Steve Hackett’s first release in his ‘Genesis Revisited‘ series, originally from 1996 has been reissued on black & green vinyl. This featured a lengthy list of guests, notably (to me) John Wetton, Ian McDonald, Pino Palladino, Bill Bruford, Chester Thompson, Julian Colbeck, Colin Blunstone, and Alphonso Johnson. Includes renditions of classic Genesis tracks, as well as a pair of (then) new tracks, and one Genesis unheard (unreleased) song (see below)…
This is the first single/video from the forthcoming album from Albert Bouchard, Imaginos IV Rhyme of the Star Clock. The track, written & sang by Joe Bouchard, features Blue Coupe members, Joe Bouchard as well as Dennis Dunaway, as well as in the spooky AI video.
Yesterday BLACK SABBATH’s Tony Iommi released the news of his brand new solo album, From The Dark, as well as the first video/single from it “World Alone”. The album is due out October 23rd, and will be Iommi’s first solo release in 21 years, and first set of new songs since Black Sabbath’s “13”.
Iommi also did a live interview with the announcement:
This album features the powerful voice of Norwegian singer Jorn Lande. Now, Jorn is a huge name in the heavy metal world, especially in Europe. This guy has loads of albums released under his own name, as well as bands he’s been part of, collaborations, and appearances! I don’t have near the majority of what Jorn’s been apart of, but I do have a number of albums (CDs), he’s released or been a part of…..
Starfire – Jorn’s first solo album, released on Frontiers in 2000. Ten tracks, 5 covers & 5 originals. The covers are excellent, and interesting choices, such as City Boy’s “The Day The Earth Caught Fire”, Foreigner’s “Break It Up”, and Jefferson Starship’s “Just The Same”. Among the originals here, the title track (and opener) is a standout. And the ballad “Forever Yours” is decent. A good mix of songs. I played the heck out of this when i got it. tore
Millenium ‘Hourglass‘ – also released in 2000. Millenium was a US hard rock/power metal band, and for whatever reason Jorn co-wrote and sang on this – the band’s 2nd album. The title track is a powerful track, and the ballad “I Will Follow” is excellent, should’ve been a hit. Sounds a bit like Helloween at times, but with more harmonies and a bit of aor, which is interesting as Jorn also did a few albums with former Helloween members in Masterplan.
Ken Hensley ‘Blood On The Highway‘ – This was a story based (autobiographical?) album from Uriah Heep’s original keyboard player (and major songwriter). Jorn sings on more than half of this, as well as is featured in the live show (on DVD) to promote it. Check out “This Is Just The Beginning”,“Okay (This House Is Down)’, as well as his live take of “Easy Livin”. Glenn Hughes and John Lawton also sang on this album. On a side note, Jorn’s also released a live clip of Heep’s “Too Scared To Run” in 2022. (Here’s hoping his version is inckuded on his next solo album!)
Dio (a tribute) – from 2010. This tribute to Ronnie James Dio was put together not too long following Dio’s passing. The lead off track “Song For Ronnie James” was released just 5 days after he passed. This is a great set of Dio covers, which includes songs from Rainbow and Black Sabbath. A few medlies as well. Sounds heavy, well produced and though this is a ‘tribute’, these songs really seem to fit his vocals. Great performances of “Don’t Talk To Strangers” and “Lonely Is The Word / Letters From Earth”. Jorn would appear as a guest vocalist with ‘Heaven And Hell’ when they finished up concert dates following RJD’s death.
Lande & Holter ‘Dracula: Swing Of Death‘ – from 2015. A collaboration with his long time guitar player Trond Holter. A dark, heavy, rock opera based around the story of Dracula. Some excellent songs and performances here, such as “Walking On Water”,“Queen Of The Dead”, as well as the theatrical “Swing Of Death”. Some great backing and lead vocals also on this record from Lena Fløitmoen.
Jorn Lande has done a number of albums consisting of covers, as well guesting with Avantasia and with Ayreon, was part of The Snakes with Airey, Moody and Marsden (credited as Johnny Lande), as well as series of albums with American singer Russell Allen.
Phil Lanzon’s new album, The Golden Door is available to order on CD. The concept album is the 3rd project from Uriah Heep’s keyboard player / songwriter, outside of the band. It is based on the story of Ellis Island. The full story can be checked out here: https://thegoldendoor.uk/phil-lanzon/
Canadian band TEAZE returned after nearly 40 years in 2019. Since that first show in Windsor, Ontario (which I was at), the band played many more shows, both here and in Europe. Last year they released the live album Live At Leige, underwent a change in drummers, and this year, they’ve more recently released the outstanding Rev Your Engines album! The band’s first release of new songs since 1980! And you haven’t heard it – get it! The band sounds energetic, rockin, and ready to go. I posted an interview with guitarist Mark Bradac a while back, and a few weeks back I had the privelage to speak with singer & bass player Brian Danter. Having recently turned 75, one would not know it from hearing this album! Brian and I talked about the band’s comeback, the new album, as well as some of Teaze’ past with getting signed, their early popularity in Japan and his reasons for leaving the band following the Body Shots album. Check it out. Check out the links below, and check out the new album!
Photo: Maximus Reid
The band’s third album was the live In Japan album (Tour Of Japan). What lead you guys to that popularity over there, and being able to go over there and get a live album out of it, so early on?
That’s something that the record company had planned. At that point we only had 2 albums out, our first album and On The Loose. It was probably all, kind of over-flowing to kind of keep the ball really rolling fast. So, it was a great idea. So, we practically did most of everything that we had in the two albums with, I think, a few new songs. I’m not sure off the top of my head, but yeah, it was a great experience.
Did you guys ever go back there or was that it?
That’s been our plan since we got back together. So now we’re hoping Kevin with signing with Deco and with Escape, we have some promotion. It looks like it’s really doing well in Europe right now. And Canada’s kind of a slow go. I don’t know if Mark shared, like, it’s just, you know, being kind of out of action and back in action for 45 years, trying to get the momentum going. I mean, the momentum is good with the audience, It’s just, it’s a whole new gamut, now you’re facing the internet, and everybody can do an album or a recording, on their computer and that. And I’m not against AI, I know has some benefits, but we were really proud in the fact that all the songs on the new album, Kevin, are all generated and created by us. There’s work put into it, which I’m grateful for.
Of those early albums, did you have any kind of favorites as far as…I often think that One Night Stands should have been the album that did it for you guys, but it wasn’t. So, what were some of the ups and downs for you?
You know what it was, It was like, this was one of our biggest budgets that we had gone in at the time. We were recording at Le Studio, which, the Bee Gees, Nazareth, Rush, so many groups had gone there. And when we did it, we knew that this is a first-class studio. So, we really got an opportunity to really shine. Now, we had been spending months at a recording studio in a basement that our sound guy had, a really nice one, writing and recording stuff as a demo for it. So, when we went in, we were really well prepared and we like to be prepared, you know!? So, some favorites. Oh, geez, when I go back, the first album, I’m trying to think right now…It’s so far gone, so far back there. But I think on the first one, the slow one (“Open My Eyes”)
We’ve written so many songs now over the years and we’re kind of so focused on the new album and we’re already getting ideas for another album. And I don’t know if Marco explained to you that, in his words, we kind of knew that our only step forward from what we’ve done in the last few years was to do new material because we found, I don’t know if it’s political, we can feel like it, but I understand all of a sudden coming back on the scene, we’ve been out West two or three times. We’ve been to Europe twice.
We did the live album and at least was a good step forward for us. That night went off phenomenal. I think in the whole album, I corrected one line in “Reach Out” because I got a loss for words, so the camera went away and we were able to put it in. But it was like four or five words. That’s about the only thing.
Yeah, I like “Sure Thing”. “Back In Action”, off of One Night Stands. There’s just so many good songs, like one after another.
And I really liked, because we had released “Sweet Misery”, which was a great song, but at the time, I know Marco probably told you, it didn’t really help us because we were a Windsor-Detroit band. We grew up on the Amboy Dukes, Ted Nugent, Grand Funk, SRC, a lot of Detroit bands. Alice Cooper. So, our sound really kind of mimicked those raw guitars with not a lot of processing and everything. And we’ve tried to get back to that. I think Charlie kind of (with Marco), marries the two sounds together, which is nice. Charlie has a little more spread on his pedal to do those kinds of things, which is nice. But we try to keep everything to that, Windsor Detroit rock area, because when we moved out, we moved to Toronto first, we weren’t really even aware of how big the Canadian music scene, we were just really isolated from it, because all the music we listened to were concerts. We went to Detroit; we had that privilege. So, with the new album, that’s what we’ve really tried to go back to.
Everybody’s had a hand in it except the new drummer because we lost Mike a little over a year ago. He just felt it was time. And then we got a phenomenal drummer, Jimmy Bonventre who just fit in like a glove.
In that era of the late seventies, early eighties, there was a lot of Canadian bands that had three or four albums out and they kind of fizzled out because they didn’t kind of cut it in the States. Is that kind of a fair statement for you guys and part of the reason you left?
Yeah. Actually, when I left, they were working out a deal. We were supposed to go and do some dates. We had done three dates with Blue Oyster Cult and there was talk of that, but the big one was we were supposed to go down to Texas and do some dates with Peter Frampton; that’s the thing I remember.
And then I know Marco shared, I just got really tired of, in the industry, the promises and a lot of stuff that came along in the industry in that time. A lot of drugs were around free, and I can just be upfront with you. The girls throw themselves at you and it’s just a lot of people just hanging around the band because of who you are. And I got really disillusioned. I love the guys in the band. I love playing, I love writing, and I love recording, all that. But unfortunately, all the other stuff came with it back then. And I think you have more control over it now than it was back then, because when you’re thrust into that level, within a year or two, we’re playing over in Japan, we’re a Windsor band! So, a lot of that high-life and everything, like when we landed at Narita Airport, there was hundreds and hundreds of Japanese girls and kids already with dolls, mimicking us and flowers and everything. We weren’t used to that over here. We more or less experienced stuff after the shows when we would go back and sign albums and greet people, but nothing like Japan, because we broke on, there was a wave, I think we were on the second wave that went over to Japan. We went over at the same time Cheap Trick went over, Kate Bush, a band from England called UFO. There’s so many other bands. We kind of went over on that. At the time, we were the only Canadian band that were part of a package deal. So, we got our foot in the door, Kevin, really, really quick. And we were grateful to that. So, then we came back, we shot a movie of the whole thing. And then we were using it and splicing it for advertisements for tours that we were going on. And so apparently there was a flood at Donald K. Donald and where our record company’s office was, and we were told that all that got destroyed completely. I mean, Marco believes that one day it might surface, but I don’t know, it’s like 40, 50 years.
Did you guys do a lot of extra stuff in the studio? Were you kind of like a studio band where you record like 15 songs and leave four or five off?
We had songs, like I’ve been writing for years, and I don’t know if Mark told you the story on our first album when we got the opportunity to go to record. I’d already been a local musician. I’d done recording in the States, recording in Windsor a few times. I was writing music. I was in other local bands. So, at the time when the band, when we launched our career, the record company saw that was about a six- or seven-years gap between the other guys and me. So, they put me more in that and, a few years older than them, but I had like, if you go back to, this is probably beyond you, but I remember when they lowered the drinking age to 18, everybody went into the bars. And if you make money, a lot of the high school concerts and everything just dried up; the ones at colleges and everything, everybody was in pubs and bars. So, I had to go in there, for two or three years to make money and keep playing. But then I got really fed up with it, because I would look out in the audience and you have the diehard people there to hear the band, but just everybody talking at the tables, the guys were there to pick up girls, the girls were there to pick up guys. And I said, ‘You know what? I’ve had enough of this life’. So, I pulled out of the band at the time that I was in. I was working part-time at a music store, and people didn’t know, guitar players and drummers and all that, because I was bass player back then when they were coming in and trying out instruments, I was auditioning them. I was listening to how they played, talked to them, but they didn’t know anything. So, when I finally got the guys together and had a meeting, we went and rented an abandoned warehouse in a factory, the whole floor. We had a freight elevator. We got it for a really good deal. I had a manager that I’d worked with in some bands before that, he’s passed now. We went in there…and think of this – back then we bought double stack high watts. I bought high watt, and both Marco and Chuck, they had two double stack of Marshals, or High watt. Think of what they would be worth today. So, we just rehearsed for about nine months. And then we played, and we invited a whole bunch of the student body presidents. We invited them one night. We had lights set up. We were in this big room. We had drum riser, everything! And we played like a 30 minute set for them. Well, that night, we booked a whole bunch of high schools, because high schools had kind of dried up. And then we invited all these student presidents out; we had about six or seven of them. We played around Windsor. The last one we got was actually the biggest show. We went back then when nobody was hardly using lights, because I’m an admirer of Pink Floyd way back, when nobody was using lights. And we got our light guy to go rent scaffolding. We got two follow spots behind, on stage, coming down on us. We had a follow spot out in the audience. We had flash pots. I mean, back then, that’s like 1974, 75. And just so happens that the Stampeders were in town and played a concert. Well, the guy who was the road manager for them, he came out, he heard about it. For some reason, he just ended up at Sandwich High School. It was a fairly new high school, big auditorium, big gym.
And he talked to us after, and he went back and talked to Mel Shaw, he was the owner of the Stampeders, or the main manager. So, he said, he’d bring us to Toronto and record a demo. So, we went down there, and at the time we had zip! We had no songs ready in this band. We were just rehearsing a lot of Deep Purple. We were doing “Man On The Silver Mountain”, which we brought back after all. We were doing some, because Kiss was just…I’d opened up – before this band, I opened up in another band with Kiss’ first Canadian tour that went to London. And I got the pictures to prove it.
Can I ask, was that a band that included Joe Konas?
Yes! The band ‘Joe’, you remember that!?
No, but I know Joe because I’m a Uriah Heep fan. So, I know his connection with them through The Gods.
So yeah, we played that gig.
I’d been doing stuff before I put Teaze together. And originally, we weren’t called Teaze, we were called ‘Ontario’, because I had been in a three-piece band with a girl drummer, and we kept the name, but then when we signed a record deal, we found out that we couldn’t get a legal right to that. I don’t know how Chicago did it, maybe it’s different because it’s a city, So, anyways, that’s when we came up with the name. We changed the name when we moved to Toronto.
I know you went into the ministry and did other stuff, obviously. What was kind of the catalyst or the deciding thing for you in getting the band back together?
Like I always tell Mark, he had 45 years to put another Teaze together, but he was running his own shop, he was playing with his wife for quite a while, in the band ‘Lynn and The Rebels’. He was doing country stuff, which he’s very good at, but I can’t get him to do any country now. I’m trying to get him, ‘Let’s do like a country rock song’. He said, ‘No those days are gone’. But then for years, he had a gig in Windsor at the Yacht Club, him and his wife just played and played.
So, my wife, when I finally retired, I was in ministry 33 years. At 25, I was the worship leader at a big church in Windsor. I had the double-stacked Fender, I played flying V’s every week. I mean, it was a thriving church. I was kind of bringing, and I’m not trying to brag at those, but I was kind of bringing a new edge to Christian music and that. And I was really blessed in that. I did that for 25 years. Then I passed the baton to another guy I’d kind of trained up through youth. And then my wife and I did youth ministry for five years, and I enjoyed that. We had as high as 140 teenagers out on a Friday night.
We did summer camps, youth camps. I had all that experience. So, I’m leading up to what it’s saying…. So, then the last two years, I did a lot of hospital and home visitation. When I finally retired, my wife said, ‘You know, the guys have been wanting together to do a concert’. So, I was going to rent, at the time my brother-in-law, Lynn’s brother, he has a street church down in a real rough area of Windsor. And it used to be a bar called ‘Mongo Murphs’. He turned it into ‘New Song’. And he’d get all kinds of street people coming in and everything. So I asked if I could use the place; it holds about 200-250. Anyways, then we thought, we were just going (to) send it out for, because none of my kids had ever seen Teaze, obviously. A lot of other friends never got to see Teaze, because we never came down to Windsor. The closest we ever got several times was coming to London, when we did a tour, Canadian tour with Aerosmith, then we did a tour with Blue Oyster Cult, then we did a tour with Cheap Trick. We just never realized what would happen… All of a sudden, we’ve got local press involved that we were doing this show. So, we thought, ‘Maybe we better go to rent a bigger place’. So, we went to the theater downtown, it holds about, I think about 600-something. And we thought, ‘We won’t fill that! But it’ll be a nice stage and we’ll have nice lighting’. So, Kevin, we sold it out two weeks before, the venue. And that night, we found out people had flown in from Vancouver, out West. They’d come from Montreal. Some had come from the East Coast, Upper Ontario and just filled the place!
My buddy and I came up from the Falls.
Oh, you were there!?
Yeah.
Oh, wow! And I heard that night, there was about 70 people at the door, didn’t have tickets. So, they brought them in and they have an area where they have stand up tables.
That happened, and then all of a sudden we started getting invites. We had all this press, we were in the newspaper, we were in local magazines…Even the CTV came down and at the theater, they had interviewed us. We went down there and did it during the week before we set up.
Then we went out to the East Coast, and we played with Honeymoon Suite, and we were getting these invites. And the problem that happened is that COVID hit. We thought that was the end, you know!? We went about a year and a half and we just thought, we had our little stint and everything. So, we started talking, let’s get together and we can put the mics at four areas. So, we started rehearsing again all through COVID. We were meeting twice a month and we didn’t tell anybody. And the band was getting tighter and tighter, and we started to get ideas. Mike never wanted to do new music, he felt it was like kind of ‘Let’s focus on the old stuff’. Well, we only really had one AM hit. We had a lot of FM songs. So, when Mike left, it just really opened up the door for the new album.
I got it.
Oh, good. So, what do you think of it?
Like a lot of people, I didn’t know what to expect, but it surpassed whatever I expected. I think every song on it is good. And the lead off track is just a great, obviously a great opener.
That’s our new opener! Now for that album, really there’s songs that I automatically liked, but now that the album’s done and there’s four songs that we’ve already added to our 90-minute set. We’re playing August 22nd at a big venue in Leamington. It’s down by the water. It’s like an amphitheater. They got a great stage and everything, and we’re headlining. We’ve got two other bands opening. I don’t know if Mark told you that.
Actually, Rick Labonte told me.
Oh, what a great guy. I got to meet him.
And I love the sound of the album because I think those older albums, they were kind of between hard rock and AOR. I think they could have been heavier, guitar-wise, but this one sounds really up to date and heavier.
We really saw, a lot of the bands – great music, but a lot of the rock bands are very heavily processed. So, you get a lot of like foot pedal and stuff. We wanted to bring a little bit of that in, which Charlie does, but we wanted to keep everything kind of raw. I think if we go too out in right field, we’ll sound like a lot of other bands. And I think the people that know aren’t disappointed. I think that we really hit it. And I think Charlie, his skills just…what we would do is we would go into a studio, record basic tracks, then we had all the time in the world over the last 10 to 12 months to hash stuff out, change stuff. We’d record at Charlie’s because he’s got Pro-Tools, which is the standard in the industry, which the guy we went to, he’s done two or three songs for Metallica. So, he really knows his stuff. I think the song that’s really standing out to me now, live and it’s going to be in the set is “Gotta Rock”.
Yeah, I like that one. Obviously, I like “Man Of Vision”; I think that’s a classic type of….
That’s exactly what reminded me of, and your vocal, I thought, Wow! That’s like kind of like not a ‘part two’, but in that same ballpark.
Yeah, and on the opening and in the middle, that’s my daughter, Bethany, who sang when we played in Windsor. Like I had my wife, I had Mark’s wife and my daughter, Bethany, who’s younger. When we played all three concerts at the Walkerville Theater, we all brought the girls up, we added, but now we’re trying to just be the four-piece because now Jimmy sings, Charlie sings, and Marco does a little bit.
What are some of the songs you had a hand in as far as songwriting?
I wrote “Wonder” and I wrote “Can’t Stop Loving You”. That’s actually a song I wrote about 15 years ago. I used to do it when I did outreach and I did prisons. I used to do that. And so Charlie came along, we added a bridge to it.
And then “Wonder”, I kind of co-wrote with another friend of mine, but the lyrics, Charlie ended up changing the lyrics on it a bit, from my friend I used to write with. I’ve written about 70 to 80 songs over the years, and I’ve got them in the can. Obviously, a lot of my stuff is very faith-based without being super religious, but that’s just coming from, like Kevin, I on Sunday, I just turned 75 and I’m very grateful, I have seven children, I have six grandkids, I have two on the way. And Marco probably would tell you, I’m very much a family man, and I just love it. I love being back with the band, playing music again. And I have to be very, very grateful. I just did a funeral for an old friend that used to play bass with me at the church. Phenomenal bass player, played a fretless. He got cancer and died. I’m a former pastor; I was licensed and everything. So, I was privileged. I just went there to go to the funeral. I just heard about it last night. And so, I showed up and then the father or the brother just said, hey, would you say a few words?…Marco always jokes with me. He said, “If I get sick, I don’t want you showing up in the hospital!” He said, “It seems like people die when you show up”. I said, “Marco, they don’t all die. I go there when the friends and that, when they’re approaching death”.
I have a big heart for people. That’s what, I try to reflect that even on stage. Teaze is very, very much a relational band. And I’d like to keep it that way. We realize in the business, you have to be business. But if we don’t have that core, we love playing together. We love being together. It’s great. The bands we played with seem to really chum up with us. And of course, we’ve gotten a lot of promises that never materialize.
I think, because of the size of our country, there’s almost like a certain fraternity amongst the bands from that era, the late 70s and 80s, that you guys all meet up and play a lot of these festivals together. Some guys interchange bands and that.
Here’s the thing, and I don’t know if Marco shared this, and this is just speculation, Kevin. We’ve gone out there and done that. And Marco always says to these bands, ‘Throw us a bone, we’ll open up for you’. And they do make promises, but I realize someone’s working for them, getting gigs. But it seems like in Canada right now, like a lot of the bands, you’ve got Honeymoon Suite, you’ve got Streetheart, you’ve got April Wine, you got all these Canadian bands that have stayed around, and they’re old material, they’ve got a lot of material that was popular. But to get into that, it can almost seem political. You know what I mean? So, Bernie Aubin from the Headpins was really instrumental in getting us out West and putting gigs on us. And now I really think that next year, I think we’re going to be doing a lot of dates in Europe because Europe – they’re taking off with the new album.
And we have places in Canada. ‘Please come to Montreal’. ‘Please come to the East Coast’. ‘Please come back out West’. But it’s all up to the promoters. A lot of them, they’re younger, they’re new. They don’t really know us, and that we still got the energy on stage, Kevin. We do.
I guess they maybe say to themselves ‘Why do I want to invest in a bunch of old guys who just came back!?’ And when they’ve seen us…. But a lot of times, they have these group meetings among the people that are putting on the festivals, and they just seem to keep going with the bands that have been steady. And that’s understandable. I’m not resentful. So, I think that we’re going to be plowing ground in Europe and England, and maybe Japan; there’s a chance because the music has a connection there. I think then, when we come back to Canada on our own, it’ll open up more doors.
That’d be great! For me, as a fan, I like listening to bands that still have something new to offer, not just doing the same 12 hits for the last 40 years. And there’s a few out there that do that. It’s good to keep it moving, right!? You got to move forward, or you’re just a nostalgic act.
Kevin, have you seen the AI video that was done for “Rev Your Engines”?
Yeah.
We were like, kind of, ‘Oh, I don’t know’. And even my kids, I’ve got three of my kids are very musical. And they said, ‘Oh, Da!’, But when they saw what we did with it, we purposely made it kind of cartoonish and AI. But it really sends the message. There’s nothing lewd in it or anything like that. It’s just, it kind of explains where we grew up; all the drag racing and the stock cars and everything. We had them here too in Windsor, but It kind of just really sets us out there, what we are.
As far as the stuff you grew up on, as a singer, bass player that, what were some of your influences?
I grew up loving the Beatles’ music. I liked the harmonies and everything. I loved Hendrix when he came along. I loved Cream. I didn’t dislike them, but I didn’t really follow the Stones in the early years. Pink Floyd in the very early, early years, won my heart. I loved the creativity. Nobody was doing theatrical stuff like that, with the heartbeat and surround sound PA. But I think the one person I’ve given a lot of credit to this, when Grand Funk came along, and they were under a lot of criticism from the music industry, but they were drawn huge crowds! I liked Mark Farner, because he was not only a good writer, but he was a polished, great singer. I used I used to compare, you’d have guys like the guy in Aerosmith and Mick Jagger – to me, they’re “stylists”, they have a great style, but Mark Farner had a voice. His range was unbelievable, the clarity. I remember I used to put on Mark Farner albums, the first two, and I would sing along with him. And actually my own range opened up Kevin just to mimic his playing, learning his songs, learning his vibrato and his technique. I just said, “That’s how I want to sing like!” And of course, Ronnie James Dio, when he came along.
Some of the interviews we’ve done, and the writers, they’ve said, “Boy, you were stepping on dangerous territory to do something like that”. There’s two places you either do it like Dio, and a lot of times, he can’t be duplicated. Or you change the song completely, which would be murder to do that. So, I just said to the guys, “I just want to sing it like Dio would have sang it, but with my voice.” And actually, it was a piece of cake. It was the one song on the album. Honestly, Kevin, I think I did three takes.
It’s a classic song.
Now, that’s actually a song that we used to do when the band first got together. And Marco’s the one that came forward and said, “Brian, you think you still got it!?” We were looking at covers and that, and so one day at practice, Marco just out of the blue started doing the chords in it. I thought, ‘Boy, is that tough sounding Mark’, he just opened up his amp. So then we just decided to do it. And because we wanted a cover on it, we thought that would be good and healthy for us to show that we could kind of dip into something, someone else that kind of fit us.
I did interview Mark Farner a couple of months ago for his latest album.
Did you!?
He’s a very interesting. Very talkative guy. I could just listen to him all day because he must have 1001 stories.
Like me, Farner ended up really giving his heart to the Lord and serving. That’s kind of like when I came on, I didn’t know. I wear this hat (Puts on red ‘Jesus’ cap), and I get a lot of comments, a lot of – “What are you doing? “ When I’m at the signing table, I’ll put it on. I’m not ashamed of the gospel and who I’m serving. And that’s kind of what drives me. I don’t push it on anybody, but I like them to know that I’m real and who I am. I’m a Christian and I can play rock music and have fun with the guys. A lot of the other stuff that was in the past, is gone for me. The stuff is around you, but you don’t have to be part of it. Wherever I go, Marco jokes I’m still a tourist. I mean, not with the camera or cell phone, but they’ll often go off and sometimes party a bit, and I’m off and I’m in the street meeting people. And I just love meeting people. I love hearing their stories. It’s just me. I’m the same guy at 75!
American rock singer Stephen ‘Steph’ Fontaine passed away earlier this year. There has been very little info posted about his passing, but this was confirmed by his former bandmate and long time friend Eddie St James in a post on June 16:
“I regret having to report that former Joshua / Ringleader / Uriah Heep singer (tenure 1986) and also a very good friend of mine (we had also worked together in my band and a couple of projects in 1991) Stephen Fontaine has passed away in late March 2026 (incorrectly being reported on the net by unofficial sources as June of 2026).
Here is a direct quote from his landlady (name withheld- my only official source as it, for some reason, has not yet officially been made public by any surviving relative(s) or public sources):
„…I have been trying to get information from the coroner but he hasn’t responded yet. His apartment is sealed up while trying to find any family. He moved in here almost 2 years ago, he was homeless before then. I am sorry I wish I could give more information. My maintenance man found him 3/31 he passed away watching TV. Not sure how long he was there before he was found…“
I would like to simply say that in all most likelihood he has unfortunately passed and I did have steady contact with him up until 3 months before his passing on ca. 3/31/26. I can say that He was an extraordinarily talented and a big hearted, sincere and down to earth person. I can also say that I knew him and his musical life story probably more in depth than most of his friends, associates or most certainly the general public. He would also tell me all the very interesting in-depth, behind the scenes information and circumstances that were never released or made available to the traditional or social media sources (I really know what went on with the Uriah Heep situation). He had a great sense of humor and was a lot of fun to work with and be around- never a dull moment. What could’ve been, we’ll never know- what is, is all that we’re left with.”
Rock’N’Roll Journalist & former girlfriend, Olivia Tosic: “Steph Fontaine was an extremely humorous individual with hilarious stories. A storyteller like no other… He had a kind heart and a true love / hate relationship within himself. Yet always maintained an ultra-positive attitude toward life! Though he had a most fascinating voice, he could never quite stay in one band project for any significant length of time. He had a very eccentric personality and kept me in tears laughing all the time! Now those tears have transformed to a bit of grief and sadness knowing he has transitioned into heaven, leaving behind so many dreams and aspirations he still had. ”
Greg Chaisson (Badlands): I thought he was a great singer and should’ve been huge, but he was also quite a character. I hope he is at peace now. I will think of him often!
“My main early influences were Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night, The Righteous Brothers, and further on Steve Perry, Lou Gramm, David Coverdale, Ronnie Dio – guys like that…Paul Rodgers and Mickey Thomas (Starship.” (Stef Fontaine, 2001)
Fontaine, relocated from Arizona to California in the late ’70s. In Phoenix he was involved with a covers band named ‘Alien’ and came across bass player Greg Chaisson (pre Badlands), where he briefly joined the bass players’ band ‘Ghost Rose’. Fontaine made plenty of connections, such as Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot), who helped him get to California, where he joined such bands as ‘Full House’ (with Bruce Turgeon) and Orange County, California band ‘Hustler’ (who recorded one unreleased album, which has never surfaced and little info to be found on it). He would join the band ‘Joshua’, lead by guitarist Joshua Perahia (RIP 2024). The band recorded their debut mini-LP The Hand Is Quicker Than The Eye, released on Enigma. Although the record didn’t get much attention in North America, it did include the song “November Is Going Away”, which a #1 hit in Japan.
Joshua bass player Mahlon Hawk (2000): “The band was based out of the South Bay area in Southern Calif., we played at the top venues, always to sold out crowds. The Joshua website tells of the time we did 2 shows at the Troubador, practically unheard of at the time. We shared the stage with many of the top acts/performers of that time such as Dubrow (which became Quiet Riot), Ronnie James Dio, Redbone, Motley Crue, the Plimsouls, Y&T, Armored Saint, Berlin, Mike Monarch Group (formerly of Steppenwolf) just to name a few.”
“Steve, while in JOSHUA, was the most powerful singer in L.A. I feel bad for the bands that opened for us, like Quiet Riot, Great White, members from Motley Crue, and Poison, Dokken, Black ‘n Blue, Redbone, Warrant, Ratt, and so many more bands that just did NOT have the vocal power Stephen sang with us….He is so sorry, he ran to do his own project after the album came out. He came to my home and apologize to me, and ask for forgiveness, knowing we were offered a major record deal on A & M records. The label demanded that Steve was also in the band, but he refused. Of course I forgave him, as I knew God saved me from something that was going to hurt me.” (Joshua Perahia, 2011)
Following his time with Joshua, Stef Fontaine worked with various other bands, such as ‘Outcast’ and ‘Blind Date’. In 1984 he did some demos with ‘Warlord‘ for their album And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun… He declined to join the band at the time, but the 2 tracks he sang on appeared on the 2016 CD reissue.
In mid 1986 he auditioned for, and joined Uriah Heep. He sang for Heep on a North American tour in the fall that year. Fontaine admitted that he was much less familiar with the band’s older material, but was a fan of their ’80s material, in particular Equator, which was the album the band was still playing a number of songs from when he joined.
“I loved the Equator record with a passion. For some reason very few people bought that, but it’s my favorite Uriah Heep record. I like it better than Abominog.” (Fontaine, 2001)
However, by the end of that tour, the band felt Stef wasn’t working out, and left him behind. Though nothing official exists, there are a few live recordings and some video footage with Fontaine from this period.
“Good rock singer, warped sense of humour (I got on really well with the guy), but he had ‘Manson’ eyes.” (Phil Lanzon, 1997)
The singer returned to forming new bands, notably ‘Ringleader’, who released the LP If Licks Could Kill in 1989, on Statue Records. Fontaine co-wrote on all of the tracks here, and the album was co-produced by keyboard player Geoff Emery (fomerly of Rod Evan’s Deep Purple, 1980). He was invovled with the short lived band ‘Hype’. His next project was ‘Dirty World’, which included (guitarist) Brad Wilson and (drummer) Marc Droubay (Survivor). This band recorded demos and played a few shows, but again, nothing officially released.
“Stef lived a great life with lots of shows, fans and wild nights in So Cal….Being an artist with Stef’s talent is a mixed blessing because of the drama. Your life is a hurricane.” (Brad Wilson, 2019)
“Stef was or is known as the ‘Steve Perry of Redondo Beach’, actually the guy also has a 4 octave range and an ability to go hard gravel to soft and pretty.” ( Eddie St James, 2009)
Soon after he worked with guitarist Eddie St James, which Eddie recalled in his post about Fontaine:
“Here’s an old photo of the „Super Group“ we tried to pull together back in 91, featuring Stephen (Steve) Fontaine (vocals) / Marc Droubay- of Survivor, „Eye Of The Tiger“ (drums) / Wayne Hutsell (bass) and myself (guitar). The project was short lived but the memories live on for me- unfortunately we never recored anything, although I had tape recordings of the rehearsals but they went missing long ago. One funny story, we did all original music (with the exception of 2 songs: “Respect”-Aretha Franklin and “Purple Haze” -Jimi Hendrix). We did a blistering cover of „Purple Haze“ and Steff just hated that song because of the vocal style, so we told him just sing it like Aretha (he was a huge fan of hers) and the song turned out incredible. We talked about re-doing „Eye Of The Tiger“ but I said it wont work without a keyboard player- which we didn’t have and we weren’t interested in turning into a synth driven pop band.
Rest easy dear friend and God’s speed.“
Throughout the ’90s he also formed a few tribute projects, such as ‘Majestic’, a tribute to Journey, as well as a Deep Purple/Rainbow tribute act, called ‘Burn’,
Following the short-lived ‘Nightmare Carnival’ band, Fontaine hooked up with guitarist Ron Sachs to form ‘Heartache City’. This band released one self-titled album (CD) in 2001, on the STS label. This album did get some attention among fans of the singer, and Heartache City did get some publicity at the time.
Following Heartache City, Stef went on to do various things, including a one-off gig with guitarist Iain Ashley Hersey (RIP), and shows with guitarist Sandro Eristavi and the band Black Pearl.
The last album that Fontaine sang on was 2015’s Out There…Again, which was with former bandmates, from his Arizona days, with bands such as ‘Alien’. Fontaine sang on the album, which consisted of songs the band re-worked from their previous 2 albums, and added in a few more, notably covers of Uriah Heep’s “Stealin” and Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin'”.
In later years Stef was always trying to get together new projects, and work on his ‘comeback’. He had reconnected with former bandmate Joshua Perahia, and spoke positively about some of his experiences over the years. At one point he had informed me he intended to do another Heartache City album, with a new line-up, as well as write his own autobiography, which – with his many stories, would’ve been entertaining. Sadly, there was nothing else released from Stef. In exchanges with him he was always enthusiastic and had ideas or plans on the go. Below is a few excerts from messages I received from him in 2020 , 2021….
“I am very excited to be in full swing with my passion . ‘Fontaine does Fogelberg!!’ A tribute to the late great Dan Fogelberg . One of the greatest soft rock voices of all time !! I will let you know when I’m ready to unveil . God bless!” (Oct, 2020)
Regrading Bob James of Montrose (Feb 2021) “I knew Bob . Laid back . Nice guy , great voice . In 1989 I met Montrose for the 2nd time In 15 years . This time I met his keyboard player after singing In a club in Marin county . His chick said I had one of the greatest voices she ever heard and that I should sing with Montrose . I auditioned, sang great, but during the break before getting the gig , I walked outside, behind the studio and proceeded to piss on Ronnie’s sacred Thunderbird convertible. It was completely dark and I accidentally pissed all over the side of car. He fired me before hiring me . (Ha ha) adds to my illustrious legend . I guess The Survivor gig was a much better and less fiercer affair but that story will have to wait for my autobiography, Stephen Fontaine’s Nightmare Carnival “tales of a fallen rock star “ I have so many Crazy stories that need to be told! But my story is going to have a great ending!! I ain’t done rocking yet buddy”
Steph, Stef, Steff : this is what Stephen Fontaine was often referred to, as the sbort form, so you’ll see if spelled differently. Fontaine once recalled that it was simply something a girlfriend started calling him way back and it stuck.
If you might have any stories or photos on Steph, drop me a note. I have more interviews and stories here to share in a longer story in the future.
*Photos used from Steph’s Facebook page. If you know who should be credited (photographer), let me know.
• NEW REMASTERED 2CD SET FEATURING ALL OF THE SURVIVING BBC SESSIONS RECORDED BY ATOMIC ROOSTER BETWEEN 1970 AND 1981.
• FEATURING TWO COMPLETE BBC RADIO ‘IN CONCERT’ PERFORMANCES.
• INCLUDES FIVE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS.
To be released August 28 on Esoteric.
Atomic Rooster was formed by former Crazy World Of Arthur Brown members Vincent Crane (organ, piano, keyboards) and Carl Palmer (drums) and recorded their eponymous debut album in 1970 with Nick Graham (bass, vocals & flute), but the band soon splintered with Graham leaving to join Skin Alley. He was replaced by John Du Cann on guitar and vocals.
When Carl Palmer departed to join Emerson Lake And Palmer, Paul Hammond replaced him. This line-up recorded the successful hit singles ‘Tomorrow Night’ and ‘Devil’s Answer’ and the album ‘Death Walks Behind You’ in 1971.
Later that year, vocalist Pete French was added to the line-up for the album ‘In Hearing Of Atomic Rooster’. In 1972, after the departure of John Du Cann and Paul Hammond, new guitarist Steve Bolton, drummer Ric Parnell and vocalist Chris Farlowe joined the band.
Following a further two albums, the band dissolved. In 1980 Crane, Du Cann and Hammond came together once more following the release of a new studio album. However, by 1982 this line-up also came to an end.
Between 1970 and 1981 Atomic Rooster recorded a series of wonderful sessions for BBC Radio 1 and made two ‘In Concert’ appearances. This new 2CD set includes all of the surviving Atomic Rooster recordings in the BBC archives, including a previously unreleased performance for The John Peel Sunday Concert from January 1971, the complete ‘In Concert’ performance from July 1972 and the full session for The Friday Rock Show in November 1981. With the discovery of this previously unreleased material and all tracks newly remastered, ‘Friday The 13th’ is the definitive collection of Atomic Rooster BBC recordings.
With the incredible response to the brand-new studio album ‘Rev Your Engines’, we wanted to keep the momentum rolling with a live album packed with the classic TEAZE tracks fans know and love!
For the first time in North America, we’re bringing you Live at Liège all the way from Belgium! Featuring unforgettable live performances of fan favorites including “Heartless World,” “Young and Reckless,” “On The Loose,” and more.
🎸 Classic TEAZE hits performed live ✍️ Limited Autographed Bundles Available ⚡ Only 50 Signed Copies!
Don’t miss your chance to own this incredible live release and a piece of TEAZE history.
Ken Hensley’s final studio album, completed in 2020 and never released. A deeply personal and beautifully realised final chapter in his musical journey.
Legendary British musician/songwriter, Ken Hensley passed away in November of 2020, he’d left a massive wealth of classic rock, largely the 13 studio albums he made as part of Uriah Heep, numerous solo albums, as well as various other pre & post Heep bands and projects like The Gods, Toe Fat, Weed,Head Machine, and later Blackfoot. Throughout his career Ken was the main songwriter (in most cases), as well as keyboardist, slide guitar player, lead and/or backing vocalist. His last album My Book Of Answerswas recorded in 2020, but not released until 2021. But in his last few interviews Ken mentioned having recorded another album – something different, something special. This album is now being prepared for release. A Little Closer won’t be a regular release, although it will be made available in multiple formats, but you can find out details and sign up to show your interest at the official website – https://www.kenhensley.co.uk/
The album includes nine classic Uriah Heep titles, selected by Ken, alongside three new compositions. Following its completion, Ken felt that his vocal performances on the record were among his best.
Ken Hensley (The Progressive Aspect, 2019) “I’ve just finished a new album that will be called A Little Closer, I think it will shock people, it’s an album I’ve been wanting to make for several years. BMG, my record company, have a box set planned for the 50th anniversary of Uriah Heep, but I wanted to give the fans something that they didn’t have already.
I suspect that my new album will be released sometime in the spring. This new album of mine I’m very pleased with. I’ve worked with Richard Evans (Peter Gabriel’s engineer and producer) and also with a Middle Eastern musician, whose name I can’t pronounce, who handled the arrangements and keyboards. It’s a really satisfying body of work that might upset the purists, but I wanted to do something different. It’s fairly under wraps because we don’t want to dilute the impact with leaking it. However, you’ll hear about it soon enough I hope.”
Ken Hensley (Eon Music, Oct 2020) “I finished an album last year with Richard Evans [‘A Little Closer’], and that will probably come out in the third quarter of next year. I’m not really sure; we’ve kept it low profile right now because of the fiftieth anniversary thing, and then because of the other album that will come out at the end of January. But it’s really a beautiful record, it’ll piss off a lot of purists, but it’s a record I’ve always wanted to make. ”
In 1992 APRIL WINE returned to performing live. I got to see the band at what was then called Route 66 in St Catharines. At the time, my friends and I bought tickets based on the name, and weren’t sure who was even in the band (it was billed as “original members”). The place was packed, the band was energetic and loud, and it was great to see Jim Clench in the band, who hadn’t been in it in ’84 when I first saw the band, featuring Myles Goodwyn, Jerry Mercer, Brian Greenway, and a new guitarist – Steve Segal. From then on I would see April Wine numerous times over the next few decades.
Soon after this ’92 show, a new album was announced, and eventually a single was being played on the radio in ’93. It was the ballad “If You Believe In Me”, that not only sounded like classic 80s April Wine, but it was a heavy guitar ballad that was easily likable and suited to radio . It was one of two songs credited to (or co-credited) to Canadian songwriters Todd Kennedy & Stewart Gray. Attitude contained 14 songs, And despite being a bit long (like most ’90s albums), it contained plenty of stand-out tracks, in particular rockers “Here’s Lookin At You Kid”, “Givin It, Takin It”, and “That’s Love”, as well as a few more good ballads like “Hour Of Need”, and “Can’t Take Another Night” (written by Brian Greenway & Jeff Nystrom), The album reached #19 on the Canadian charts, with 4 singles in the top 100; “If You Believe In Me” charting highest at #19. With Attitude, the band also made a couple of videos for airing on Canada’s MuchMusic.
Attitude was produced by Goodwyn along with Montreal producer George Lagios (RIP), who’d previously worked on albums by Pagliaro, Walter Rossi, and Teaze. This new album got a lot of Canadian press at the time, and those of us that were fans were please with it. The cover featured Goodwyn’s son. Originally only released on CD (and cassette), Unidisc issued Attitude on vinyl in 2022, but chopped off 4 songs!
The band had been signed to FRE (Flood-Ross Ent), and in 1994 the follow up album Frigate was released. This 2nd album would be a mix of new rock tracks, covers, and experimental cuts. Not as strong as Attitude, but Frigate offered some outstanding songs. The lead off rocker “Look Into The Sun” – one of the heaviest songs the band ever recorded, but as far as the originals here, that is the only real heavy rocker. Overall Frigate is a mix of originals, covers, and experimental cuts. After the outstanding opener comes one of 3 covers, Willie Dixon’s “I Just Wanna Make Love To You”, Traffic’s “I’m A Man”, and the band cover themselves with a new arrangement of “Tonite Is A Wonderful Time To Fall In Love”. Not sure why the band opted to do any of these. Assuming Myles liked his own song, originally from Stand Back, and wanted to re-work it, the fact that the original was a Top 10 hit 18 years earlier . “I’m A Man” isn’t bad; I prefer it to “I Just Wanna Make Love To You”, which although sounds a bit rockier and up to date, I am not as keen on (especially in comparison to the old Foghat version). There’s also a trio of ballads, “Whatever It Takes” (credited to Brian Greenway & Goodwyn), “If I Was A Stranger” (written by members of the band CRUISER), as well as “Hard To Believe”. The ballads are the better ones here, though this album could’ve used another rocker or 2. Frigate ends with 2 very different tracks, the ’50s sounding “Keep On Rockin'” and the experimental “Mind Over Matter”, which features more keyboards…oddly after so many years I find this last song has grown on me a bit. I don’t recall the band playing much from this album at the time, aside from the new arrangement of “Tonite Is A Wonderful Time…” and the cover of “I Just Wanna Make Love To You”, and I don’t think anything stayed in the setlist for very long. A fine album, but (again) I wasn’t so keen on the covers, and lack of rockers. Gotta wonder if this album was a bit hurried, coming out just a year after Attitude. It certainly didn’t seem to get either the push or the press at the time. And I don’t recall any videos from it.(?) Neither the album or the 3 singles charted in Canada.
It would be another seven years before the next April Wine album. During those years in between the band toured regularly, mainly in Canada. The band announced an album they intended to have out in 1999, but that wouldn’t happen until 2001 when Myles Goodwyn put together Civilian Records. This label would serve the next few April Wine albums on CD.
First was Back To The Mansion. It had been originally announced with the title of Deal With It, , but this was seen as negative, so they changed the title, and it came with a fitting cover. The band was now down to a 4-piece, opting to tone down the hard-rock sound, and let go of guitarist Steve Segal. Back To The Mansion featured less covers, and it included a couple of tracks written and sang by Brian Greenway. Barry Stock who is credited with ‘additional guitar’ is also co-credited on 2 tracks with Myles Goodwyn. The album’s lone cover version is the last track, a take of Simon & Garfunkel’s “I Am A Rock”, in which all 4 bandmembers share vocals. This album would be a more laid back and simpler production than Frigate, and to me, it’s the dark horse of the band’s catalogue. No big rockers here, not too many syrupy ballads, but just a lot of really good, enjoyable songs like “Won’t Go There”, “Paradise”, “I’ll Give You That”, “Looking For A Place (We’ve Never Been)”, and “Holiday”.
Following the release of Back To The Mansion, the band were looking for an additional player for live shows, and added Carl Dixon (Coney Hatch) to add guitar and keyboards where needed. The band’s live show would feature classics like “Electric Jewels”, “Victim For Your Love”, “Cum Hear The Band”, and “The Band Has Just Begun”, among the standard hits and concert favorites. These would all be included in the 2003 2CD release Greatest Hits Live 2003 . This featured 21 live tracks, plus 2 new studio tracks – “That’s Who I Am, This Is What I Do”, a rockier song that was performed live, as well as the softer “Strong Silent Type”. I preferred the latter, although both songs would’ve suited the Back To The Mansion album fine.
In late 2006, Roughly Speaking was released, and this would be the last studio album released as April Wine. Roughly Speaking features just 8 songs, 7 written by Myles Goodwyn, plus a cover of Willie Nelson’s “Night Life”. This one was another change of direction. It kinda feels like it might’ve started as a Myles’ solo project, as the band take on a blues rock sound. Recorded on 24-track, 2 inch tape, like they had decades before, and dropping any computerized, digital recording techniques, giving Roughly Speaking a nice vintage feel. This is another one in the catalog that is so different it has taken me years of warming up to it. Again, there’s some excellent tracks here such as “I’ve Had Enough For Now”, “I Am, I Am”, “You Don’t Even Know…”, and “Life Goes On”. A heavier guitar album than the previous 2; love the guitar sound throughout this. This one came out kind of quietly, and is now hard to find and pricy, if you do find it. Roughly Speaking also dropped the band’s signature logo.
The band continued to tour, with Jim Clench leaving the band in 2007, and Jerry Mercer would retire a few years later. Over the next few years April Wine changed drummers and bass players a few times, finally getting some stability with Richard Lanthier (bass, 2011) and Roy Nichol (drums, 2012) Myles Goodwyn would later record 3 solo albums before retiring in 2023. Goodwyn chose his own replacement in Marc Parent.
This post-reunion period is worth checking out, but I wish there was more to it. No new albums for 20 years now, very few archived releases, and no later reissues or vinyl issues of the albums from 1994-2007. Here’s hoping someone takes interest in getting proper reissues (including vinyl – with proper trackilistings), legit archived releases, any (possible?) outtakes….
The current line-up of April Wine has undergone a few major tours, last year opening for Uriah Heep, as well as BTO, and most recently were openers for Triumph’s 50th Anniversary North American tour. It’d be interesting to hear something new or live (official) from the band, as well.
Outsider Rock 