YES released their latest studio album ‘Mirror To The Sky’ in May 2023, and following an acclaimed US tour late last year, the band will return to the UK & Europe for ‘The Classic Tales of YES Tour 2024’. To coincide with this, they have launched a brand-new video for an edited version of the album’s epic title track, and you can watch that now here:
A new Limited 2 CD+Blu-ray Digipak edition of the album will also be released on the 5th April. This edition features the full album, plus the blu-ray including Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound & Instrumental Mixes of the album and is available to pre-order here: https://yes-band.lnk.to/MirrorToTheSky‘
The Classic Tales of YES Tour 2024’ will include many iconic tracks from the YES back-catalogue covering fifty-plus years. The tour will also include a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of ‘Tales from Topographic Oceans’ as well as music from their current album ‘Mirror To The Sky’. “We’re all excited to be bringing our show home to Europe and the UK!” says Steve Howe, “We’ve selected a new playlist of Yes music but with some firm favourites in there too, of course! To keep our performances fresh, we ‘now’ carry our own lights, so we can present a consistent show each night, designed for us by William Succuso …….. Looking forward to seeing you out there!”
“We are very much looking forward to the 2024 European leg of our YES Classic Tales Tour. Having recently completed the US, we are now really excited to bring that out to all our fans in the UK and Europe. It promises to be one of our most interesting sets to date, scanning through much of YES’s history and with some previously unheard pieces as well as music from our latest album, ‘Mirror To The Sky’. Bring it on and see you all out there!” Best, Geoff Downes.
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.
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!) .
German band LUCIFER’S FRIEND released their 2nd album in 1972 (’75 in the US & Canada). The band’s self-titled debut is often hailed as a proto-metal classic, lumped in alongside albums from Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep in that year, 1970. But, despite being not quite as ‘heavy’ or early metal, the band’s follow up album, with the odd title of Where The Groupies Killed The Blues is pretty impressive as well. Lucifer’s Friend would expand their sound, adding more piano, acoustic guitars, ballads, while using more instruments, such as keyboardist Peter Hecht on electric piano, moog, Hammond organ, mellotron, as well as being credited with string arrangements. Engineered by the legendary Conny Plank, and produced by the band and Herbert Hildebrandt (The Rattles, Randy Pie). Songs written by the band, along with some lyrics from another English musician – John O’Brian Docker (who also wrote for Randy Pie). An interesting cover by Klaus Witt (Witt Studio, Hamburg), with a strange photo of band members in some hippy party-type feast (or something! Anyone?); with the original German press coming in a gatefold cover, lyrics inside, and other prints being a single sleeve with a printed inner sleeve. Tracklist order also changed from Germany to North America editions.
The album itself featured the single “Hobo”, released in Germany & Spain, but more so it included such classics as the heavy “Prince Of Darkness” (highlighted by Peter Hesslein’s guitar soloing & Peter Hecht’s piano), as well as more proggy epics like “Mother”, the title song, and “Rose On The Vine”. Best known track here though has to be the ballad “Burning Ships” (nicely covered a few years back by Jason Kane & The Jive!). Hard to believe this wasn’t the single, just a great song and performance. Singer John Lawton stood out again throughout this album.
A shame this album never got a better deal or is seen by casual rock fans as a great album alongside the debut, but those of us who know the band dig this one. As the band went on making regular albums throughout the 70s they covered many other styles from jazz rock, fusion, prog, and pop. But Where The Groupies Killed The Blues remains a favorite for me.
John Lawton – lead vocals RIP, Peter Hesslein – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals, Peter Hecht – piano, Hammond organ, electric piano, moog, mellotron, Dieter Horns – fender bass, bass-fiddle RIP, Joachim Rietenbach – drums, percussion RIP
Emsalö Music’s (Finnish record company) Topi Salmi release the song “Cowbell King” as a digital single (mastered) on legendary Canadian drummer Corky Laing’s 76th birthday. Digital streaming links are out today – Spotify, YouTube, Apple etc..
Maria Hänninen, a singing multi-instrumentalist/songwriter, has admired the band Mountain @mountain2178 since she was young. Dreams came true when she and Mountain drummer Corky Laing got on stage in 2019 to perform a couple of Mountain’s hits live. Since then they have been doing collaborations, Maria also appears on Corky Laing’s latest solo album Finnish Sessions (2022) and she was also a soloist/guitarist/violinist on the Scandinavian tour in the spring of 2023 in the Corky Laing& The Bobos line-up. Maria’s hard rock band Mount Mary recently released their second album Diamonds Of A Fool, and it was a great honor to have Corky Laing guesting on percussions for a few songs. Corky himself is working on his new material for his next solo album as well.
“Cowbell King (Tribute to Corky Laing)” composition, arrangement: Maria Hänninen & Tony “TT” Helander words: Maria Hänninen -Vocals, guitars, bass, recording, mixing: Maria Hänninen -Drums, percussion : Tony “TT” Helander -Mastering: Petri Majuri
It came as a shock to fans when Tony Clarkin’s family announced his passing. Incredibly sad news. Tony had announced over the holidays that a medical issue forced the cancellation of the band’s upcoming tour, and that the band’s new album is set to be released this Friday! Sad that the album will be released without it’s main creative force their to see it. Tony Clarkin was the band’s co-founder (along with singer Bob Catley), he was guitarist, and wrote pretty much all of the band’s material put to tape since the 70s. Clarkin’s distinctive guitar sound, songs, and storytelling lyrics were what made Magnum a unique, and classic British band. Despite never finding success in North America, the band had a huge following throughout the rest of the world, and consistently released excellent albums, particularly since their reformation in the early 2000s.
Although I had heard of Magnum in the 80s, they didn’t play over here (beyond 1983 or so, I believe!?), and aside from “On A Storyteller’s Night”, I would’ve not heard anything of theirs’ on rock radio back in the day. It was 2009’s Into the Valley Of The Moonking that I received and I was immediately hooked and wanted to hear more! I’ve enjoyed every album since, and gone back to fill in he decades of great music I missed with albums like Kingdom Of Madness, Chase The Dragon, On A Storyteller’s Night, Wings Of Heaven, and post-2000’s Brand New Morning, Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow, and the Escape From Shadow Garden, as well as the awesome Wings Of Heaven Live . Magnum may not have had the success of many bands that broke big over here, but they are British rock royalty to me. A classic band that Tony Clarkin lead in recording some 23(+) studio albums. Currently listening to the band’s new album Here Comes The Rain, another classic Magnum album of Tony Clarkin songs.
Hell, Fire & Chaos – The Best Of British Rock & Metal is the title of the upcoming United States tour by two British Legends in the Rock and Metal genre
URIAH HEEP and SAXON.
With almost 50 studio albums combined and numerous live records, selling multi-millions, this tour will truly be THE BEST OF BRITISH ROCK AND METAL!
The tour is a 100% co-headline with both bands playing equal set lengths, with some cities Uriah Heep closing and others Saxon.
SAXON were formed in 1979 and became leaders in the NWOBHM movement alongside bands such as Iron Maiden and Def Leppard and inspiration to the likes of Metallica, Pantera, etc. Touring to support their 24th studio album Hell, Fire & Damnation, released on January 19th 2024, the band have continued to be at the top of their game throughout the years. Headlining many of the major rock festivals annually in Europe as well as an extensive touring commitment around the world, their massive and loyal fan base continues to grow and the band don’t look as though they are slowing down at any point soon. Their setlist will consist of all the classic tracks such as Wheels Of Steel, 747 (Strangers in the Night), Strong Arm of the Law, Power and the Glory, Denim and Leather.
URIAH HEEP are currently into their 54th year and have never stopped! With a 25 studio albums catalog, the band are touring to support their 2023 release Chaos & Colour that has had rave reviews from both fans and media alike worldwide. As part of the “Big Four” in the 70’s, which also included Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, Uriah Heep were pioneers in the hard rock field and an inspiration to many major touring and recording Artists still to this day. The band continue to tour around the world with 63 countries under their belt over the years. Having sold over 40 million records, fans old and new continue to flock to shows and festival appearances to experience the classic hits such as Easy Livin’, Gypsy, Stealin’, Sweet Lorraine and July Morning.
The Tour will take in the following cities with dates as follows:
Tuesday April 23rd Fort Lauderdale, FL – The Parker
Wednesday April 24th Tampa, FL – Hard Rock Event Center
Thursday April 25th Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live
Sunday April 28th Louisville, KY – Mercury Ballroom
Tuesday April 30th Morgantown, WV – The Metropolitan Theatre
Wednesday May 1st Pittsburgh, PA – Roxian Theatre
Thursday May 2nd Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak
Friday May 3rd Englewood, NJ – Bergen Performing Arts Center
Sunday May 5th Boston, MA – Citizens House of Blues
Tuesday May 7th Long Island, NY – Patchogue Theatre
Wednesday May 8th Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre
Friday May 10th Peekskill, NY – Paramount Hudson Valley Arts
Saturday May 11th Cleveland, OH – TempleLive at the Cleveland Masonic
Sunday May 12th Elkhart, IN – Lerner Theatre
Monday May 13th Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
Tuesday May 14th Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe
Thursday May 16th Marietta, OH – People’s Bank Theatre
Friday May 17th Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s
Saturday May 18th Joliet, IL – Rialto Square Theatre
Sunday May 19th St. Charles, IL – Arcada Theatre
Tuesday May 21st Nashville, IN – Brown County Music Center
Wednesday May 22nd Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater
Friday May 24th Springfield, MO – Gillioz Theatre
Saturday May 25th Wichita, KS – TempleLive at Scottish Rite Center
Wednesday May 29th Houston, TX – House Of Blues
Thursday May 30th San Antonio, TX – Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
Friday May 31st Dallas, TX – Glass Cactus
More Dates to be added!
Tickets are available via general on sale Friday January 12th through all usual ticket outlets.
VIP packages are also available consisting of a pre-show Meet & Greet with both bands together, Signed Photo of each band, Personal Photo Opportunities, Exclusive Merchandise Item from each band and a special VIP Tour Laminate.
British rock icons MAGNUM share “The Seventh Darkness”, a new digital single from their upcoming studio album, ‘Here Comes the Rain’, out January 12th, 2024 via Steamhammer / SPV. The track is accompanied by a new lyric video.
“The Seventh Darkness” includes an amazing brass sections courtesy of guest musicians Chris ‘BeeBe’ Aldridge (saxophone) and Nick Dewhurst (trumpet), which lend the song brilliance and shape.
Guitarist/songwriter Tony Clarkin: “The recordings were great fun, especially the moment when Chris’s sax took the lead and my guitar responded. A real highlight on this album!”
‘Here Comes The Rain’ will be released via CD + DVD, double vinyl LP, as a box set and for digital download, proving once again that classic rock music could hardly sound more atmospheric.
The album’s highly inspired artwork is once more designed by the great Rodney Matthews, who has already created a number of MAGNUM sleeves to support the band’s atmospherically dense music. Says Tony Clarkin: “The back cover features a kind of avian battalion in attack mode, which I think is a great allegory!”
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.
British bands URIAH HEEP and SAXON will be co-headlining a US tour throughout April, May and June of 2024. (Dates to be announced in a few weeks). Heep who released their 25th studio album, Chaos & Colour, in January (this year) and Saxon have a new album set to be released January 19 titledHell, Fire And Damnation.
Earlier this year Saxon released their 2nd album of cover songs titled More Inspirations, which included their rendition of Heep’s “Gypsy”. Guitarist Paul Quinn retired from touring, and Brian Tatler (Diamond Head). Heep played shows to commemorate their 50th anniversary last year, and recently finished a tour of Brazil, but haven’t featured Chaos & Colour songs in their show as of yet, so presumably 2024’s performances will see some of these great tracks performed. Prior to the US , Saxon and Heep, as well as Judas Priest, tour as the European Metal Masters.
Outsider Rock 