10 YEARS “Violent Allies”
Forgive me for breaking the journalistic fourth wall, but I must admit that this is my first album review since our fragile world was riddled with a pandemic and all other manner of 2020-ness (because that is now officially an adjective, I believe). So, for my first review with my new black-tinted view of the […]
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS 'Perdida'
Even upon the first listen of the upcoming Stone Temple Pilots album, there’s no need to be fluent in the flavoursome Spanish language to have a punt at guessing what Perdida translates to in English. Bringing a more elegant cadence to our word ‘loss’, the self-produced Perdida (due for release 7th Feb 2020) is as […]
THE STRUTS and KING NUN at O2 Forum Kentish Town, London, UK on 16/10/19
Last year, the explosion of Greta Van Fleet onto the 21st century rock scene was deafening. Although the oodles of Led Zeppelin comparisons were plenty paired with eye rolls and heated music forum debates, there was something wholly enthralling about GVF’s entrance into the eyes of the music industry, like watching an alien crawl out of a […]
Whiskey Myers Celebrate Major Chart Success With First Top 10 Album On The US Billboard 200
Whiskey Myers, the East Texas group whose music blurs boundaries and straddles a host of musical worlds, earned the first US Top 10 album of their career with their new self-titled / self-produced outing Whiskey Myers (out now via Snakefarm Records in the UK) debuting at #6 in the Billboard 200. In a huge week […]
ALICE COOPER, THE STRANGLERS and MC50 at The O2 Arena, London, UK on 10/10/19
It’s clear that rock’s legends have been keeping the source of the elixir of life up their sleeves for many moons. From 76-year-old (!!) Mick Jagger’s flaunting of his sidewinder hips to 71-year-old (!!) Steven Tyler’s unfathomable vocal pipes, it’s no wonder that their crowns are yet to be swiped by younger generations of rockers. Of course, […]
THE MAGPIE SALUTE 'High Water II'
It could be said that one of the definitive signs of a great guitar player is how instantly recognisable their playing is. Take the nasty-groove strut of Slash, the majestic ceremony of Brian May, the slick yet meaty lightning of Eddie Van Halen. This is also a hallmark of Rich Robinson, co-founder of The Black […]
WAYWARD SONS 'The Truth Ain't What It Used To Be'
It’s a real pleasure when an album feels like an album: when the listener can swing from each track as though they are branches off of the same tree, a wholly congruent journey. This is what Wayward Sons have achieved with their upcoming album The Truth Ain’t What It Used To Be (due for release 11th October 2019 via Frontiers Music […]
WHISKEY MYERS 'Whiskey Myers'
There is a tantalisingly heavy burden to writing up a band’s seminal piece in their career – yet here we are. East Texan outfit Whiskey Myers have returned with their self-titled album Whiskey Myers, due for release 27th September, and the misleadingly bare bones visual artistry of this album conceals a wealth of colour within. Whiskey Myers […]
KRIS BARRAS BAND 'Light It Up'
There’s no denying that Kris Barras has been a part of his own music fairytale. From performing ZZ Top covers in claustrophobic venues to a handful of spectators to playing with ZZ Top’s legendary Billy F. Gibbons at venues such as London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire in Supersonic Blues Machine within the space of two years, Barras continues to shimmy […]
KRIS BARRAS on Lighting Up The World
In the final days before the unveiling of his band’s latest album Light It Up (released 13th September) HEAVY caught up with Kris Barras, guitarist and vocalist of Kris Barras Band and former Mixed Martial Artist, in the heart of London’s vibrant Soho. “[Light It Up] felt like my first proper album – how I always dreamed an album was […]
CROBOT ‘Motherbrain’
Hold on to your butts, kids, because Crobot have returned with a brand new album and it brings a T.Rex-footsteps level of heaviness. The upcoming Motherbrain is the outfit’s first LP since 2016’s Welcome To Fat City, their first album released via Mascot Records, and their first album since the brothership of rhythm, drummer and bassist Paul […]
CROBOT: Space-Funk Foursome Board The Motherbrain
“It was a whole different beast, everything about how we did it was different to how we’ve done it before.”, Chris Bishop
CROBOT and WOLF JAW at The Underworld, London on 26/7/19
Cloaked in its trademark Hadean black, Camden’s The Underworld was a welcome air-conditioned sanctuary from the hellish heat that has been sweeping England of late. A venue that warrants audience and band to mesh into one swarming nucleus of musical riot thanks to its absence of stage-spectator separation apparatus, The Underworld was the ideal nesting […]
CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD ‘Servants Of The Sun’
The Chris Robinson Brotherhood have returned with a new album of trademark sticky-sweet psychedelic delights. Servants Of The Sun continues frontman Chris Robinson’s journey away from the ever-present elephant in the room, forming an elusive cosmos of psychedelic musical adventure that’s distinct from his legacy with The Black Crowes, yet entices fans old and new. Servants Of The Sun bursts […]
DUFF MCKAGAN ‘Tenderness’
During a break from his participation in one of the highest grossing tours of all time (the Guns N’ Roses Not In This Lifetime…tour, for those who may have somehow missed the clamour of a GN’R reunion), Duff McKagan ventured once more into a solo project, consequently crafting his upcoming album Tenderness. Working with GRAMMY […]
WHISKEY MYERS and THE IMBECILES at Electric Ballroom, London, UK on 21/05/19
Following a jarringly paradoxical support act in the form of post-punk experimental outfit The Imbeciles, the assemblage of trucker caps and 10-gallon headgear were conspicuously ruffled and restless for the sweet southernality of Texas natives Whiskey Myers. Having left the UK barren of a headline tour for two years, the Electric Ballroom in Camden was […]
MATT PEARCE & THE MUTINY ‘Gotta Get Home’
“Play like anyone you care about, but try to be yourself while you’re doing so” – a notable piece of advice from the late blues guitar legend B.B. King. Voodoo Six’s long-standing guitarist Matt Pearce claims that the songwriting completed for his solo venture Matt Pearce & The Mutiny’s debut album Gotta Get Home made him feel […]
MONSTER TRUCK and ROYAL TUSK at Electric Ballroom, London on 27/4/19
Gracing the UK with their first headline tour in over two years, following several festival appearances and a support slot with southern-fried rock brethren The Cadillac Three and Black Stone Cherry, Canada’s Monster Truck have slammed through 7 UK dates this month before reaching their UK finale at London’s Electric Ballroom. Dry ice haze and a vivid cobalt blue […]
BLACK STONE CHERRY at The SSE Wembley Arena, London on 14/12/18
The 21st century has brought with it a wondrous wave of southern-drenched blues rock, with bands like Monster Truck, The Cadillac Three and Black Stone Cherry heading up the forefront. Finally, some genius somewhere instigated a UK arena tour housing all three of these chiefs in southern delectability. London got its taste on 14th December, […]
THE MAGPIE SALUTE and MAKER at Electric Ballroom, London on 11/12/18
“Come on, let’s have some Crowes now!” yelled a man in the crowd at Camden’s Electric Ballroom during a between-song lull of The Magpie Salute’s set. “Uhhh, I didn’t know The Black Crowes were playing tonight? I think you’re at the wrong gig. Hey, maybe I should give you a suggestion card, you can write […]
DEF LEPPARD ‘The Story So Far’/’Hysteria: The Singles’
Forty-one years of performances, 100 million records sold, a drummer forced to defy the odds, a stripping song sensation, a tragic loss, two albums with diamond certification, a 2019 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction nomination: just the tip of the iceberg on Def Leppard’s story so far. Cramming these forty-one years into four […]
WALKWAY ‘WWIII’
An album mastered amongst the atmospheric imprints made by the likes of The Beatles and Pink Floyd at Abbey Road Studios, Walkway’s WWIII pleases with a spectrum of tonality, ambience and influences. From opener “Stutter” – complete with a stuttering sound gimmick – Walkway introduce us to their formula of distinctive vocals, damsel-in-distress guitar solos […]
HARD ROCK HELL at Hafan y Môr, Pwllheli, 8/11/18 – 10/11/18
THURSDAY A musty haze hung to the air inside the Main Stage of Hard Rock Hell as though several hundred mid-slumber vampire caskets had been opened up. And indeed, the spectators of Hard Rock Hell looked slightly blinded by the bleached-in-white stage, as if they hadn’t seen the light of day in several years. Following a […]
THE STRUTS ‘Young & Dangerous’
Having spent four years of their career touring their delectable debut album Everybody Wants alongside some of music’s biggest names (try The Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses and Foo Fighters for starters), the time has finally come for The Struts to bespatter the bleak canvas of our world with their new palette of neon vibrance, Young & […]
THE VIRGINMARYS ‘Northern Sun Sessions’
Northern Sun Sessions, The Virginmarys’ latest LP offering, is claimed to thrive with the voltage of their live performances more than any of their previous studio work. An album that blurs the boundaries between indie, punk and blues rock with the dexterity of Picasso smearing the certainty of the human form, The Virginmarys have achieved […]
SLASH FT. MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS ‘Living The Dream’
The Midas touch of Slash and Myles Kennedy is no secret. Like two talismans that were destined to be paired together to create a mystical musical forcefield, the marrying of Slash’s nastily dirty groove with Kennedy’s distinctive blues-steeped howls and sneers has returned to create a third album of invincible prestige. Opening with a rhythmically […]
MONSTER TRUCK: Tales Of A True Rocker
With the release of Monster Truck’s new album, True Rockers, deliciously imminent following frustrating delays in its creation, guitarist Jeremy Widerman is itching for his music and the whirlwind roadshow that accompanies it to be unshackled. Due to hit Europe and the UK with musical brothers-in-arms Black Stone Cherry and The Cadillac Three from November, True […]
10 YEARS and SAVING ABEL at The Underworld, London on 04/09/18
Following a set from Psycho Village – which was memorable only for their use of the harrowing video made by Amanda Todd (the young, sadly deceased soul who committed suicide in 2012 following malicious bullying) as an adjunct to their song “Half Caste Symphony” – the cold, clammy confines of The Underworld in Camden Town […]
MONSTER TRUCK ‘True Rockers’
The highly anticipated True Rockers (an album which Monster Truck’s guitarist Jeremy Widerman vowed to leak out himself if it wasn’t released by Spring 2018 – clearly, Mascot Records managed to talk him out of it), is the latest in Monster Truck’s line of aptly named LPs. Prior releases Furiosity and Sittin’ Heavy are able […]
RYDERS CREED ‘Ryders Creed’
With staunch backing from Hard Rock Hell – having won HRH’s battle-of-the-bands alike Highway To Hell competition 4 months into their bandship, and obtaining a record deal from HRH-affiliated record label Off Yer Rocka Recordings in the process – Ryders Creed are very much the cats who got the hard-earned cream. As we’re slowly watching […]
NICKELBACK and SEETHER at The O2 Arena, London on 11/05/18
There’s something pretty magical about The O2 Arena in London. Perhaps it’s something to do with the music history that’s being continually conjured within it, it’s coating in new millennium magic or its general gargantuan architecture that contains a veritable wonderland inside. Either way, the musical events it holds rarely fail to steal the breath […]
PREVIEW: DOWNLOAD UK 2018
Somehow, the Earth has almost turned 365 times since Download Festival 2017. At time of writing, Download Festival 2018 is only 36 days away, and weather websites are already predicting thunderstorms across the weekend (quelle surprise, eh?). HEAVY also foresees thunderstorms, but less the wind-and-rain type and more the pyro-powered, voltage-driven line-up the highly esteemed […]
THE ROCKET DOLLS ‘DeaDHead’
Almost half a decade after their juddering debut offering Eyes, The Rocket Dolls are due to volunteer their second long-playing creation to the world on 6th April 2018. Fully birthed in London at the acclaimed British Grove Studios, DeaDHead aims to wreak a fresh, contemporary hybridism of heavy rock, grunge, punk and pop on anyone […]
THE DEAD DAISIES ‘Burn It Down’
Returning with their fourth studio album since 2013, hot on the heels of 2017’s live album Live and Louder, The Dead Daisies are a Frankenstinian hybrid of rock history that are resistant to any state of pushing up daisies. Due out on 6th April 2018, Burn It Down employs comrades of Whitesnake, Dio, Journey, Thin […]
RAVENEYE at Dingwalls, London on 2/2/18
Have you ever arrived at a venue you’ve never experienced before for a band you have experienced before, looked around, and felt the tug of worry that the room might not contain what’s about to transpire? This narrator felt such a niggle at Dingwalls in the infamously quirky Camden Town on the 2nd February. In […]
KILLCODE ‘The Answer’
They say that New York is the city that never sleeps, but perhaps that is owing to the music it churns out. From KISS to the New York Dolls, any NYC dweller would find it an unforgiving task trying to drift away into the land of nod when immersed in such a history of musical […]
The Cadillac Three and Legacy
In true mid-tour, pre-show fashion, The Cadillac Three are feeling a touch hazy. Slightly squinting under the garish fluorescent lighting of the LCR’s green room in Norwich, and frontman Jaren Johnston clutching at a glass of equally garish and fluorescent vitamin-laced liquid, the three southern gentlemen are grimacing behind their brave-faced masks. Having recently released […]
Live Review + Photos: THE CADILLAC THREE and Brothers Osborne at The LCR, Norwich on 15/11/17
Emblazoned upon a rogue-tainted tour flag that rippled in the breeze conjured by the breath of gig-goers, three skulls brandishing tousled hair and uncertain grins stared out from their inky voids at the hustle of fans gathering around the stage of Norwich’s LCR in an intimate campfire huddle. In this instance, the fire in question […]
HARD ROCK HELL at Hafan y Môr, Pwllheli, 9/11/17 – 11/11/17
To echo the sentiments of Mr Dee Snider: “a festival in November – what the f$%k?” But having just closed its gates following a weekend of hard-hitting rock for the eleventh time, Hard Rock Hell is now a calendar event carved in stone, embossed with gold and stained with the promised blood of many of […]
Live Review & Photos: TYKETTO at Hard Rock Hell, Pwllheli on 10/11/17
“Ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to begin – raise your horns up and please welcome to the stage a band that has been kicking your ass for over 25 years.” – Anonymous voiceover lady, Hafan y Môr, 10th November 2017. One rejected album, two resurrections, and many years of members traversing in and […]
BROKEN WITT REBELS ‘Broken Witt Rebels’
Self-titled albums: the somewhat explicit yet implicit ‘this is who we are’ statement within the musical realm. Some emerge from the curtains late in the show (Def Leppard), some roll their hat off at the first long-playing acquaintance (Broken Witt Rebels). But, much like the way that a baby goose identifies its mothership according to […]
SAMARKIND ‘Samarkind’
Nearly 40 years since the end of the 1970s and a miraculous resurrection is occurring. In quite the same manner as the ghoulish beings in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (which is nearly 35 years of age – anyone feeling old yet?), the rock groove and power vocals of the ’70s are bursting out from within the […]
TYLER BRYANT & THE SHAKEDOWN ‘Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown’
Read any autobiography of any rock giant who once pranced in and out of Sunset Strip’s Whisky A-Go-Go or The Roxy and what will you find? Aside from a ludicrous altitude of depicted decadence, you won’t need your specs to find the sheer volume of recounted musical resolve, ambition and ‘whatever it takes’ inclinations. Not […]
DIRTY THRILLS ‘Heavy Living’
“May the fuzz be with you” – this decade’s musical adjustment to the famous Star Wars well-wishing shibboleth. From Rival Sons to Broken Witt Rebels , fuzz riffs are decadently en vogue, and the trend continues with debut LP offering from London-made Dirty Thrills’ Heavy Living. Although recently bitten by the mighty Classic Rock Magazine wolf […]
PROPHETS OF RAGE ‘Prophets Of Rage’
Prophets of Rage are insatiably and irrevocably pissed at the world, and they want everyone to know it. Offering up a ménage à trois of craggy bass, ’70s-inspired funk, and attitude-laden spoken word akin to Run DMC and The Beastie Boys, Prophets of Rage have boiled a blood-bubbling brew of feisty ‘fuck-you-I-won’t-do-what-ya-tell-me’ music with the self-titled […]
[ALBUM REVIEW] BLACKWATER CONSPIRACY ‘Shootin’ The Breeze’
Blackwater Conspiracy promise a “unique musical melting pot” as a consequence of diverse rock influences housed within the creative drives of each band member, with inspiration spanning the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Thin Lizzy, The Faces and The Black Crowes. However, debut release Shootin’ The Breeze is not extraordinarily distinctive, presenting with a highly […]
[REVIEW, PHOTOS and VIDEO INTERVIEWS] DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL, Castle Donington on 9/6/17-11/6/17
Donington Park opened up its lush, soon-to-be-stomped-to-a-pulp fields this year on the 7th June for its fifteenth hosting of Download Festival. A swarm of 80,000 rockers garbed in the implicit black or ‘get your freak on’ dress code attended this year’s Download in the hope of catching the electrical storm that was predicted to be […]
[ALBUM REVIEW] A THOUSAND HORSES ‘Bridges’
It’s fast becoming a fact that there is currently a particular adoration for southern rock music, yet it’s unclear why. Is anyone going to waste time trying to work it out when they could be listening to southern rock music instead? Nope, especially as A Thousand Horses have now released a new album. Despite teasing […]
[ALBUM REVIEW] A THOUSAND HORSES ‘Bridges’
It’s fast becoming a fact that there is currently a particular adoration for southern rock music, yet it’s unclear why. Is anyone going to waste time trying to work it out when they could be listening to southern rock music instead? Nope, especially as A Thousand Horses have now released a new album. Despite teasing […]
[LIVE REVIEW] WHISKEY MYERS at O2 Ritz, Manchester on 20/5/17
Whiskey Myers were last spotted in Manchester in December on their first UK headline tour. Here, the Skynyrd-sized ensemble was seemingly uncomfortably stuffed into the intimate Ruby Lounge in the manner that one might attempt to stuff a sleeping bag back into its impossibly small travel case. Thankfully, their return to Manchester on 20th May […]
