Thursday 26 November 2009

Overthrow-6 Track EP


Overthrow are a Reggae / Punk / Rock band from Guildford England. Musically they music is relaxing to listen to, but at the same time also really quite energetic, The different styles blended into there sound give them a certain uniqueness, standing them out from the crowd. Songs like 'Take Me Away', 'Ode To The Innocent', 'Talk of The Town' and ' Roll Of The Dice' are sure to get you moving. The closest comparison that I can thing of to describe Overthrows sound is, well imagine The Police rocking out on steroids!
Overthrow could carve out a huge future for themselves here, so watch this space!

Rating 9/10

The Square Hippies-The Square Hippies


The square hippies are a classic rock band from Southern Germany. They offer up A colourful mix of AOR, Progressive Rock, with psychedelic loans and bluesy attitudes, which whilst not my usually cup of tea was refreshing to listen to.
The music is well written, good and honest, songs like 'Honest', One Man Show', 'The Rebels', ' Life', 'Wedding Day' and 'Runaways' show the band have plenty of quality.
Again not really my thing, but still a refreshing album most people will enjoy.

Rating 6/10

Lipstixx N Bullets - Bang Your Head


Lipstixx N Bullets are yet Swedish Glam / Sleaze rock band hailing from the country that has really flown the flag for this genre over the past few years, that being Sweden.
musically Lipstixx N Bullets are pure 80s Sunset strip party raunch & rock, lyrics and attitude closer to Poison or Vain (quite a bit of Davy Vain in the vocals), which at the very least gives the clubs a more up to date soundtrack for their nights of debauchery.
Tracks like ‘Do Or Die’, ‘Scream It Hard’ pay homage to their heroes songs yet manage to step beyond them, especially in the guitars. ‘Wild At Heart’ is a story that every guy can relate to, lusting after the girl next door in vain whilst ‘Love In A Needle’ is the grittiest inclusion here on Bang Your Head, complete with screamed vocals. ‘Be My Tonight’ provides a softer touch to the album which is always nice.
Lipstixx N Bullets offer pure 80's influenced Glam / Sleaze, they don't offer anything particularly new, but what they do do they do very well. I imagine that these guys are a blast live!

Rating 8/10

Monday 16 November 2009

Eureka Machines - Live @ JB's (Dudley) 15/11/09




Chris and they guys were in fine form tonight bringing their razor-sharp power pop Dudley. Playing the back room of Jbs on a cold Sunday night along with The Ex-Presidents, The Whiskey Syndicate and Elle Diablo.


Tonight there was a half decent crowd to hear The mighty Eureka Machines belt through classics such as Being Good Is Okay, This Is My Life, Everybody Loves You, Do Or Die, and Scream Eureka along with one or two new tunes which are sounding very much like future classics. The bands energy was amazing especially when you consider that tonight was their forth gig in four consecutive nights!
Front man Chris was in fine form, with his between song banter, even blazing one heckler into a sulk at one point, bloody great.



If you've never seen the Eureka Machines live then you really are missing out, as their impressive collection of songs sound even better live than they do on cd!

rating 11/10


catch Eureka machines on the road at one of the following dates:

Friday 27 November 2009 - Crabtree's, Harrogate | info


Electric Six tour, December 2009
Friday 4 December 2009 - ABC, Glasgow | venue | tickets


Saturday 5 December 2009 - Academy, Dublin | venue | tickets


Monday 7 December 2009 - Academy, Liverpool | venue | tickets


Tuesday 8 December 2009 - Academy, Sheffield | venue | tickets


Wednesday 9 December 2009 - Duchess, York | venue | tickets


Thursday 10 December 2009 - Academy, Manchester | venue | tickets


Friday 11 December 2009 - Academy, Newcastle | venue | tickets


Saturday 12 December 2009 - Academy, Birmingham | venue | tickets


Sunday 13 December 2009 - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff | venue | tickets


Monday 14 December 2009 - Crypt, Hastings | venue | tickets


Tuesday 15 December 2009 - Concorde 2, Brighton | venue | tickets


Wednesday 16 December 2009 - Academy, Bristol | venue | tickets


Thursday 17 December 2009 - Academy, Islington | venue | tickets


Friday 18 December 2009 - Wight Rock Bar, Ryde, Isle of Wight (us only) | venue


Saturday 19 December 2009 - Academy, Oxford | venue | tickets

Surefire-Surefire


Brooding retro influences rock. Excellently performed and written, is the best way to describe Surefires debut album. Surefires main influences come mainly from the sounds of sixties and seventies rock, but are delivered in a refreshingly cool way as to make them very contemporary. Songs like The New Standard and Lucy both captivate and mesmerise.
Vocalists Ben Rice's voice can soothe and mesmerise or rock out as on tracks like The Mountain and Comeback Kid.
Surefire offer a laid back chilled out rock experience that is to be thoroughly enjoyed!
Bloody love em!

Rating 10/10

Margate - On the Other Side


Margate have been compared with the likes of Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World, Bad Religion and Weezer, delivering their blend of rock / power pop / punk unto the music scene.
Having become seasoned veterans of the LA scene, On The Other Side is the follow up to their 2006 debut and manages to show case the band's progression over the years along with a new found gravitation towards incorporating melody, counterpoint, complex harmonies, something which they pull of really well. Some of the stand out tracks include:
Believe In Steve, Circles, Unchecked Aggression, and Time & Time Again.
A thoroughly enjoyable album.

rating 8/10

Chris Vaughn - For Those That Have Ears


Great contemporary rock music, with heart and soul. That's how I can best describe Chris Vaughn's debut album For Those That Ears.
From the albums opening track, 'Relate' to the albums closer ' Nameless', the quality of the song writing and performance never drops. The music i similar in many ways to Bon Jovi and Springsteen's, yet completely different too. Chris Vaughn manages to incorporate his many influences into the songs that he has obviously taken a lot of time and care with.
For Those That Have Ears is a very strong debut from this singer songwriter and I can foresee that great things may lie ahead in the future for Mr Vaughn.

rating 9/10

Wednesday 11 November 2009

Babylon Bombs - Babylons Burning



Babylons Burning is the latest release from Swedish rockers Babylon Bombs and its a great album.
Opening with three really strong tracks in 'Liberation, Babylons Burning and Resurrection Love, they go straight for the jugular! The band manage to mix up their sound a lil on this album which is a really good thing, adding a lil alternative rock feel to some songs like Resurrection Love. The problem is that the rest of the songs don't quite match up to the opening three, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with them, there are plenty of great songs like 'Fade Away', 'Goodbye Good Luck' ' Its Alright' and ' Winding Road'.
Dani is in fine voice and the band sound really tight, unfortunately the opening three tracks just set the bar too high for the rest of the album to follow.
This is still a great album, but it could have been a contender for album of the year!

rating 9/10

Sherlock Brothers - Sherlock Brothers


Here we have the debut album from Swedish five piece Sherlock Brothers. They are great band with a sound that I guess is similar to the like Nickleback and Shinedown. Songs like 'I Want You Messed Up' shoe they have a hell of alot of potential here, I'm mean given the right air play this could be a huge single! Theres energy in abundance here, but always kept focused, the songs are tight, well written and well bloody great!
Ballad 'Sleeping Silence' really does show a kind of songwriting maturity which is unusual for a debut album,
Stand out tracks include,
'I Want You Messed Up', Broken', Sleeping Silence', 'Inferior', Lets Talk About Something Other Than You For A While' and 'Where is Nowhere'
With today's trends shinning on this kind of sound at the moment Sherlock Brothers could be huge in the very near future, they just need the air play!
Check em out

rating 10/10

Internal Disfunction - Strangers In Your Own Town


Glam punk rockers Internal Disfunction offer up a four track Ep here with Strangers In Your Town, four songs of good old fashioned glam.
Opener, Dreamers and Losers sets the mood perfectly, melodic up tempo glam with a punky edge, that's quickly followed by Wild Life, which slows the pace a lil, lowering the tempo but not the mood or the quality. Next up is the ballad, Some Love, Some Wine, which is just beautiful, moody and brooding! Kisses (In My Ashtray) closes off this Ep, another great little rocker! A brilliant Ep from a very promising band!

rating 9/10

I Love Rich - Season Of The Rich.


Here I Love Rich offer up their first batch of new material for a while with Season Of The Rich. This Ep contains five new songs, many of which have already become live favourites. The songs are typical I Love Rich, which is to say straight talking sleazey rock, which is fine by me. The EP opens with 'Full Alnight' which effectively sets the tone, and is quickly backed up with 'I'm Only Here Cuz Your Sister Said No', which has to be one of the best song titles that Ive ever heard! 'Everybody's Getting Laid Tonight' continues the feel before 'I'll Be Around' slows things down alittle, almost giving the impression that the singer (who kind of reminds me a little of Paul Stanley for some reason?) might actually have a heart! Anthem like 'Rise Up For Rock N Roll' closes off the Ep. I Love Rich aren't breaking any new ground here with Season of The Rich, but what they do provide is some excellent sleazy rock!
And you know what, I think I am Loving Rich!

rating 9/10

Sunday 1 November 2009

Hardreams - Calling Everywhere


Hardreams are a spanish band playing melodic rock/aor with a 80's feel, straight production and nice guitar riffs.
Some of the songs have some nice twists as the band try to mix up the musical styles a little, adding some prog rock and bluesy touches here and there. The only fault I can really find is sometimes I feel the chorus's need to be a little stronger, but if good old Aor and melodic rock is your thing then you could really enjoy this re-release. (The album was originally released in Spain in 2004!)
A little dated for me, but enjoyable still


Rating 8/10

The Donots - To Hell With Love


To Hell With Love is a six song Ep featuring seven songs from the band’s latest album “Coma Chameleon“, which came out last year. The new EP does not bring new or exclusive material to fans, but it features the six best tracks on “Coma Chameleon“. In fact, after their last album and after releasing two singles (”Break My Stride” and “Stop The Clocks”), Donots decided it was time to take over England. Not for a bad reason. If you've never heard of these german noise merchants then To Hell with Love is a great place to start, but if you already own a copy of the excellent 'Coma Chameleon' then there is nothing here worth bothering with unless your an die hard collector.
To Hell With Love is rammed with six great songs played by a great band whom deserve international recognition!

Rating 10/10

“A HEAVY METAL SALUTE TO HEAVY METAL BAND NAME ORIGINS.” Book review.

Hmm interesting, this book Ive read in ebook form, and is quite interesting a well written..It has over 500 bands in it from every genre of heavy metal/hard rock, they are all listed alphabetically and easy to find. Written by Blair Gibson, a 32 yea old writer/heavy metal music fan from a cold little place called Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. "The book is straight forward: I contacted all these bands personally through my e-mail and Myspace. All the answers given are direct from the band members themselves. There are going to be tons and tons of bands you’ve heard of, and even some you haven’t heard of, yet! " The format is kept quite basic and functional, but the information is great. Its easy to use with everything being alphabetical listed and quite an interesting reference point.
Not something to cuddle up with on a late night but quite enjoyable and entertaining if you just want to know how 3 inches blood or Shake City got there name.

Toby Jepson (Gun, Little Angels, Fastway) Interview


Toby Jepson should need no introduction to many rock fans, fronting seminal hard rockers 'The Little Angels' throughout the 90's, embarking on a movie and tv spots and more recently performing as a solo artist and fronting Eddie Clarkes legendary band 'Fastway'.
Toby has recently teamed up with one of 'The Little Angels' contemporary bands, Scottish pop rockers Gun, famed for their albums Gallus and Swagger and of course that hugely successful single 'Word Up' (the Cameo cover which appeared in the movie barbed wire!), on their reformation and come back tour replacing original vocalist Mark Rankin. I was recently given the opportunity to ask Toby a few questions, his replies are below!




Barry - So how have the live dates been going so far?


Toby - Pretty good! The last UK shows were especially great, we have started to stretch our legs outside of Scotland and the reactions have been great. We have played in Spain and Austria this summer and are heading back out to Spain for a full tour in October, as well as 3 sows in Paris, so it has begun to pick up momentum. I Think the memory of GUN to the fans is a great one, and I’m hoping that we can deliver on the promise to them of a new beginning...all I can say is that we are loving being in this band together, and sincerely hope it can go on to bigger things.





Barry - You've been quite busy over the past couple of years with your solo work, touring with Eddie Clarkes Fastway and now touring and recording with Gun. How do you manage it all?



Toby - It’s been very cool actually, when you're enjoying yourself, there is no noticeable effort, just excitement and in my case, a real hunger to get on with the job and make stuff as good as is humanly possible. I am a workaholic, no question but its driven by a want for great experiences and above all, great music. I have to say also that I am a family man and this propels me forward, I want success for my family as well as for myself. I think that when you are creative, the work is a pleasure to do not a chore; sometimes it’s tough to deal with the travel, the sleepless nights but the fact is I have been very privileged to work with some amazing people and have been given a second chance to emerge as a UK Rock singer, and for that I am very grateful and am determined to make it happen one way or another...I mean I’m not digging holes in the rain! and believe me I know what that feels like and appreciate my position all the more because I do.

Never complain, never explain...



Barry - How do the various project compare?

And what different challenges do they bring you as the front man?



Toby - Fastway was a huge challenge for a number of reasons; mostly to do with stepping into Dave Kings shoes. He had an incredibly unique voice and style. I’m not him but I wanted to do justice to the songs that he wrote with Eddie but also bring my own flavour. I’m not an emulator; I have never tried to sing like anyone apart from myself, that is all you can do. The same goes for GUN although the main difference is that we are now developing new music together and so I can imprint myself onto the project from day one.





Barry - You 'cut your teeth' with one of Gun's contemporaries back in the 90's with The Little Angels(whom just happened to be one of my favourite bands at the time!). How does singing for Gun compare with fronting the Little Angels?



Toby - It’s a different job, a different band. Like I said above; the songs have to be respected from a historical perspective but I’m not Mark and I have no desire to try to match his vibe. The Angels were as far at the other end of the spectrum as you can get in this genre! GUN were and are more pop orientated, Joolz and Dan have a rich understanding of popular music and appreciate all forms and often have tried to bring those influences to their music, whereas I think the Angels were more of a traditional rock act that took cues from all the classic bands. Top and tail is that if the music rocks and communicates to the audience then I’m happy!



Barry - How much input are you having in the writing of the new material and what should we be expecting to hear?



Toby - We are writing as a team; Joolz, Dante and myself. It’s really interesting and very productive. We are recording as I type...





Barry - When it comes to deciding the set lists for the live dates, do you have any input or do you leave for the band to work out?



Toby - We all have input. you know which songs work best, it’s pretty easy to be honest.



Barry - Now that you are back in a band unit situation, are you planning any further solo releases to follow up the excellent 'Guitar, Bass and Drums Ep's?



Toby - I will complete the GBandD third EP; in fact it is nearly done, I have around a week of work to complete it. Don’t know about touring, it’s not on my radar yet, but never say never! I am opening for SKIN acoustically in December for the hell of it, so that will be fun!



Barry - Have you now finished working with Fastway, or could we see any future live dates or studio working emerging there too?



Toby - The short answer is; I don’t know! I’d love to work with Eddie again sometime, he is an incredible guitar player. If he called, id certainly consider it, but now I’m committed to GUN, it would have to fit!



Id like to thank Toby for kindly answering my questions on behalf of Glitzine.net!





GUN SIGNAL THEIR RETURN WITH MASSIVE UK TOUR

Gun are about to pull the trigger on an emphatic return to live music with a huge UK tour throughout November and December.

The new look band features the original members (Giuliano Gizzi – guitar; and Dante Gizzi – bass) with new drummer Gordon McNeil and new vocalist Toby Jepson – who cut his teeth fronting the 90s hard-rock outfit Little Angels.

Gun’s return takes their sonic blitzkrieg around Europe during the summer and then onto 19 venues spanning the length and breadth of the UK, culminating with a performance at the Hard Rock Hell Festival in December.

The cult Glaswegian band helped shape 90s rock music, releasing three seminal albums in Taking On The World, Gallus, and Swagger. Gun also found UK chart success with anthems such as Better Days, Steal Your Fire, and Word Up – all of which were perfect examples of Gun’s ability to harmonise a strident and powerful rock sound with an affecting and emotive songwriting core.

With their barrel trained at revival, Gun are set to show the UK precisely what made them so important in the 90s, and why, over a decade later, their wirey guitars and towering hooks continue to resonate with as much relevance and poignancy as ever.

08 Nov – Belfast Limelight

12 Nov – Newcastle Academy2

13 Nov – Manchester Academy3

14 Nov – Nottingham Rock City

15 Nov – Sheffield Corporation

17 Nov – Leeds Rios

18 Nov – Leamington Spa Assembly

19 Nov – Cambridge Junction

21 Nov – Gloucester Guildhall

22 Nov – Wrexham Central Station

23 Nov – Bristol Academy2

24 Nov – Southampton Brook

26 Nov – London Islington Academy

27 Nov – Milton Keynes Pitz Club

28 Nov – Brighton Concorde2

29 Nov – Swansea Sin City

1 Dec – Carlisle Brickyard

2 Dec – Glasgow ABC1

4 Dec - HARD ROCK HELL Prestatyn

Gun are currently touring Europe and working on an EP to coincide with the UK tour. A full album is slated for next year.

www.gunofficial.co.uk