool song, like I love this song. And I showed it to the guys, and we played it
(laughs), and they’re like, “We’ve got to play that song.” We played it last
night. I was telling all the fans, “Hey, this song’s not on the record, but
it’s a song we wrote for this movie ‘Middle Of Nowhere,’ and we hope you dig
it.'"
And it went over really well. I got to play this song on the Scott Weiland
tour. It was cool. It was cool, but yeah, so when you’re writing for someone
else that’s a client, you kind of disassociate from it and just basically, it’s
writing for them. You’re trying to please the client. And it took me a while to
adjust to that, but at the end of the day, I loved doing it. It’s kind of a
trip, but look, if the client’s happy, I’m happy. That’s the whole point of it.
And it’s still very cool, I mean, to see your stuff on TV on “CSI” or on
commercials or sitcoms, or on some of these reality shows or whatever, on the
big screen, it’s so gratifying on any level, so just accomplishing that is cool
in and of itself, but yeah, obviously, when we’re writing our own music,
there’s a lot more emotion attached to it and I’m writing exactly what I want.
You know, my brother and I, we mixed this whole record. Not only did we record it,
we mixed it ourselves. I just didn’t want to entrust it into the hands of …
look, there are some killer mix guys out there. There are guys that’ll blow me
out of the water. I know that. I pull my hair out with that concept sometimes,
because trying to get across what it is I want or how I want it to sound,
sometimes it’s a painstaking process. So, being able to mix a record on your
own, some songs I mixed in a day, some songs it’s taken me three weeks and just
going back with headphones at three o’clock in the morning, just really
tweaking out on it. I love doing that, where if I’m writing for someone, I
still put in that kind of attention, but when they’re happy with it, I’m happy,
where they look at it like it’s like a product. They’re like, “It’s great, it’s
done.” I’m like, “Well, I think we should …” And they say, “No, no, no. It’s
done. This is perfect. It’s exactly what we want.” And I’m like, “Oh, okay,”
where I would have done this, I would done this, I would have done that, but
that’s not the case. So, yeah, there’s definitely a big difference between the
two.
You mentioned you
still have your vinyl. What would you say are the five most influential albums
on you?
LR: Ah, that’s
the best question in the world. It’s an easy question to answer.
I would think it’d be
tough.
LR: Let me put it
to you like this. The first rock concert I went to was, as I told you, Ray
Charles, but probably the one that made me want to be a rock ‘n’ roll musician,
my parents took my brother and I to KISS and Judas Priest when I was 8 years
old. And they took us to the Nassau Coliseum in New York to see KISS and Judas
Priest opened up, and we sat in the last row, but it changed my life. And being
in New York, it’s one of those bands coming out of New York at the time that
made me want to be a rock musician. One of the first vinyl records I ever
bought was KISS Alive, but actually,
this is kind of random, but these are the first two albums I ever bought on
vinyl – KISS Alive was the first,
with the Bay City Rollers (laughs) … I don’t know why, but I loved those guys’
image, man. I loved the image, I loved their sound (laughs) … I thought, “Man,
those guys are cool.” So, yeah, the Bay City Rollers. Queen, News of the World was it for me.
Foreigner, Double Vision – huge for
me. And then, of course, Meat Loaf, Bat
Out of Hell. Those are my first, and I think there may have been a Styx Grand Illusion in there, as well.
I think that was the
first album I ever bought with my own money was Grand Illusion.
LR: Right? Grand Illusion, man … I love that
record. Then it got crazy. Then I started getting into all my punk stuff, like
The Stooges, The Ramones, and then it just got crazy – the Velvet Underground,
The Plasmatics. Yeah, I went nuts for all that stuff. But I think those are the
biggest influences, yeah. I mean, like KISS, Styx, Queen, Foreigner, Meat Loaf
– I mean those are my biggest influences coming up. And that includes
everything from AC/DC to Van Halen to Zeppelin, although funny enough with me,
I didn’t get heavily into Zeppelin, and I didn’t get heavily into for instance
Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, which, of course, everybody knows
about. I don’t care. I mean if you’re a rock musician, you’re into those bands,
and of course, I am. But at that age, I didn’t understand the music – couldn’t
wrap my head around it. It didn’t mean anything to me. I didn’t connect with
Zeppelin until later on. I didn’t connect with the Rolling Stones until … and I
love the Rolling Stones, love those guys, love the music, but until I matured,
I didn’t connect with it until a little bit later in life, but those are my
first albums, and then, of course, The Beatles. And the Beatles … I was
listening to them at a young age and I just didn’t get it. I used to say to my
friends, I was upset … my older sister was listening to them – The Beatles,
man! And I just didn’t connect with it at a young age. Of course, when I got
older, the Beatles were everything. But yeah, those were some of the first
bands for me.
And you two guys being songwriters, those are some of your
favorite songwriters as well.
LR: No question about it. But I think like … Simon &
Garfunkel were a big influence on me. I like the simplicity of those guys, but
what really appeals to my brother and I were melodies, not so much bands that
were ripping out. I can’t say I was heavily blues influenced, though I liked
the blues. My mom was a real good blues singer and jazz singer, and I always
heard it from her growing up. To me, it was just like eating breakfast in the
morning. You eat your cereal in the morning? Yeah, I heard Mel Torme or Tom
Jones. I’m eating my cereal and that’s what I heard. So it was just something I
related to, but it just kind of reminded
me of when I was young and hearing those rock bands and those melodies … Roger
and I were so into melodies and people who had great voices and great
harmonies, which is probably why we love Simon & Garfunkel, hearing those
harmonies that they did. I loved it, and we try to do that to this day. We rock
out and we’re onstage, the pedal is to the metal, and we’re rocking out hard,
but our choruses hit and we’re doing harmonies and we’re in sync with each
other.
CD Review: Night Ranger – High Road Frontiers Records All Access Rating: B+
Night Ranger - High Road 2014
Beauty and pathos were found among the ruins of the crumbling, doleful piano littering the coming-of-age power ballad "Sister Christian," Kelly Keagy's touching ode to his younger sibling.
Then, when the song took flight, it soared on wings of big guitars and a shining chorus of cautious hope. Along with it rose Night Ranger's career arc, scaling heights that may have seemed impossible at one time to Jack Blades and company. But, there was a catch.
Increasingly seen as somewhat soft and their All-American image squeaky clean, as Night Ranger's appeal grew among those of more conservative and family-friendly tastes, the memory of hot-blooded hard-rock anthems like "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" began to fade for some. That's the "deal with the devil" bands like Night Ranger made in the '80s, as fans wanting something edgier and darker gradually drifted away.
Of course, diehard followers knew better. Still, ever since then, it seems these good ol' boys of arena-rock bombast have walked a fine line between trying to restore their reputation as a full-throttle, fiery rock band with a signature double-barreled, fiery guitar attack and pleasing those who melt for earnest, heartfelt pop balladry. On their latest record, High Road, they're still to make everybody happy.
And they should be overjoyed at what the Frontiers Records release High Road has in store for them, as crunchy, pulse-pounding, melodic rockers such as "X Generation," "I'm Coming Home" and "Hang On" slam forward with confidence born of past successes and a sense that they damn well know what they're doing, planting a bevy of brilliant hooks in the furrows of each track and the combination of guitarists Brad Gillis and Joel Hoekstra firing off sizzling, screaming leads at will.
And they've penned the ultimate summer driving anthem of 2014 with an exuberant, sunny title track that tastes freedom as Night Ranger hauls ass to the desert to get away from it all, the song a heady, infectious anthem that worships the sun and is an almost perfect pop-rock concoction. Aside from these examples, there's a sense in listening to High Road that Night Ranger hasn't really progressed or improved its formula, as the soul-baring "Don't Live Here Anymore," while sincere and open, seems trite and the somber "Only For You Only" follows the same well-worn trajectory and song structure of "Sister Christian."
Nevertheless, High Road is, at heart, a good, rollicking rock 'n' roll record, one meant to be played loud as the road underneath you rolls by. Get in the car, and take off on Night Ranger's High Road, leaving your cares behind. It'll feel like the '80s never went away.
– Peter Lindblad
