Canadian rocker Lee Aaron has released a new single/video from her upcoming album of covers Tattoo Me, to be released later this month. The new track is Lee’s take on Heart’s 1980 hit “Even It Up”, and it is excellent! Check it out below, and check out the previous video for “Tattoo”, originally by The 77s.
Also check out more details and ordering info in the video descriptions.
Canada’s CRASH KELLY has a new album coming in April titled Mix Tape Vol 1. It will be CRASH KELLY’S first release since 2008. Featuring guitarist/vocalist Sean Kelly (Lee Aaron, Coney Hatch) , Mix Tape Vol 1 features covers of classics by Alice Cooper, Ratt, Motley Crue, New York Dolls, Cheap Trick, and more, as well as 1 Crash Kelly original. The album is inspired by Sean’s best- selling book Don’t Call It Hair Metal : Art in the Excess of ‘80s Rock, (see links below)
You can check clips from Mix Tape on YouTube –
*For more info, tracklisting and pre-order: https://rockpapermerch.com/products/mixx-tape-v1-2024?_pos=2&_sid=05983e380&_ss=r
*For more on Sean’s latest book –https://ecwpress.com/products/dont-call-it-hair-metal-80s-rock
Niagara Falls’ HONEYMOON SUITE debuted in 1984 with the Q107 radio contest winning cut “New Girl Now”, which lead to a record deal and a highly successful debut album. The band followed that up with further successful albums The Big Prize (1986, produced by Bruce Fairbairn), Racing After Midnight (1988, produced by Ted Templeman), and 1991’s Monsters Under The Bed (co-produced w/ Paul Northfield). Following that run it would be a decade before another HMS album, and another after that! But the end of this week sees the release of Honeymoon Suite’s brand new studio album ‘Alive‘.
In this conversation I talked to guitarist/songwriter Derry Grehan about making the new album Alive, as well as the recent remix & reissue of the Clifton Hill album, what else he’s up to, and some of the band’s he grew up on. HMS is one of the first band’s I saw live, and growing up near the Falls was well aware of them – they broke out big right away, drawing instant comparisons to Loverboy (who had a similar early success with their debut LP), but after that string of 3-4 albums I moved on to other things, and wasn’t aware most of these guys aren’t still in the Falls (or so close), so we began with that….
How’d you how’d you end up in Nashville?
Well, I’ve been in Illinois, Central Illinois for 20 years. I moved from Toronto, to Illinois, where I have my house there. And I recently, about six months ago got another place in Nashville with my daughter, who’s a singer-songwriter as well. So I’m kind of biding my time between two places because I love Nashville. And I’ve been kind of commuting back and forth for a long time here working with people. So we just decided to get 2 places. But I’m kind of down here a little more than I’m a back in Illinois and hoping to relocate here permanently.
So you must have a lot of other things on the go other than just a new Honeymoon Suite stuff coming out?
Well, I always find things to do. I do some co writing with a few people, once in a while and work with my daughter, and I’ve been working on a solo record. And this Honeymoon Suite thing is there, it keeps me pretty busy as well. So there’s always something to do.
So the new album ‘Alive’, that’s coming out – It’s kind of been in the works for a few years, right? Like there’s been a few singles out since 2019.
Yeah, it has taken good three years probably since we started it. Probably three years ago, Johnnie and I started but we went to Nashville, to meet with our producer Mike Krompass, who was down here at the time. I reached out to him, see if you’d be interested in working with us. And he was, and we went to his place and started writing songs. And he said I want to produce produce your album. So lots of trips back and forth. And then COVID hit in what 2022. So Mike, moved to England at that time. So we were going back and forth to his place, his studio in England doing stuff, but then COVID hit we couldn’t travel anymore, so I guess what I’m saying is just everything got pushed back, you know, then it took longer. You know, the way it was.
So did you guys have all the songs or all the songs at that time when you started? Or was this kind of still adding?
No, not right away. But we wrote, we had a fair amount of them, but we also wrote a few along the way and developed them over, you know, a year or two.
I saw you guys out in Port Colborne a couple of years ago. 2019. with David Wilcox, and I think the new track was on the radio at the time, but I don’t think you guys played it.
No, we hadn’t put the songs in the show. We’re really careful about putting new material in the show. Although we love it, you know, people are there to hear the hits. And like with this new album, or our singles are really doing well, so we’ll probably put out a new song or two in the set…
Can you tell me a bit about how you and Johnnie, obviously you guys live pretty far apart so how you guys collaborate and get things together?
Yeah, you know, we we’ve lived here he’s been up in your area and I’ve been in Illinois for 20 years, but it hasn’t impeded us at all, you know, John and I, it’s been a long time since we live together or lived in the same place. We just, you know you got the internet now and everything’s recorded digitally and Pro Tools and all that. So if I have an idea, I’ll just send files to him. And we send stuff back and forth by the Internet. Once in a while, of course, we see each other a lot when we’re touring. because all the band guys- we all live in different places. When we tour, we all go to an airport and then meet up in the city and we hang out for a couple of days. And then sometimes we’ll get together on the road and bang some things out.
Can you tell me a bit about the songs, the singles, you guys got out like ‘Find What You’re Looking For’ and ‘Tell Me What You Want’ – what they’re about, and what how you guys came up with some of the ideas?
‘Find What You’re Looking For’, that was the first one that we wrote with Mike, and that was one of the first songs we recorded and finished. Mike had a lot to do with that; Mike’s a great producer and the sound around it’s classic Honeymoon Suite, but he made it sound not dated, he gave it a kind of a modern sound to the production but without alienating you know, the real sound of the band. ‘Tell Me What You Want’ is a good example of that. It’s kind of different for us. We tried some new kind of production techniques and sounds and I think it’s a cool song. What’s it about? ‘Tell me what you want’ – It’s I guess, when you’re in a relationship, sometimes you just can’t figure that other person out, whether it’s your girlfriend, or boyfriend or whatever, it’s like, I don’t get you, man. Like, I’m doing everything for you to me, tell me what you want. You know, it can be that old struggle. And then ‘Find What You’re Looking For’ is a track that I’ve had for years actually, and it was called something else, but I always loved the the verse in that song it was so heavy, we just didn’t have a great chorus. So eventually, we worked on that with Mike and we did come up with a really good chorus for it. And if you listen to the lyric, it’s really cool and find what you’re looking for – Grabbing and and don’t don’t give up.
The new one is ‘Alive’, the title track and I was watching that today and 2 things – I like that it’s short and to the point, punchy; all the songs are easily memorable. And also, you guys still play the – like with the video, you still use the falls in the background and a lot of local scenery…
We decided to go back to Niagara Falls and do the video for that just as a kind of a nod to our past. And if you remember – one of the first videos we did was ‘Burning In Love’, in Niagara Falls. So it was fun to go back to that same location, walk around with a camera crew and watch people look at us funny. And put Johnnie back in Niagara Falls. So I think it was really cool.
Do you guys have much of a hand in the album artwork or is that kind of brought in to you guys?
No, actually, Mike, our producer, he also has his own record label and his own team of people. They came up with the concept of the the guy on the front with the hat, cloud on his face. Mike actually presented that to us and and I was like, right away. I’m like ‘That’s great!’. Everybody thought that was cool. Say no more. You know. I like it, Yeah.
It’s a very different cover to me, you know. Like I love the ‘Clifton Hill’ cover with the classic shot of Clifton Hill from the bottom, and obviously the earlier covers, but yeah this is very different cover. It almost looks like something that I might expect from one of those prog bands or something but…
Yeah. Like Pink Floyd maybe a little bit. Yeah. But it’s very artsy and cool, but I think it goes with the music really well.
You also have the reissue of ‘Clifton Hill’ out(!?)
Well, that is a guy that we’ve been working with, actually does our merchandising called Greg Campbell. He’s run our web store for a long time. He does a lot of bigger bands. He’s done really well for us with our merch and our albums in Canada. He approached us and he’s just a fan of the band, and he always liked the Clifton Hill album. He has a relationship with a studio in Toronto; so he approached us with a proposal, he said ‘You know, I love the Clifton Hill album, would you guys be interested in re mixing it?’ And I said ‘for sure’ because the original one – It’s okay, but it could be better. So I gave him the tracks, the stems, and he mixed it and it’s amazing what they pulled out of there. You know, the engineer found tracks I forgot that I did. So I’m very happy with it.
Do you know where that picture came from? Was that just an archived photo on the cover?
Yeah, we actually..my wife and I did the artwork for that back then. Of course we call it ‘Clifton Hill‘ because we wanted something related to the Falls. And we actually got that from the Niagara Falls library, if I remember correctly. We found it in their archives looking for pictures of Clifton Hill, you know. And we asked them for permission to use it, and they did. So it was really cool because that’s the Clifton Hill that I remember growing up in the 70s. That’s what it looked like, it was really cool.
You said you’ve got a solo album you’re working on!?
Yes. So during COVID all us musicians had a lot of time on our hands, you know. So I would spend a lot of time in my studio just writing and playing guitar, which I do every day. And I started cataloging a lot of riffs and ideas. And a lot of things that I come up with weren’t really Honeymoon Suite they’re just more like heavier rock riffy kind of stuff. And it occurred to me that I would have probably enough to maybe do a little solo instrumental album, which I’ve always wanted to do, but I never had the time or the right tracks. So Yes – it’s almost finished, it’s going to be like 10 songs. It’s all guitar, no singing, just all instrumental. I’m playing everything on it, and I got some wicked drummers playing on the stuff, and some of it’s pretty heavy. And it’ll be coming out, probably in a couple of months.
Can I ask you what you grew up on listening to as far as bands. I know a lot of bands that came through and that but you know, you guys would have seen shows at Niagara Falls Convention Center and stuff like that back then, and in Buffalo.
For sure, well growing up in the Niagara Peninsula, like I grew up in St. Catharines. It actually was a great place because at that time in the 70s and early 80s – there’s so many bands playing in the clubs. You get all the cool bands from Toronto coming down – Triumph and Max Webster and all that. playing Uncle Sam’s you know locally and Montebello (Park) in St. Catharines. You’ve got these great recording bands coming down and then you had Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto and the Aud in Buffalo, Niagara Falls Convention Center – these huge venues just like an hour away. And so every band you wanted to see came through. So where I grew up on man like Deep Purple was my band – Ritchie Blackmore. I saw them with at the Aud. I saw Kiss and Bowie and Blue Oyster Cult. It was great area, a great time and that’s where I saw a lot of my bands that I love, you know!?
That’s cool. Actually my second show I ever saw was 1984 when I saw you guys opening for April Wine at the Kingswood (Music Theater).
Wow, early days, Awesome!
I remember because Corey Hart, there was big sign up that Corey Hart had cancelled. but we didn’t know who was going to be the band until you guys came on. But I don’t think the album was out at that time, I think we just knew you guys from the Q107 contest.
Yeah, right. So that’s what happened. A lot of things were going moving really fast then, and I remember Corey had to cancel some shows. So they just called us up and asked us ‘do you guys want to drive eight hours down and open up for April Wine?’ Hell Yeah! You know, we would play anywhere and everywhere.
Did you keep a lot of stuff growing up – as far as albums and stuff, like buy a lot of stuff and still because I see the album like Clifton Hill came out on limited vinyl reissue and that as well.
Yeah, I wish I knew that vinyl was going to come back like it did man like I wish I kept my records. I had tons of them. But you know, moving from place to place – those damn things are heavy and I had milk cartons full of great records. I wish I’d kept them all but I gave them away or I traded them in, you know and now that I have a turntable and I’m back into vinyl, I’m rebuilding my my collection. So the only thing I kept was about 60 Purple albums. Is it Honeymoon Suite ones.
What’s your favorite Deep Purple albums?
Well, you know, Machine Head was a classic. And then the first one with Coverdale and Hughes – Burn, that’s another classic. Made In Japan, man wore that one out. Love that!
So Purple was your number one band grown up?, anything else as far as guitar players or favorite albums?
Well, sure, I mean, Ritchie Blackmore! Early Santana. Yeah. You know, Alice Cooper, Grand Funk. Anything that was rock and heavy I love.
LINKS:
https://honeymoonsuiteband.com
https://www.facebook.com/DerryGrehan1
Canada’s own STRIKER has a new album out this week, titled ‘Ultrapower‘, the Edmonton band’s 7th record. First off, love this cover-art by Al Perez/Ramone Sketch, awesome retro 80s drawing of machine/robot and cool colorful lettering drawn in. These guys are really more fast paced hard-rock /metal, but throw in elements of AOR/pop, prog-metal, and party type rock & anthems. The band’s latest single “Give It All” even features keys and saxophone, and those big ’80s backing vocals, making this one sound like it could be out of some lost ’80s action hero movie! For the most part this is really good, with standouts “Circle Of Evil” (the previous single, a Malmsteen inspired metal cut about secret societies, etc..), as well as ’80s styled arena rockers “Turn The Lights Out” , “City Calling” (influenced by 80s AOR & pop like Kenny Loggins and Toto) , and “Ready For Anything”. Most interesting track is the sorta progressive “Blood Magic”, with a few twists and changes, big guitar solos, with the band citing King Diamond as an influence here. Musically these guys pick up lots from ’80s bands like Dokken, Queensryche, Anthrax, as well as Judas Priest (the ’80s stuff)… Well worth checking out. A fun rocking album! *Check out the band bio below, as well as the 3 videos from Ultrapower, and links!
STRIKER:
Dan Cleary – Vocals
Tim Brown – Guitar
John Simon Fallon – Guitar
Pete Klassen – Bass
Jono Webster – Drums (album only)
Blending classic heavy metal, hard rock, and 80’s hair metal, Striker has been making shredtacular anthems since 2007. The band has toured multiple times across Europe and North America, chosen to open for Metallica in their hometown of Edmonton, AB, Canada along with many festival appearances that include 70,000 Tons of Metal, Wacken Open Air (Germany), Bang Your Head Festival (Germany), and more to add to the almost 1000 shows performed in their decade-plus career. The band has been honoured with multiple Best Album awards in their home country of Canada from the JUNO Awards(The Canadian equivalent to the American Grammy), Western Canadian Music Awards, and the Edmonton Music Awards.
Striker is kicking off 2024 with their seventh studio album “ULTRAPOWER”, which follows their Juno Award-winning self-released full-length “Play to Win” (2018) released on their label Record Breaking Records. The new album also features the band’s latest lineup addition of long-time friend and guitarist John Simon Fallon (The Order of Chaos). For the band’s seventh full-length, they teamed up with producer Josh Schroeder (Lorna Shore, Tallah, King 810), entering the studio in March 2023. With the band writing material since 2018, “ULTRAPOWER” is a collection of five years of Striker tinkering and exploring new avenues.
“ULTRAPOWER is the amalgamation of 5 years of writing and exploring music. With influences from AOR to Speed Metal, Hardcore to Hair Metal, Steely Dan to Deathcore, you name it, it made its way into the album. In the end with the help of Josh Schroeder’s guiding hand, we melted it all together to present something uniquely Striker. Lyrically we’ve stuck to the Striker tradition of writing montage songs for movies that don’t exist, songs about our spiraling serfdom, and lyrics about the evils that lurk in the shadows.” adds the band.
“ULTRAPOWER” follows Striker’s six studio albums Eyes in the Night (2010, Iron Kodex), Armed to The Teeth (2012, Napalm), City of Gold (2014, Napalm), Stand in the Fire (2016, Record Breaking), Striker (2017, Record Breaking), and Play to Win (2018, Record Breaking).
*CDs and digital downloads are available on Striker-Metal.com, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and CD Baby.
LINKS:
Striker-Metal.com | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Instagram | Soundcloud
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes | Big Cartel | CD Baby
HONEYMOON SUITE’s 2008 album Clifton Hill has been remixed to a vastly improved sound and and reissued, along with a limited number of colored vinyl in gatefold sleeve (w/CD), and bonus tracks! Titled Clifton Hill Revisited (Clifton Hill being a prime tourist location in Niagara Falls), with a slight change up of colors in the cover titles (and brighter), 2 added acoustic tracks, and signed copies through the band’s official merch page (see below!) .
LINKS:
https://honeymoonsuiteband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HMSLive
Canadian melodic rock band HONEYMOON SUITE have a new single from their upcoming studio album ‘Alive’ out February 12, 2024, internationally distributed by Frontiers Music Srl. The track is titled “Find What You’re Looking For” and is accompanied by a new music video. (see below)
‘Alive‘ features core band members, including Johnnie Dee (Lead Vocals), Derry Grehan (Guitars/Keyboards/Background Vocals), Dave Betts (Drums), Gary Lalonde (Bass), and Peter Nunn (Keyboards). The album is produced by notable Canadian producer Mike Krompass, whose songwriting and production credits include artists like Meghan Trainor, Steven Tyler, Theory of a Dead Man and Smash Mouth. His expertise combined with the bands celebrated melodic rock, powerful vocals and memorable guitar riffs, is sure to make this a timeless record of unforgettable rock anthems.
Pre-order Alive HERE.
HONEYMOON SUITE was originally formed in 1981 by lead vocalist and guitarist Johnnie Dee from Niagara Falls, Ontario. Following the departure of the original lead guitarist, Derry Grehan, also from the Niagara Falls area, joined the band. Johnnie and Derry decided to re-build the band at that point and recruited Dave Betts on drums, Ray Coburn on keys, and Gary Lalonde on bass. They hit the road hard playing 6 six nights a week and writing songs with the hope of scoring a record deal.
In 1983, the band entered a demo of “New Girl Now” to a homegrown contest put on by Toronto rock station Q107. They won that year and this led to a multi album deal with WEA Canada after being signed by Bob Roper.
The band recorded their debut self titled album which was released in July, 1984. The album was an instant success, and with the help of massive airplay, several videos on MTV and MuchMusic, it went on to sell over 300,000 units in Canada alone.
Since their debut release, HONEYMOON SUITE has released a total of seven studio albums with over 1 million units sold worldwide driven by the success of a string of hit singles such as “New Girl Now”, “Burning In Love”, “Wave Babies”, “Stay In the Light”, “Feel It Again” and “What Does It Take”, to name a few.
The band has won numerous awards including a Canadian Juno for group of year in 1986, triple platinum sales in Canada with the first 3 albums, and platinum sales for the greatest hits cd ‘The Singles’, released in 1989. They also received an award in June, 2015 for 100,000 + performances on Canadian radio for “Burning In Love”, “New Girl Now”, “Wave Babies” and “What Does It Take”
HONEYMOON SUITE has also enjoyed many of their songs being placed in film and TV shows such as Miami Vice and Bones, and movie’s such as Lethal Weapon and One Crazy Summer.
During the 1990’s, the band went through several lineup changes, but in the early 2000’s, the original lineup of Johnnie, Derry, Gary and Dave was re-formed, along with the addition of keyboard player Peter Nunn, and is still intact to this day.
Fast forward to 2020. Derry & Johnnie, armed with a surplus of new original songs, reached out to fellow Canadian producer/songwriter MIke Krompass based in Nashville, TN. Mike, a long-time fan, was all in to co-write and produce a new HONEYMOON SUITE album for his new record label. They got to work and before long, they were joined by Dave, Gary and Peter cutting bed tracks for studio album number eight.
The first single, “Tell Me What You Want” was released in October of 2019 along with a groundbreaking new video and response was immediate from fans and radio alike.
A second single called “Find What You’re Looking For” was released in June, 2020.
The song was an immediate hit on AOR Rock Radio in Canada, charting in the Billboard Top 30, the first time in 19 years for HONEYMOON SUITE!
The band are excited for their upcoming February release and with no sign of slowing down, HONEYMOON SUITE plan to continue to create new music and tour year round thanks to a legion of loyal fans.
‘Alive‘ Track List:
1. Alive
2. Find What You’re Looking For
3. Done Doin’ Me
4. Not Afraid To Fall
5. Tell Me What You Want
6. Give It All
7. Love Comes
8. Broken
9. Livin’ Out Loud
10. Doesn’t Feel That Way
HONEYMOON SUITE:
Johnnie Dee – lead vocals
Derry Grehan – guitars / keyboards / backing vocals
Dave Betts – drums
Gary Lalonde – bass
Peter Nunn – keyboards
LINKS:
https://honeymoonsuiteband.com/
April Wine’s 1984 album Animal Grace was the band’s final album as the ‘classic’ 5-piece line-up. The band broke up after a farewell tour following Animal Grace’s release. The album saw a couple of singles, but clearly the band was not supporting it, playing only 1 song from it in their live set. Animal Grace would also be the first April Wine album cover not to be designed by Aquarius Records’ Bob Lemm – who had designed pretty much every cover since 1973, nor would it feature the band’s logo that had been used on every release since 1978. Instead American designer John O’Brien was given the task to create the follow up to 1982’s Powerplay. Like every April Wine cover, it was a completely new design, and new look, suitable for the times.. John O’Brien has done numerous album covers throughout his career, notably for Tina Turner, Billy Squier, and Great White’s 2 biggest releases. In this exchange John details coming up with and creating the cover for Animal Grace, as well as his background, and touches on a few other covers he did. I’ve included a few of John’s other covers, as well as links to his work at the end.
How did you get in to album cover art design? Can you give a bit of your background?
Growing up I always had a love for Album Cover art and music, it seemed to be the perfect creative vehicle – visual and sonic delivery, it stimulated my senses. I graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 1981 with a Masters in Art, with Design focus. I freelanced at various design studios that specialized in entertainment in Los Angles my last year of school, and continued up to1983 after graduation. After working and showing my portfolio for 2 years, I received a call from the Creative Director at EMI Records, Bill Burks that there was an opening at Capitol Records for a designer. He recommended me, I interviewed with the Art Director, Roy Kohara and received the position. From 1983-1989 I worked in the Art Department on all aspects of an assigned project, from Cover Deign, Advertising, Marketing to Promotional Materials. Depending on the specific project I was responsible for concepts, logo design, hiring outside illustrators, typographers and building the final mechanicals, as in those days they were built by hand.
Am I correct to assume you worked for Capitol Records (seeing most of your credits on Capitol), and is that how the April Wine cover came about?
Yes, from 1983-1989 as stated I worked on staff. After 1989 work with various labels. Being a staff designer projects required different approaches. Some had art attached, logos and cover art concepts supplied by the artist and management, others needed a full exploration.
I was assigned the project which needed a cover concept for April Wine with the title Animal Grace. From this point I was responsible for coming up with ideas to represent the concept for presentation to artists, management and marketing.
Were you familiar with the band and/or their music?
I had not previously followed the band but was aware of their music.
You are credited with design, and there are (2) art directors credited – Can you tell me how much of the whole album package was your design – back, front, lettering…?
I cannot recall what transpired at the time that 2 Art Directors were credited, perhaps one was on vacation and the other filled in for presentations and sign off of final art approval and budget as that was the process. As the designer on this specific project I was responsible for the creative, but I did not have direct contact with the band or management.
I was responsible for completing all packaging for the project (logo, cover, back cover, insert) as well as any campaign ads for marketing and poster. All layouts and final mechanicals were done by me in house at Capitol.
As almost all previous April Wine covers were designed by Aquarius’ Bob Lemm – who also designed their logo, is that why the logo (from the band’s previous 4 albums was not used?
There was no mandatory that a previous logo be utilized. I selected a bold font and introduced a fine line to reflect the nature of the art, without competing with the art. The cleaner logo created
did not battle the art work and maximized the visual impact of the artwork illustration.
Did you have much contact / input from the band (or specific members) management? and did you ever listen to the album?
On this project, I had no direct contact from the band or management. Communications filtered internally down from the Creative Director to Art Director to Designer.
Can you tell me a bit what inspired / influenced this cover piece, and how it was achieved?
While coming up with concepts I searched various illustration promotional pieces and periodicals as well, and found a captivating image by Marshall Arisman that fit the title with perfection. Bold and powerful, elegant and graceful, the image was compelling. At this point it was comped up with a few other ideas, but this was the strongest image.
You also did Billy Squier’s Hear & Now album. Recall much from creating that?
In this case, I was assigned the project and it had very definitive parameters. Art elements were supplied specifically and indicated for the cover. Billy and the Art Director, Tommy Steele
had a very clear concept of the desired look. The cover was built to specifications and I designed the rest of the package reflecting the look of the cover to follow the feel.
Any favorites and/or most successful album covers you’ve designed?
My favorite project was ‘Private Dancer’, by Tina Turner. I was going on vacation but cancelled it when the opportunity came up to work on this release. In this case I was involved with the Producer, John Carter and Management, Roger Davies on all aspects of the release. From coming up with the logo, all packaging including the double cover release – they needed one layout that worked with 2 separate cover images. I designed all domestic singles, advertising, marketing elements, standees, promotional items for over a year. A fantastic opportunity, amazing people… and Tina who had an undeniable presence that filled anywhere she was with the brightest light.
Another was the Great White project, ‘Once Bitten Twice Shy’ with Alan Niven. Another long inclusive creative project with many singles and advertising elements. A lot of fun with compelling visual elements with Alans inspiration.
Are you still creating any album covers? If not, what else have you been up to in the art world?
A few elaborate CD/DVD projects done for Alan Niven’s Tru-B-Dor Management a few years back, Storm of Perception and Chris Buck and The Big Horns. An album project for John Klages, Fabulous Twilight on Danbury Fair Records. A recently completed project for Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals), ‘Then And Now’. A fun project with a great musician and great management team. Hopefully a new one for Mark Farner’s American Band upcoming.
LINKS:
Select Company Overview: http://www.artministry.com
Music packaging on: https://www.discogs.com/artist/1841967-Artministry-Inc
A sad day for Canadian music with the passing of APRIL WINE founding member, guitarist, singer, and songwriter – Myles Goodwyn. This one hits hard because being Canadian, April Wine was one of the first bands I ever saw live, and the band was a regular on Canadian radio. The band was formed out east in 1969, relocated to Montreal and signed to Aquarius Records, where they would go on to be the label’s biggest band. By the time of the band’s third studio album, Electric Jewels, Goodwyn would be the sole remaining founding member, and would go on to guide the band to huge success, particularly in the early late 70s -80s with the albums First Glance, Harder…Faster, Nature Of The Beast and Powerplay. Throughout the 70s and 80s, Goodwyn wrote, sang, and produced a steady string of singles and hits for the band, even before the band became a hit in the US. Anyone growing up in Canada could not turn on the radio here without hearing an April Wine song at some point. Many of the band’s favorites still feature on FM radio here, whether it’s the early ones like “You Could Have Been A Lady” or late 70s-80s classics like “Say Hello”, “Just Between You And Me”, or the band’s epic take on Lorence Hud’s “Sign Of The Gypsy Queen”. Not to mention “Roller” , the band’s breakthrough US hit, which can still be heard not only on radio, but at arenas during hockey games (Junior & pro…). Being Canadian, if you grew up in the 70s or 80s — you had heard Myles with April Wine; the band played high schools and arenas across the country in the 70s, and was a staple of Canadian radio.
Earlier this year Myles announced his retirement from touring with the band and selected his own replacement (Marc Parent). In the last few years, Goodwyn recorded and released his own solo albums Myles Goodwyn and Friends Of The Blues (1 & 2) , as well as his 2016 autobiography Just Between You and Me. RIP Myles, a Canadian rock n roll legend.
Below are 10 classics April Wine tracks written and sang by Myles Goodwyn.
Roller
from the band’s 1978 breakthrough (US) single and album (First Glance).
Rock N Roll Is A Vicious Game
Also from First Glance. A classic April Wine number, once tributed to Bon Scott (AC/DC) ; nicely covered by Sebastien Bach of Skid Row.
Comin’ Right Down On Top Of Me – also from First Glance
Say Hello – from 1979’s Harder…Faster
Also from Harder…Faster
Just Between You And Me
From the band’s biggest album Nature Of The Beast
Sign Of The Gypsy Queen
Enough Is Enough
The first single from 1982’s Powerplay
Anything You Want You Want It
Also from Powerplay, a great opening number.
This Could Be The Right One
The first single and only track play played live from 1984’s Animal Grace.
Sons Of The Pioneers
Another single and great track from the underrated Animal Grace album. This would mark the end of the band’s most successful line-up and era.
Love Has Remembered Me
the hit single from the 1985 album Walking Through Fire
If You Believe In Me
In 1993 April Wine returned with the album Attitude, which was ful of Myles Goodwyn gems, and April Wine favorites.
Also from Attitude
Look Into The Sun
From 1994’s Frigate album. Perhaps the heaviest thing Myles and AW ever recorded. The best track on the album!
I’ll Give You That
From the band’s 2001 album Back To The Mansion.
CONEY HATCH will be doing a 40th anniversary show to celebrate the band’s 2nd album Outa Hand.
Released in July of 1983, Outa Hand was produced by Max Norman (Ozzy, Y & T, Ian Hunter). “First Time For Everything” was the hit single from the album, and it also featured favorites like “Don’t Say Make Me” (another track picked up by FM radio), “Some Like It Hot”, and “Shake It” (promo single & video)
*For Tickets – https://www.oakvillecentre.ca/whats-on/upcoming-events/coney-hatch/
Canadian rock writer Robert Lawson penned the rock biography Wheatfield Empire: The Listener’s Guide To The Guess Who . The band was Canada’s biggest in the late ’60s-early 70s, with a steady flow of hit singles and albums, before splitting in ’75. They were a huge impact on many acts in Canada and elsewhere, including Alice Cooper (the original), who searched out The Guess Who’s production company (Nimbus 9) to work with, in hopes of catching some of that single’ success. Wheatfield Empire includes interviews with key Guess Who figures like Burton Cummings, Dale Peterson, Donnie MacDougall, Bill Wallace, and numerous others in and connected to the band. * For more info on this book (which was released late in 2020) – check out the press info below and links. Robert Lawson has previously penned books on Nazareth and Cheap Trick.
Winnipeg’s The Guess Who are Canada’s original rock n’ roll superstars. But despite the band’s enduring popularity, no one has assembled a comprehensive history of their recording career…until now.
In exquisite detail, that serious fans will appreciate, Wheatfield Empire: The Listener’s Guide to The Guess Who goes through the band’s evolution, album by album and song by song. Nothing is left out. Wheatfield Empire covers the complete discography, singles chart action, radiobroadcasts and even a selection of unofficial live bootlegs. The book also discusses the solo careers of both frontman Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman.
Written in clear prose with a touch of humor, the book’s encyclopedic detail is supported with excerpts from first-hand interviews with band members and input from top authorities on the Canadian music industry.
Looking beyond the radio hits, Wheatfield Empire documents The Guess Who’s musical output with the loving attention they deserve as Canada’s first band to achieve major international success. This book is a must-have for any serious Guess Who fan.
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/thissideofthetracks/
Read A Chapter Of Robert Lawson’s Definitive New Guess Who Listener’s Guide Wheatfield Empire
Outsider Rock 