Tag Archives: new rock

THE FELL, featuring BILLY SHEEHAN, release new single


Strap in! The pulse of rock ‘n’ roll just got a major jolt. Modern rock supergroup THE FELL, featuring legendary bassist Billy Sheehan, multi-platinum producer Mike (K.) Krompass, and Australian vocal powerhouse Toby Rand, return with their electrifying new single “Killswitch,” a crushing, high-voltage anthem that melds the golden age of rock with a modern-day edge via streaming as of July 18, 2025. 

 

Watch for the video premier of “Killswitch” on July 30.

“Killswitch” will be available in Dolby Atmos mix via Apple/Amazon/Tidal on August 15. 

“Killswitch” is about reclaiming control, cutting off the noise, shutting down manipulation, and powering through chaos with conviction, says the band. It’s a rally cry for anyone who’s ever felt pushed to the edge. The track pulses with massive guitars, blistering bass, and bone-crushing drums, wrapped in a wall of sound that nods to the best of late ’80s and ’90s rock while punching hard with a polished modern edge. This is not nostalgia, this is evolution.

THE FELL’s powerhouse lineup features legendary bassist Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, David Lee Roth, Sons of Apollo), multi-platinum producer, songwriter, and guitar player Mike (K.) Krompass (Smash Mouth, Nelly Furtado, Everybody Loves an Outlaw, Dead Romantic), and vocal powerhouse Toby Rand (Rockstar: Supernova, Juke Kartel, Ashen Moon), whose dynamic voice soars over a backdrop of “Killswitch”’s grinding riffs and thunderous grooves. Sheehan delivers his signature low-end firepower with acrobatic flair, while Krompass’s massive guitar tones and razor-sharp production elevate the track to arena-sized proportions. Rounding out the lineup is elite session drummer Nick Chiarore (Dead Romantic), whose explosive drumming brings relentless precision and raw intensity. Chiarore’s chops can be heard on recordings with Slash and Steve Vai.

“Killswitch” will be available in Dolby Atmos mix via Apple/Amazon/Tidal on August 15. 

Additional singles, “Face Out” is being released on September 12th. Followed by “Trippin’” on October 24th, plus a new version of their past hit “Footprints” (with Toby on vocals) on November 28th. 

October 24th “The Killswitch EP” will be released in special packaging containing both CD and laser-etched LP, will feature 4 streaming singles plus a new version of “Dancin’ On A Glass Floor” that will remain exclusive to this release. A limited number of band signed deluxe editions will be available through their webstore. Watch for the announcement of record release shows in late October.

The album is released by Crown X Recordings/ BCMG Recordings. 

Stream “Killswitch” here: https://on.soundcloud.com/yyYyoK1Mo86MrgvDiC

Welcome to the next wave of rock. Welcome to THE FELL.

LINKS:

Website- www.thefellmusic.com 

FB- https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Fell-Music/61576112354965/#

Instagram – @thefellmusic

Webstore – RockPaperMerch.com/collections/The-Fell 

Calgary’s WOODHAWK – new album, cross-Canada tour

After five years of anticipation, Calgary’s stoner groove rock trio Woodhawk announces they will be hitting the road this August through October for tour dates across Canada (dates listed below). The show dates are in support of their latest and third album, “Love Finds a Way,” released on June 6th of this year via Grand Hand Records. Fans can expect a high-energy set packed with new material and favorites from their discography that will be delivered with the raw power and passion.

Their most personal and powerful release to date, their new full-length album, “Love Finds a Way”, marks a turning point for Woodhawk.  Demonstrating their evolution from early stoner rock roots into something more emotionally complex while maintaining the infectious grooves and memorable hooks that have defined their sound.

“Love Finds a Way” explores themes of darkness, healing, and hope, while still delivering the infectious hooks and thunderous riffs fans have come to expect. With contributions from longtime collaborator Jesse Gander on synth, the band expands their sonic palette without losing their edge. The trio of Turner Midzain (guitar/vocals), Mike Badmington (bass), and Kevin Nelson (drums) poured five years of growth, struggle, and creative evolution into this record.

“We are over the moon to get this album out. Love Finds a Way is easily the hardest we have worked on an album to date. We poured our heart and soul into this one. It really is a journey of getting out of the darkness and into the light. Check in with your friends and loved ones. Hug the ones you love. Be nicer to each other. Love will always prevail and be stronger than anything else. After 10 years of being a band, I feel like we are still just getting started!” adds the band.

After a decade together, Woodhawk is proving they’re just getting started. “Love Finds a Way” is more than an album; it’s a statement of resilience, connection, and the enduring power of rock.

Recommended for fans of The Sword, Red Fang, and Thin Lizzy, the album is a dynamic journey from start to finish, balancing soft and heavy, slow and fast, light and dark.

L to R: Kevin Nelson (Drums), Turner Midzain (Vocals/ Guitar), Mike Badmington (Bass/ Vocals). Portrait by Mark Kowalchuk

Album order: https://woodhawk.bandcamp.com

Spotify – https://bit.ly/44veRdv

YouTube – Album Stream – https://youtu.be/Ceju8SRiVeA

*Woodhawk will be performing on day three of this year’s LOUD AS HELL OPEN AIR FESTIVAL on August 3rd in Drumheller, AB alongside Revocation, Cyborg Octopus, Beguiler, Thirteen Goats, Famous Strangers, and more! Full details on LAH can be found at www.loudashell.ca.

Show Dates: 
Aug 3 – Drumheller, AB – Loud As Hell Open Air
Aug 27 – Calgary, AB – Ship & Anchor
Aug 28 – Lethbridge, AB – The Owl Acoustic Lounge
Aug 29 – Regina, SK – The Exchange
Aug 30 – Winnipeg, MB – Side Stage
Sept 2 – Windsor – Phog Lounge
Sept 3 – Hamilton, ON – Club Absinthe
Sept 4 – Ottawa, ON – House of Targ
Sept 5 – Montreal – Turbo Haus
Sept 6 – Toronto, ON – The Monarch
Sept 7 – Kingston, ON – The Mansion
Sept 9 – Oshawa, ON – The Atria
Sept 10 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON – Soo Blaster
Sept 11 – Thunder Bay, ON – Black Pirates Pub
Sept 12 – Brandon, MB – The 40
Sept 13 – Saskatoon, SK – Black Cat Tavern
Sept 25 – Kelowna, BC- Jackknife Brewery
Sept 26 – Vancouver, BC – Green Auto
Sept 27 – Victoria, BC – Lucky Bar
Oct 10 – Red Deer, AB – The Vat
Oct 11 – Edmonton, AB – The Aviary

LINKS:
https://www.woodhawkriffs.com
https://www.instagram.com/woodhawkriffs
https://www.facebook.com/woodhawkriffs

CARL DIXON – Peaced Together, 6CD box set

“More than three years in the making, the 6CD box set will arrive in fans hands by October 24. You can pre-order NOW, with the full digital delivery due next month.”

PRE ORDER HERE

‘Peaced Together’ is a 6CD box set in a ‘fat-pack’ jewel case, limited to strictly 500 units worldwide and priced at $99 (including worldwide shipping).

Since 2022, Carl Dixon and MRC CEO Andrew McNeice have been swapping files, sourcing audio, digitizing tapes, reels and DATs and then starting over again with new improved files. JK Northrup has been involved all along the way, adding his thoughts and overseeing the remastering of every track.

Carl Dixon states: “PEACED TOGETHER is in part the realization for me of every artist’s dream; that people care about your work and want to share it with the world. It is, I hope, part of its charm that this project is based largely on music that has never gone through the stages of refinement, polishing and presentation to the world in big-bucks album releases.
This collection consists of my unreleased musical works save one or two exceptions. It spans many years and veers across different styles and genres, some more fashionable now than others, but I’m pleased that I can hear elements of my true self throughout. Some of these works were rerecorded for inclusion in album projects but most remained known only to me and to those who helped make them.
I am delighted to now have these many “hidden gems” released out into the wide world by Andrew McNeice and MelodicRock Classics. I hope they bring a measure of joy to all who choose to spend time listening. Rock on wit’ ya bad selves!”
~ CD. 2025

Carl Dixon is of course the world renowned Canadian guitarist, singer and songwriter, who has been fronting CONEY HATCH since 1981 as well as releasing 6 solo albums and writing with a whole host of chart topping artists along the way.

The 6CD set will be broken up into the following categories:
Disc 1 – Anthems Volume 1
Disc 2 – Anthems Volume 2
Disc 3 – More Rock & Some Roll
Disc 4 – The Softer Side
Disc 5 – A Little Centre of Left
Disc 6 – Tracks That Can’t Be Left Behind


These songs come from a variety of sources and eras, but it’s best left to Carl to expand on his earlier comment:

“The one hundred-plus tracks on ‘Peaced Together’ are evidence of a life spent in song writing whenever and however it could be done. From my earliest studio demos with my high school chums, to the most recent DAW creations from my home studio, it’s all expressing something that I thought needed to be said. We all write, sing and play our personalities through our art.
Here lies AOR Rock in various stages of development, sure, but there’s so much more in addition.
Some of the AOR stalwarts who appear on Peaced Together as co-writers and performers include Stan Meissner, Marc Ribler, Van Stephenson, Brett Walker, Taylor Rhodes, Kevin Savigar, Marc Ferrari, Steve Shelski, Jack Conrad and Steve Plunkett and that’s just Disc 1!
Harry Hess turns up in two songs we recorded during the run-up to the debut Harem Scarem album; that’s his unmistakable voice you hear on Too Much Paradise.
Songwriters are generally an affable, collaborative bunch and I learned much from all of my partners over the years. Special mention must go to Van Stephenson who was very kind and instructive in his gentle way when I was a greenhorn turning up in Nashville for the first time. Four of these songs are my collaborations with him.
Uniquely, eight tracks included here are collaborations with my father Ron Dixon, based on his poems and writings. Something of him endures through the music.
A VERY wide range of styles and approaches is heard on ‘Peaced Together’. Nashville, New York, L.A., San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Toronto and smaller communities; I travelled far and wide to meet great people and make these songs.
There’s lots of rock as you might expect with my history but also pop, blues, country and funk. Sometimes they were just for fun, sometimes it was like trying on a stylish hat to see if it looked good on me. I’m proud of all of these tracks, else I would not have put them out on display like this.
It’s crazy to me that we haven’t emptied the cupboards to make this collection.”


All pre-orders will receive the complete audio package well in advance of the physical delivery, and is the only way to guarantee a copy of this amazing set of songs in a one-off pressing.
It’s hoped most regular MRC retailers will carry copies of the set, but pre-order here to be guaranteed and get the full advance audio delivered soon.

The full track listing is as follows:

DISC 1
01. Buried Alive 3:18
02. Walk Through The Fire (Demo) 3:50
03. Cloud Of Love 5:16
04. Good Time To Be Bad 3:35
05. Don’t You See 3:20
06. I Believe In Angels 3:59
07. Love Strikes (Demo) 4.00
08. Edge Of A Heartbreak 3:41
09. Hold Your Fire 3:06
10. Kid Blue 3:21
11. Leap Of Faith 4:20
12. Love’s Gonna Take Some Time 3:18
13. Hot Streak Gone Cold (Demo) 3:35
14. She’s A Touch Like You 4:05
15. If Love Could See Me Now 3:44
16. Until The Dawn 4:13
17. Hard To Leave 4:03
18. All I Want 3:56
19. Fight For Your Love (vocal Jimmy Lawrence) 3:50

DISC 2
01. Fuel For The Fire 3:52
02. Against The Night (Demo) 3:51
03. Fools Paradise 3:03
04. Goodbye To A Good Thing 3:36
05. From Here On 4:51
06. Come My Way 3:39
07. Might Have Been 2:59
08. Here Comes Trouble 3:42
09. Taste Of Love (Demo) 4:33
10. Up To No Good 4:03
11. Animal Attraction 3:46
12. Bad To The Bone (vocal Andrew Elt) 4:12
13. Bad Seed 3:33
14. No Middle Ground 4:42
15. Shadow (Demo) 4:05
16. Magic Happens 3:54
17. Treacherous Emotions (Demo) 3:49
18. To The Love 4:13
19. I’m Rattled 2:39

DISC 3
01. A Fool in Love 3:30
02. Giving Up The Ghost 4:25
03. Too Much Paradise (vocal Harry Hess) 4:05
04. Across the Great Divide (Demo) 5:51
05. Knee Highs 5:38
06. To Fall In Love 3:18
07. Old Testament Rock 3:11
08. Don’t Walk Away Dreaming 4:35
09. Trust Me 4:09
10. Hot Florida Sunshine 4:55
11. Busted (Demo) 3:48
12. Illumination 3:49
13. Around and Around 3:22
14. Little Dancing Queen 3:58
15. I Know How to Treat a Lady (vocal Jimmy Lawrence) 3:42
16. Little Dreamer 3:58
17. Only a Fool 3:50

DISC 4
01. Can I Love You 3:34
02. Younger Generation 5:09
03. Where Do I Begin 4:06
04. Dreams Gone 2:25
05. Easy Words 3:59
06. Don’t Disappoint Me 2:58
07. Don’t Turn Out The Light 3:39
08. Song From The Island 3:04
09. Goodbye Eyes 4:59
10. Might Still Be in Love 3:15
11. Just Because 3.42
12. How’s Your World Spinning 3:55
13. Tell Her I Called 3:24
14. Green Diamond 3:00
15. Until The Dawn 3:57
16. Same Moon Shining 2:56
17. Thought It Would Be Fun (Demo) 3.49

DISC 5
01. Can’t Lose (What You Never Had) 4:17
02. Just a Few More Hours 3:08
03. Waiting In The Wings 3:27
04. Jacob & The Pig 3:39
05. That’s Right 3:11
06. Seven Day World 3:23
07. Angel On Main Street 2:50
08. Get Whatcha Wanna 3:24
09. Missing You 3:56
10. I Want You 3:53
11. Showtime 3:33
12. Stand Together (Female Vocal Jessica Benoit) 4:26
13. It Is What It Is 4:01
14. Was Your Heart Broken 4:03
15. Strange Way To Live 4:05
16. Keep Your Control 4:04
17. Behind the Open Door (Demo) 5:44

DISC 6
01. Together Takes Us Any Place 2:46
02. Make Up Your Mind 3:05
03. So Much Love 4:01
04. When I Remember 4:19
05. By My Side 3:17
06. Look For Me In Dreamland 2.53
07. It’s A Wonder 2:26
08. Just A Girl I Used To Know 3:35
09. She Breaks Your Heart 3.16
10. Strayed And Stolen 3.28
11. The Gizmo In My Head 2:24
12. Take It Out In Rock ‘n Roll 2:09
13. The Big 3-OH 3:14
14. Prisoner (with Jessica Palmer & Jessica Benoit) 3:31
15. Walk in Clouds 2:34
16. I’d Never Have Fallen 3:39
17. Theme from Tornado Hunters 0:45
18. Hendrix Tornado 0:53
19. The Blood Rises (Demo) 4:26

Carl here: – Some of these songs were written when I was this young!

HONEYMOON SUITE – announce new album

Honeymoon Suite have a new album coming out this summer. Check out the press info, ordering info, and videos below….

Legendary Canadian Rockers HONEYMOON SUITE Announce New Studio Album ‘Wake Me Up When the Sun Goes Down’ – Out July 25th via Frontiers Music Srl Pre-Order HERE

Famed Rockers HONEYMOON SUITE are proud to announce that their highly anticipated ninth studio album is dropping this summer! Entitled ‘Wake Me Up When the Sun Goes Down,’ this new full-length will be released via Frontiers Music Srl and hits on July 25, 2025.
As a follow-up to their electrifying 2024 release ‘Alive,’ ‘Wake Me Up…‘ marks another exciting chapter in the band’s storied career. Known for their infectious blend of melodic rock, powerful hooks, and captivating lyrics, this legendary Canadian band continues to honor its classic 80s-inspired sound while embracing contemporary production techniques. The new album showcases the group’s signature style — a fusion of hard-hitting rock energy and smooth, melodic anthems — but with an updated sonic twist, adding a modern touch that fans have come to expect after their previous successes.
Celebrating the announcement, HONEYMOON SUITE shares the album’s first single, “I Fly,” along with a new music video.
About the single, Derry Grehan comments:
“I had originally come in with the music that ended up becoming ‘I Fly.’  We had a great chorus, and we knew the track could be super cool if we finished it right. There were several re-writes over the course of a few months, but we finally hit on a really great verse and pre-chorus that rolled perfectly into the ‘I Fly’ chorus. I felt bad for Johnnie as Mike pushed him to his limits when cutting the vocal, but sometimes that’s what it takes, and the results speak for themselves. Johnnie is singing better than ever!
“The lyrics are metaphorical. They talk about being on a plane, taking off into a new life, and leaving a bad situation behind on the ground. Finding a new freedom and the strength it takes to change. It’s a very positive song, and I think a lot of people can relate.”

Wake Me Up When the Sun Goes Down‘ sees the band continuing their commitment to the rock genre, staying true to the powerful, melodic music that made them a household name in the 1980s. Fans can expect driving rhythms, soaring guitar solos courtesy of Derry Grehan, and the signature emotive vocals of lead singer Johnnie Dee. HONEYMOON SUITE’s earlier work, including iconic hits like “New Girl Now,” “Feel It Again,” and “Lethal Weapon,” established them as one of Canada’s most beloved rock bands, and their ability to evolve while keeping their classic sound intact continues to resonate with both old and new listeners alike.
Once again, the band has joined forces with acclaimed producer and songwriter Michael Krompass (Steven Tyler, Theory of a Dead Man, Smash Mouth), who helped shape the sound of their 2024 album ‘Alive.’ Krompass’s ability to blend the past and present is evident here, as the album resonates with the same nostalgic vibe that has defined HONEYMOON SUITE’s enduring legacy, while incorporating the latest production trends that elevate their sound to new heights.
Derry comments on ‘Wake Me Up When the Sun Goes Down‘:
“The new album actually came together pretty quickly compared to ‘Alive.’ We didn’t have a pandemic to deal with. Also, our producer, Mike Krompass, had moved back to Canada, and this put us all much closer together. We recorded most everything at Mike’s home studio outside of Toronto. A lot of the songs were written quickly by Johnnie, Mike, and me in the studio, and I think they have a very fresh, live sound with a sense of urgency and excitement. I had also brought in a few much older ideas that we re-worked and made into great new songs. The album is classic HONEYMOON SUITE. Every song is different and great in its own way. It’s an album that will grow on you the more you listen, and we think people are going to love it.”
From their self-titled debut album in 1985 to the success of ‘Racing After Midnight’ and ‘Monsters Under the Bed,’ HONEYMOON SUITE has maintained a loyal fan base, producing a series of chart-topping records that continue to define the rock genre. Their latest effort proves that, nearly four decades later, the band is still firing on all cylinders.
With this new album, HONEYMOON SUITE demonstrates their ability to stay relevant and energized in today’s music scene while still tapping into the timeless essence that made them a staple of the 80s rock era. The album delivers a collection of tracks brimming with both high-octane rockers and more introspective moments, all marked by the band’s trademark energy and musicianship. From its anthemic choruses to its emotive lyrics, ‘Wake Me Up When the Sun Goes Down‘ reaffirms that HONEYMOON SUITE remains one of rock’s most enduring and exciting acts, ever evolving but never straying from the heart of what made them legends.

Track List:
1. I Fly 2. Way of the World 3. Every Minute 4. Way Too Fast 5. Stay This Time 6. Crazy Life 7. Live On 8. Keep Our Love Alive 9. Unpredictable 10. Ever Leave You Lonely

pic – : Allan Zilkowski

HONEYMOON SUITE are: Johnnie Dee – lead vocals Derry Greham – guitars / keyboards / backing vocals Dave Betts – drums Gary Lalonde – bass Peter Nunn – keyboards

Pre-Order ‘Wake Me Up When the Sun Goes Down’ HERE

LINKS;

https://linktr.ee/honeymoonsuiteband

https://www.facebook.com/HMSLive

New Tracks – Jon Anderson, The Dead Daisies, Joe Holmes, Erja Lyytinen…

Latest batch of recommended new songs. These are not in any order, btw. But check them out, and check out the links added or in the song descriptions! A number of new releases to look forward to.

Erja Lyytinen – The Ring

The new single from Finland’s ‘Queen of the slide guitar’. “The Ring” is from her forthcoming album Smell The Roses (March 28), 3 years after her excellent, more blues-rock oriented Waiting For The Daylight record. https://erjalyytinen.com/

The Dead Daisies Crossroads

The newest single from The Dead Daisies (with John Corabi, thankfully!) is a cover of the Robert Johnson classic “Crossroads”. Looking forward to the next album Lookin’ For Trouble. https://thedeaddaisies.com/crossroads/

Suicide Star – Auntie Anxiety

The first single/video from the upcoming 2nd album by Southern Ontario hard rock band. No release date on their new album, to be titled Generation Doom. https://www.facebook.com/p/SuicidE-StaR-100069094088490/

Perfect Plan – Turn Up Your Radio

The latest single from Swedish melodic rock band’s new album Heart Of A Lion (out now). https://www.facebook.com/perfectplansweden

Alien – In The End We Fall

The newest single from Sweden’s Alien, a band that’s been going since the late 80s. Their new album is titled When Yesterday Comes Around, out this week. https://www.aliensweden.com/

Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks Roundabout (live)

A great version of the YES classic, from the new album Live – Perpetual Change. Out now. https://www.jonanderson.com/

Joe Holmes – The Deadfall

The new single from former Ozzy / Lizzy Borden / David Lee Roth guitarist. This track first appeared a few years ago, but here gets an official release. Reminds me of Robin Trower, but a bit darker. Features the vocals of Robert Locke. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083454667485

AVI ROSENFELD & MARCO BUONO – Danger Zone

From the latest album With A Feeling, by Israeli guitarist/ songwriter Avi Rosenfeld, along with German singer Marco Buono. https://avirosenfeld.bandcamp.com/album/with-a-feeling

Russ Ballard – Since You’ve Been Gone

The 4th single from legendary British songwriter RUSS Ballard’s (Argent) new double album. This is one he wrote & recorded, but was soon covered by numerous acts, notable Head East , and then Rainbow (who had a huge hit with it).

RUSS BALLARD: Songs From The Warehouse/ The Hits Rewired

RUSS BALLARD Announces New Double Album‘Songs From The Warehouse / The Hits Rewired’ Out April 25th Via Frontiers Music Srl.
Pre-Order HERE

Legendary singer/songwriter RUSS BALLARD has a new double album coming out. If you don’t recognize the name, chances are you know a few of his songs that were recorded by and made hits by others throughout the 70s and 80s (Rainbow, Three Dog Night, Ace Frehley, Kiss, Santana…) . Ballard was originally a member of ARGENT in the early 70s (“Liar”, “God Gave Rock and Roll To You”), and left to pursue a solo career, although to many he made name as a songwriter.

Ballard’s new album Songs From The Warehouse/ The Hits Rewired features 1 disc of new songs and 1 disc of his best known songs that were made famous by others.

The latest single is a new track “Resurrection”. Check it out below, as well as the previous 2 videos, and tracklisting.

Track List:

  • CD1 1. Resurrection 2. Courageous 3. Journey Man 4. The One Who Breathes Me 5. The Wild 6. Charlatan 7. Soul Music 8. Sleepwalking 9. Last Man Standing 10. Make Believe World 11. The Family Way 12. Fearless 13. The Last Amen
  • CD2 1. Since You’ve Been Gone 2. Winning 3. God Gave Rock And Roll To You 4. Voices 5. New York Groove 6. You Can Do Magic 7. Liar 8. I Know There’s Something Going On 9. I Surrender 10. No More The Fool 11. So You Win Again 12. Free Me 13. On The Rebound

https://russballardmusic.com/

BADFINGER: An interview with Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson has been part of the British rock scene since the late 60s, as a keyboard player / singer / songwriter. He is best known perhaps to classic rock fans as being part of the final BADFINGER line up that featured Pete Ham. The long lost album that Bob recorded as part of BADFINGER, Head First, was given a proper mix and release late late year, mainly due to the efforts of Bob. I recently had the privilege to interview Bob Jackson about the new Head First release, as well as touch on some of the other bands and recordings he was invoked in throughout the 70s.

If you haven’t checked out Head First yet, you are missing out on a fantastic & historic classic rock release! Check out my interview with Bob, as well as visit the links at the bottom.

Are you still active? I haven’t seen any shows or anything lately.

I’m not doing shows at the moment though. As you realize, the Head First thing kind of took more or less a year out of my time. So I dropped doing any shows. I’d still like to think I’ll do some in the future, but it really depends how the album goes really. I’m just waiting to see.

Can you kind of go through the circumstances of how you joined the band (?), because you joined to replace Pete and then you guys had a five piece for a bit and then Joey left before you guys made the album.

That’s right. First of all, Pete wasn’t there. I got this telegram saying, ‘would you like to come and audition?’ And I’d just come off the back of a tour with another band in the States. And I came home, I left the band, which I was with ROSS, and we just did a Clapton tour. And I came back, and got this telegram and it didn’t say who it was for, it just said ‘you’ve been recommended, would you like to come down to London and do an audition?’ So, I did. I went down there, found out it was Badfinger and I just jammed with the guys really. I didn’t know a lot of the album tracks they were talking about. So, I kind of was lucky enough to have the audition, as they say. And then we rehearsed for maybe two to three days, and then Pete showed up at the rehearsal room and it was a little strange. I’d not met him before, obviously, and the guys, it seemed, weren’t expecting him. That was my impression. Anyway, he watched for a little bit, listened and said it sounded great. And then he left, the four of them went out, leaving me with the roadie sitting there thinking, ‘Okay, where am I in all this now? What’s going to happen?’ They were about half an hour (whatever it was), and came back and basically said, well, Pete’s going to rejoin. He knows the sound of it.
And luckily, as I said, I was a bit nervous about the situation, but luckily they said, we want to keep you on, it sounded great! So that was it really. That’s how I kind of came to replace Pete. And then suddenly Pete was back. So then we did a British tour, and that went really well. We went down great. But at the end of the tour, Joey decided to leave. So that was that.

Did you get along with all the guys? Did you guys do much socializing outside of it, outside of the work?

Yeah. I socialized with them all, wherever I could. I was like the new boy, obviously. And yeah, I got on great with everyone. It was really good. Great atmosphere, great social atmosphere as well as a musical atmosphere.

Did you do any guitar work as far as on stage or demos or anything while you were in Badfinger?

No, not yet. Yes, I did, but not at that point.

I was just wondering about the dynamic when you guys became a four-piece again after Joey left, if the expectation was that you were going to be playing guitar on stage, when the band had gone on in that or…

Well, we really didn’t discuss… I mean, I suppose that would have been the obvious thing that I would have played maybe 50% guitar, 50% keyboard or something. But it never really came up because after the tour, it wasn’t that long, we suddenly got a call and it was a surprise call as well, saying that the band had to go back into Apple and start recording again. And this, as I’ve just said, that was a surprise to us all.
So, we didn’t really have time to think about the forward planning of would I play guitar, would I do…It was just all so kind of rushed and confusing. That’s probably how it would have panned out. I’m sure that I would have played some songs on guitar, some songs on keyboard, which was appropriate.

I guess the first songs from Head First that appeared, I have on a 1990 compilation called The Best of Badfinger Part Two. I’m curious how those came about, because obviously nothing was out at that time from the album.

Well, Warner’s decided that they wanted to put those tracks out. And, you know, as you say, not a complete album, but just three or four of them along with other tracks, ‘the best of’. I was kind of put out about that. I thought, ‘well this is ridiculous’. While I was delighted to see that something was happening, why not the whole album? And also, I had a thing about the legality of it – they didn’t own them as far as I was concerned, you know – the master recordings. But anyway, Warners being a big record company like that, they just did it, didn’t they!? They put it out. And so that was the first time that they appeared.

That must have caused, I guess, quite a bit of fan reaction as far as people kind of maybe got the ball rolling at that point to people, fans that wanted to hear the whole album then.

Well, I guess so. I mean, I think the album, from what I can gather from fans, from way back is that the Head First was always a bit of a holy grail. No one could find it. No one knew what was happening with it, least of all me. I’d inquired about it many times over the years, and I was always told that the tapes were missing from their place in the warehouse, and that they must have either been lost, misplaced, or stolen. And I think the public was the same. It was like, ‘what the hell’s happening with this?’ It was a bit of a mystery all round.
And over the years, many years, people were sort of saying, ‘well, what about this album?’ There was a demo going around, which was a demo that I had, and I eventually decided to release that on Snapper Records in 2000. I knew it was just a demo, but it was the best I could do, and I thought, if I don’t do this, nothing will ever come out. That was my feelings at the time.

Had you, Tom or Mike; did you guys ever discuss this album as far as eventually getting it, doing something with it?

Tommy and I did. I can’t remember talking to Mike too much about it. But of course, don’t forget, from quite early on, he was a resident in the States, so unless we rang up specifically to talk about something, I didn’t always see him. Tommy and I talked about the idea of it and said, ‘what ever happened to that’; because no one could find any evidence of the tapes and so on, and then, as I said, there was the argument about the ownership. But yeah, we never had a plan. We never knew what to do about it.

I want to talk about some of the songs, because the one thing that amazes me, and maybe it’s just the whole thing about Badfinger music in general, is that for the time and all the things going on within the band, it’s a very upbeat, very good-feeling album overall. You know!?

Well, it is on the surface, but if you kind of scratch away the veneer of it; the lyrics are pretty dark on a lot of the tracks.

Yeah, I get that from Tom’s songs.

But I know what you mean, yeah. It does have a kind of overall impression of being quite ‘up’.

The songs that you contributed and the songs that you wrote with Tom, how did they come about? Did you have any ideas kind of stored away already that you kind of brought in, or were these kind of all put together in those two weeks?

We didn’t bring anything in that was completed. Just about all the album was just put together from the time that we were told that the studio was being booked, which was about two or three weeks before having to go in. The only one that I’d done a bit of work on was a track of mine, “Turn Around”, which I’d got the guitar parts for it, and I hadn’t really got a lyric. So, I got some bits and bobs toward that. Tommy was saying ‘have you got any stuff already? Bring some stuff in along with the rest of us’. So, I brought that along and kind of wrote the lyric later, when we were in the situation to kind of reflect the position we were in.

And your tracks fit right in. I don’t know how much you guys discussed as far as the actual track listing, what the actual track listing would end up being, or the whole sequencing and that, but it’s well put together, the whole package as far as the flow of the songs and that.

Yeah, I think it’s much improved. I gave it a lot of thought, the track listing, because I didn’t have anything to do with the 2000 one, I arranged it business-wise, but I had nothing to do with the production or the track listing. And by the way, we as a band, when we were in Apple recording it, we never discussed the track listing. So, the track listing, the old bootleg or demo you’ll hear, it wasn’t a decision made by the band. It was just all thrown together because we were in such a rush. So yeah, I thought by changing that running order around a little bit for this release last year.

As far as anything else that was talked about – the album title and album cover …I don’t know how much input you guys had in the album covers back then.

Well, Tommy had this idea that he brought up in the studio about it being called “Head First”. I think that was toward the end of the sessions. I think we were in the studio for about two weeks, 11, 12 days, (something like that) and Tom came up with this Head First idea. It was supposed to be the analogy of the old circus thing that they used to do where the ringmaster would open the lion’s mouth and dare people to put their head in. It was really based around that, and that was like an analogy of us as a band with Stan Polley, we were dicing with death, we were dicing with a really bad situation and we were tempting fate, really. So that was all Tom’s idea. Of course, at the time of the recording. That’s all we had – a title! There was no cover art arranged. We did take some photos, but they were lost, unfortunately. I tracked the photographer down, but he had thrown them out years before.

Two things, who all was around at the time of the sessions other than you guys and the engineer and that? And did you ever actually meet Stan Polley?

No, I personally never met Stan. I don’t have any regrets about that. He was a very sort of unctuous, scheming kind of guy from everything I can gather. So no, I never met him. Who was around!? Well, Stan had sent in his kind of people. He’d sent a guy called Richard Duryea, which was his gopher-guy, who was doing his bidding. And he sent over two producers, Kerner and Wise, Kenny Kerner and Richard Wise. And Bill Collins would occasionally come to the studio. But that was kind of it, really.

What were you, your lyrics on the songs you contributed, what were you writing about? Is it just things that were going on within the band? Is that kind of what the theme was and everything written around the band stuff?

Yeah, absolutely! You’ll probably note that most Badfinger stuff, anything in the catalogue, most of it is autobiographical. It does relate to what people were going through at the time. And besides something like Mike’s things, which are a little bit lighter in their tone. Certainly stuff like Tommy’s “Mr. Manager” and “Rock and Roll Contract” and my “Turn Around” – all those lyrics are just kind of bemoaning the state we were in and what an awful situation it was. So yeah, very autobiographical.

With the 2000 release,it had the second CD of all those demos, are those from the same sessions or …

No, they weren’t from the same sessions. The story behind that is that I just wanted Head First to come out. And I couldn’t find the master tapes. So I thought, ‘well I’ll put this rough demo out that the engineer, Phil McDonald had done’. And because I realized myself that that was a little bit second rate, I arranged to have all these other demos from sort of around the period, but they were nothing to do with the recording at all. They weren’t prepared to record. But I included those as a kind of bonus to make up for the fact that the 2000 release wasn’t really the proper produced album. It wasn’t really finished. Strangely, since then, when I put out this other album, this last year, people said, ‘Can we have some more demos?’ And it’s like, ‘No guys, this is a proper album. You don’t get demos with it’. This is the proper release. I think people found that a bit confusing that we’d included demos first time round.
And then this time,- No demos, but that was just the way it was. I’ve explained that so many times to people. No, this is the proper mixed mastered album. The other one wasn’t. You got those freebies because it wasn’t completed then.

So these other tracks that made up disc two, you guys went in the studio at other times for stuff. And were these just other ideas that, I guess you just had on tape that we might not see again?

Yeah. They were all home demos from each of us that might have developed into a bigger thing, but they didn’t; they were just our own home demos, personal demos.

So there’s no finished tracks that were not included?

No.

Okay.

No. We didn’t, as I keep saying, we really didn’t have the time. We were rushed in against our better judgment. And we had to work very methodically, very workmanlike, to finish the project in time.
In those days, to go in for less than two weeks and come up with a finished album was ridiculous, especially for a band of Badfinger’s standing, you know!? But we really didn’t have any spare time.

In the 70s, it must have been for bands like Badfinger, probably with Ross (because those albums were done close together), Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath, a lot of the bands, you had to record albums, two within a year, within six or eight months apart, correct?

Yeah, sometimes. It depends on the situation and the contract. Normally, about nine months was a comfortable break, because in between then, you’d want to gig and tour, and then you’d probably want a bit of time off. So, yeah, about once every nine months would be normal, I suppose.

You guys all had a couple of songs on this album (each). Do you have anything that you really enjoyed as far as things that you played on, or were Pete’s or Tom’s songs or that?

I enjoyed it all. I don’t think I’ve got a particular favorite. I really enjoyed the whole process of recording, and I’m very proud now to look back and think what we were able to accomplish, considering that our heads were all over the place. We were depressed and worried about this and that, so I’m just proud of what we did.

Has this whole project kind of been, for you, if you can explain sort of the sense of achievement or whatever the term is for yourself, to finally have it out and have your name as part of the band, a finished product out, if you know what I mean?

Well, in a sense, that had happened in 2000, and people saw that I actually was with the band. I think I’ve been a bit invisible.
People didn’t know my name, and I wasn’t a particularly good self-promoter. I didn’t get involved in lots of forums, you know. I think from 2000, it was pretty clear that I was in the band. Then Dan Matovina brought a book out, which explained a bit more about how I’d been in the band. But as far as this release goes, yeah, I’m immensely fulfilled. I suppose that’s the word. Proud to have, after all this time, 50 years, man(!); after all this time to have found the tapes, got over the legal hurdles of getting the tapes out, and then kind of mixed and mastered them with my partner, Andy Nixon. We mixed and mastered them. So, yeah, it’s a great sense of achievement, you know. It’s probably hard to imagine, but I’ve literally been chasing it for 50 years. It isn’t one of those things where I’ve forgotten about it for 10 years. I’ve always been looking for these tapes, and ‘how can we get the proper thing out?’ I’d almost lost hope, really.

Well, I gotta say (I have the vinyl), the whole package, like I said in my review, it’s like a first-class package as far as what you would expect and what you’d hope for from something from that time.

Well, thank you for that. There was a lot of effort that went behind it all. So, yeah, I’m delighted you like it.

As far as the UK tour, did you guys save anything to tape during that tour, any shows or anything?

No, there’s never been any live recording found. That’s another Holy Grail. I’ve never come across anything, put it like that. And, again, I’ve been looking for it and asking fans over many years. No, nothing, as far as I know. Which is extraordinary, really, when you think about it. You think over the time of a tour, someone, a fan or someone would have taped something(!) But, no, apparently not. That would be something.

I listened to an interview with Joey not too long ago, and he talked about how the band tended to play album tracks because sometimes the hits were a little complicated to play because you had more tracks within the song than, you could reproduce.

Well, there’s a kind of truth in that. I think what he was probably getting at was that, particularly if there was keyboards like “Day After Day”, or “Come And Get It”, and those sort of things. Pete had played that in the past, but he rarely got off guitar to just play the piano. It wasn’t worth bringing a piano along just for a few songs. Which was why, when I joined, it was a really happy kind of amalgamation, I thought. And so did the guys seem to think that as well, because at last, there was me – an extra voice, and an extra keyboard, and potentially extra guitar. So, eventually, of course, we were able to kind of add those things. But, of course, by this time Joey had left. But yeah, there’s an element of truth in what he says there.

Was there anything in the live set while you were there that you particularly liked?

I can’t think of anything. It is 50 years ago! (lol)

I understand.

I’ve played a lot of songs since then. No, I can’t really think of anything. I thoroughly just, I remember really enjoying the tour. I know we had a good kind of buzz on stage. It felt good. We worked well as a unit. But I can’t pick anything out as a particular favourite.

In the aftermath of when the band broke up and Pete was gone, what did you kind of do, what was your next move?

Well, we were all in shock. So I don’t think we were making rational decisions. We just all stopped playing. We completely stopped. There was talk of me and Mike getting together. I went down and visited him, in Swansea, where he was living at that point. And we talked about getting a band together, it didn’t happen. Tommy and I talked about it, but it didn’t happen. So yeah, for a long time, at least six or nine months, I just didn’t do anything. I felt like I was having a bit of a nervous breakdown, to be honest. I think we all were, to some degree. It was a very dark time.

Yeah. Just for clarification, are you still in touch with Pete’s estate? His family?

Oh yeah. I’m in touch with all the estates; the Badfinger family, if you want.

So has the family had an input or an okay in everything that’s been done as far as the album release and that, and any other projects?

Yeah, they okayed it. I went to them just like I had in 2000 about the Snapper release. I went and said, ‘look, I think this would be a great idea. Will you give me permission to go forward with it?’ So yeah, they’re kept in touch, of course.

There was later formations of Badfinger that you weren’t involved in. Was there any kind of mention to you about that at the time? Or was it just kind of, I get the impression it was almost like a record company sticking the name to the guys.

At that particular point…I was doing something else anyway. And the way Tommy told it to me later was that Joey had rung him up and said that a couple of American guys had come around to his house and said, ‘we want to be your band and we can reform Badfinger’. So, they then called Tommy up, who kind of went over for a few months and decided to shop some new material around. So, yeah, he didn’t involve me and he didn’t involve Mike, the drummer either. But you’re kind of right, it really was at the behest of like a record thing more than anything else. They did do some live work, but it was more of a record thing.

Now, the next album I know that you did as far as anything was The Dodgers album. And that was kind of still in that pop-rock vein as far as Badfinger was… Can you tell me a bit about the making of that album? It didn’t last long other than one album and a single (before the album), right!?

Yeah, that’s right. Tom and I got together with a couple of guys. Island Records had a couple of people that they were promoting. And it was suggested, Island reached out to me and Tommy and said, ‘would you like to get together with these guys and see if it works?’ Because they kind of need someone else and they haven’t got a full band. So we got together and called it ‘The Dodgers’.
It was a little bit poppier than… Well, quite a lot poppier really than Badfinger had been. Badfinger was more of a rock-based thing. But nevertheless, we tried to do a good job with it. And I think when we first got together in the early days when Muck Winwood was producing, those were the best times. But then we then kind of got a deal. We left Island and got a deal with Polydor.
Then we did the album. So at that point, Tommy had gone, and I mean, the album was okay, I just didn’t think it reflected what we were as a live band. Because we were rockier live, but the production of that album is quite sort of poppy really. But we made it as good as we could.

Did you do much live shows with the Dodgers?

Oh yeah, we did quite a lot of live work,

The first thing that I have of you on vinyl is the Indian Summer album. Was that your first, the first band as far as recording while you do that? Or had you recorded anything previously?

No, that was my first recording, my first kind of pro band. And we got picked up by the same management as Black Sabbath. In fact, they weren’t even called Black Sabbath. That’s how long ago it was, they were called ‘Earth’. And we were signed up as Indians, some of them were signed up as Earth and then they changed their names. But yeah, that was my first kind of pro band. And very kind of reflecting the times, it was very progressive music, rock and lots of improvisation. Yeah, so that was my first thing.

And you guys had fairly good local success in that?

Yeah, we had a good following. And again, we always went down great. But it didn’t translate into record sales. The album didn’t sell really. And we were left really not being able to live off the band. We just couldn’t make it work.

Did you guys share the bill at all with Earth on any shows or cross paths much?

Yeah, we shared it with Earth and when they were called Black Sabbath, which was, there wasn’t that long a difference, one minute they were Earth, the next minute they were Black Sabbath. We did several shows with the guys, in the very early stages, before they even released their first album.

Wow.

Yeah, so we got to know them pretty well, knew Ozzy pretty well.

Do you recall any other bands you crossed paths with and shared bills with?

Yeah, loads! Fleetwood Mac we played with, when Peter Green was still alive. A guy called Arthur Brown, Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

I love Arthur Brown!

We were on the same bill as him. I think we played with Yes at one point. Yeah, we played with loads of bands, because the scene back then was completely different, it wasn’t big, massive venues. Often they’d be fairly small-ish venues. Either 200 people up to about 300 or 400 people, there wasn’t big places and stadiums or anything like that you were playing. It was very rootsy. And there was so much music going on as well, it was a great time for innovation in music.

The next thing you played with Alan Ross and the band was called ‘Ross’.

That’s right.

Was that your next move?

I think it was, after Indian Summer. Yeah, because when it didn’t work, that kind of left me out of work. Yeah. And I didn’t have anything specific to go to. I got a recommendation, I was based in Coventry, my hometown, and they were based in London. But there was a guy, like an intermediary, a guy who knew them, and said to me, they’re looking for a keyboard player. So, I went down to do the audition, and it seemed to fit, it seemed to gel pretty well.

The first (Ross) album I think is a great album. They’re both good albums, but I prefer the first one.

Yeah, me too.

So obviously the band was built around Alan!? You had an interesting line up, you had the drummer as well as the percussion player, that kind of gave it kind of a unique feel to the band. I watched the live clip of you guys playing from the USA (or whatever), on YouTube, and that’s great, wow!

Oh yeah, I saw that, I only caught that about a year ago, someone told me that that was there. It cooked on stage, you know what I mean!? There was a real feeling of togetherness. When we got together, it wasn’t particularly supposed to be based around Alan. It wasn’t called Ross when I joined, because they’d been backing John Entwistle. And so Ross, the name ‘Ross’ wasn’t even in it. It was only after we got the record deal that Alan said, ‘Look, we ought to change the name’ and basically said ‘I’d like it to be Ross’. So we all went, ‘okay’. So that was how that worked out.

That live show, compared to the albums, it’s…I think some bands are just better live, right!? Like you said, with the Dodgers, it comes alive more.

Yeah.

What did you think of those albums? Was it kind of a tough going with those two? They didn’t really do much, did they?

The first one fell into place okay, the first album that we did. And I thought that was the better album, really. The second album, that was something that the manager, Robert Stigwood, he was a big impresario at the time, managed Clapton and Cream, the Bee Gees and all kinds of people. It was his idea to do this ‘Pit and the Pendulum‘ thing. It wasn’t our idea. And in those days, it was kind of like, I’m trying to find the right word, a bit overwhelming, really, when your manager said ‘I want you to do this’, you kind of did it. Nowadays you wouldn’t, you know what I mean!? People have found their feet a bit more and realzed their worth. In those days, if the manager said ‘do this’, it threw you a bit. So, we didn’t like the concept, but we were told to do it, so we did. That’s the gist of what happened there. It’s okay, I think there’s some good playing on it, but I just didn’t like that theme at all. I didn’t think it really worked.

Yeah, I actually, it took me a long time to figure out where the title came from, and then I stumbled across that movie there a couple of months ago.

Yeah, it’s a classic British film called, Pit and the Pendulum. Edgar Allan Poe, I think was the author. But as I said, the whole direction of that came from Stigwood and others.

Stigwood was involved in some other bands – Toe Fat, which was Cliff Bennett and Ken Hensley. Were you familiar with those guys at all?

Yeah, I knew the names. In fact, I’d seen the guys on tour, like at gigs and stuff before. Certainly I saw those bands, but not directly to do with Stigwood, no. He probably handled them as well.

I know the Gods, which was Ken’s band, and then he hooked up with Cliff Bennett for that band Toe Fat.

Yeah, I saw the Gods several times. They were good, really good.

It’s kind of another oddity. They just kind of did the two albums and kind of disappeared for a while.

Yeah, they did a lot of live work in small clubs in Britain.
I thought they were really good.

Did you ever see any of the guys from Ross after you left? Did you keep in touch with any of those guys?

They came along… I kept in touch with the drummer, Tony. I’ve always kept in touch with him, really. He went on to play for Rick Wakeman. So I’ve kept in touch with him. But the other guys, no, it kind of all fell by the wayside. And as you probably know, Alan’s passed away now anyway. So no, I never did keep in touch with them. The last time I saw them all together was they came to the first gig that I did with Badfinger. We did a theatre gig in London, and they all kind of suddenly showed up backstage, which was a surprise to me; to kind of support me, which was really nice. But no, we didn’t keep in touch socially after that.

What were the circumstances that you left? Because from what I read, you left kind of during the tour or while things were going on? How did that work out?

I just decided that I had enough, really. I thought we’d done some good work together. We’d worked well together. But part of the thing was that it wasn’t an equal band. Alan tended to kind of… well, he was the main guy. He was called Ross. It was his band.

Did you ever have any aspirations of doing your own thing as far as a solo album?

Yeah, I’ve been threatening that for years. I’ve got a backlog of loads of songs. I’ve always written. And that is a possibility in this coming year, this year now, but I’ll try and get some personal stuff out there. So keep your fingers crossed,it might happen.

Was there anything else you did beyond the Dodgers before the Byron Band stuff, or was that kind of your next move?

I’m trying to think which order it all came in at. I did the Dodgers thing first…Then before 83, I got back together with Tommy and Mike, and we’d started touring again. We did two or three tours like that in America. I think what happened after that I did some teaching for a while, I kind of left live playing. Because it was, it was so much time away all the while, you’re never at home. And by this time I had a family and so on. So I did do some teaching. Then I joined a band that had a bit of a reputation in England called ‘The Fortunes’, and I was with that for a years. In terms of convenience, it was great for me because the guys lived locally. So, I then left the teaching and kind of went and joined them.

So are you a keeper of stuff? Have you kept mementos and tapes and kind of everything you’ve been involved with over the years?

I am a bit of a hoarder, so yes, I’ve got a lot of bits and bobs, certainly a lot of contracts and paperwork, I know that for sure.

I find myself going back and digging more into the 70s and 80s stuff than I do with the new stuff. Like, the Indian Summer album, that was kind of an eye-opener, and stuff like that.

Well, I think the music business was genuinely more creative then. There was more diverse stuff happening, you know what I mean!? When you analyze in the late 60s, 70s, the diversity of material and styles. There was all kinds of things. That kind of has disappeared to a large extent now. That diversity isn’t really there anymore. Of course the whole scene went over to kind of dance music and stuff, which is a whole different thing. So, yeah, there’s a rich vein of talent to dig into in the late 60s, 70s. A lot of great stuff.

LINKS:

https://badfingeruk.com/home

https://badfingeruk.bandcamp.com/album/head-first

https://m.facebook.com/BadfingerOfficial/

MARK HUFF – Dark Mile (interview)

American singer Mark Huff became known to hard-rock/metal fans in 2010 when he took on the frontman’s role in a reformed Quiet Riot, following the passing of Kevin Dubrow. A difficult task, no doubt. His tenure with the band ended in 2012 with health issues, and Huff would return once healthier and sing in various projects. Last year he joined DARK MILE, a new band put together by Paul Alfery (guitar/keyboards) and former Dio guitarist Tracy G., and along with bass player Randy Oviedo put out their excellent self-titled debut album. I recently spoke with Mark about his past, his various other bands, Quiet Riot, and the Dark Mile CD, as well as what else is on the go. If you haven’t checked out this album yet, I highly recommend it!

Who were some of your favorite singers you grew up on?

Don Henley, Phil Collins, Paul Rodgers, Robert Plant, Steve Walsh.., and the list goes on. 

Did you buy a lot of albums growing up? Do you still keep an album collection?

I keep a few albums, tapes etc. I still have – Eagles Hotel California, Steve Miller’s Book of Dreams, Nazareth Hair of the Dog, Kansas Point of No Return, Kiss Alive signed by Paul and Gene, and a bunch of well-worn Led Zepplin, Steppenwolf, Deep Purple Machine Head… 

What other bands did you grew up on?

Beatles, Golden Earring, Bad Company, Eagles, Aerosmith, Kansas, Cheap Trick, Cars, Ted Nugent.   

So when you landed in California, what were some of the first bands you got involved in?

That was OU812. That was a good friend of mine named Angel Llanos. He’s still there in San Diego. He does a tribute to Carlos Santana, and he stays real busy doing that.

0U812, 5150/ Atomic Punks, Lead Foot Overdrive,             

What were some of your favorites from that Van Halen era of Sammy? Do you have any song preferences from that era?

5150, We played all the hits from the Van Hagar era and a few obscure deep cuts – “Right Now”, “Dreams”, “When It’s Love”, “Black n Blue”. With 0U812, we did ANYTHING SAMMY – Montrose, solo songs, Chicken Foot, The Wabo’s….             

That’s good. I love all those albums. 5150 was a favorite of mine.

I think that my covering of the vocals of the Sammy era, live and on video, are what got me recognized and a call from Frankie Banali.

Cool, and the Deep Purple stuff you did as well?

‘Deeper Purple’, we covered songs from, I think, all three singers. That was fun to me and that was always a challenge too.

During this time prior to Quiet Riot, had you done any recording stuff or any kind of original stuff?

Prior to Quiet Riot, I did a project with a band called ‘Leadfoot Overdrive’ in San Diego and Jeff Poremba, Steve Bernstein, Greg rupp and Mikey Panone. No releases but a great project. I still have recordings. 

So that stuff you did prior to Quiet Riot, some of that was original stuff?

Yes, all original songs.

And the Quiet Riot thing, you were there with Frankie and the guys had been there for a while!?

Yes. Frankie ,Chuck Wright, Alex Grossi (he’s still playing).

With Quiet Riot, I know you were there for a couple of years, did about 40 shows. I know it didn’t end well, but what were kind of the highlights while you were there?

All a learning experience through a time I wasn’t physically well. But biggest crowd was in Germany ‘Bang Your Head Festival’, maybe 30,000 + the travel and locations I will never forget.  I was fortunate to be included in many shows alongside people I had to pinch myself to question the reality. It was all an honor and a privilege. Doing a show in the mountains, snowing outside, stage is outside and at that elevation, they offered oxygen tanks if you needed to take a pull on stage. Shout out to all the kind people along the way!   

Was there any opportunity or talk of doing anything original while you were there?

The possibility was discussed, but I wasn’t there long enough to see it happen 

Post-Quiet Riot, you’ve done some other things as well, at least one or two albums?

‘Steel Imagination’ doing covers, and ‘Endangered Species’ – all original; I have recordings of that as well

I did some music with Craig Goldy. After I was well enough and anybody locally thought that I was ready to start getting involved in music again, he was one of the people that approached me too; that was probably from seeing me play in a ‘Deeper Purple’ show at Brick by Brick.

Greg and I worked on some stuff, and he was the first initial one to kind of … ‘baptize me’ with trying to record from home. We did everything from my house, and he mastered everything at home. And that was a learning experience, and he was the one that kind of helped me feel like I could still do this. We aspired it to do other things with it, but… it was more about the politics of who I sang with…and maybe politics for him personally too, I don’t know. I did that with Craig and those things were called ’13th Floor” (live, this was Endangered Species).

And then I hadn’t done anything for a while and I went to Florida, did a show with a band called Trixie Lee Taylor (with Taylor Murphy). I was blessed that people cared about me, wanted to be involved with me and for anything that was positive that way. I got to bounce around a little bit. And then after that I got approached, by someone on the phone, from up your way there in New York. And (he) approached me about doing some music. He already had songs written. And again, he kept me active in music and stuff and that didn’t work out. So, we’re at where we are right now.

You did an album in 2017!?

It was called ‘Steel Mountain Crossing’.

What was that about?

I was contacted by someone who wanted to make some music with me. We made some recordings, originals and a few covers. None of my songs. We are on opposite coasts so it was too hard to do long distance at the time. Creative differences but we gave it a go.   

You eventually met Paul Alfery and Tracy G, and they’ve started this Dark Mile project. What did you think about that when they approached you with it? I think they had a lot of the songs written before you joined, correct?

Paul Alfery contacted me via a musicians’ app called ‘Band Mix’. My profile only states that I am a professional singer looking to stay active. Paul said a project he is working on needs a vocalist to finish a song, possibly more. We get through the song as we come to know who is in this project…. Tracy G, Paul Alfery, Randy Oviedo. So out of respect to these gentlemen, I had to reluctantly let them know that I was that guy from QR. When anything on the internet about you is not very positive, the last thing you would want to do is brag about any of it. I wanted a job where I didnt have to act, look, or sound like any one or thing except me.   You can always be compared to someone else, the look, the sound. I appreciate this opportunity. My vocal spot here is…,I sing.,I have not written any of these songs. I give input. We collaborate. And these guys make it super simple for me.  We tweak the melody, words here and there. Come up with another verse, float it around to each member until it works. 

You did all the vocals from home?

Yes I did.

And were all the lyrics done for you? Or did you have to tweak a few here and there?

Every song comes to me differently. We tackle each song differently depending on what Paul has planned. The process gets better all the time; practice makes perfect.

Do you have a favorite, any favorite tracks on there? Or are you just all, you’re happy?

I like “The Boy” and I like, “He Said, She Said”, “Maybe On A Sunday”,…”Can’t Help You” …We are proud of the efforts, it’s all my favorite!! 

How far along are you guys with the second album?

Just a couple songs to finish, we just finished a ballad for #2.. We thought we should put one on there. 

Will it still maintain that kind of that 80s hard rock vibe?

That’s hard for me to say without hearing mastering, but it sounds great!!

Has there been any discussion about doing any live shows at some point?

We are prepared to do live shows in support of our music if warranted.  I’ve been doing my parts, I have them tattooed on my brain and I’m ready to do this live, no problem… We all are!

What else are you involved in right now?

I’m working on doing something local soon, some recording.  

What’s the live scene like where you are?

My friends Jeff Mills, Lynn Sorenson are active in the scene here. It’s about time for an open mic drop. People are getting back to entertainment!                                                  

Lynn Sorenson, he was on a couple, he was on the Stuart Smith album with Heaven and Earth.

Yes, he was. Lynn lives north of me. He stays busy doing what he loves. He’s played with Bad Company for a while, Paul Rogers and stuff. He’s a string player, he plays anything with strings, but he’s a great singer as well.

Cool. Lastly, do you listen to, you’re familiar with any Canadian bands?

Kim Mitchell, Loverboy, Honeymoon Suite, BTO, Rush, April Wine, Triumph, Mahogany Rush, The Guess Who, Steppenwolf…

I used to play the club circuit from all of Washington and Oregon, and all the way to the Canadian border. And we were playing Port Angeles. We had a guy in the audience for the whole night, and it was an off night, (early in the week), but he was very appreciative, and we got talking to him and it was Randy Bachman! He was going to catch his ferry back over to Victoria. We used to cover a lot of Loverboy, “Working For The Weekend” and “Turn Me Loose”, a few songs… April Wine was one of my favorites too, as far as the 3-guitar piece band, and the vocals and everything; we did a few April Wine songs too,

Anything else you’re listening to these days?

The works of Tracy G. The Winery Dogs, Myles Kennedy and everything that still inspires me! 

LINKS;

https://www.instagram.com/darkmileband/

http://www.prideandjoy.de

New Tracks: Harem Scarem, Russ Ballard, Envy Of None…

Well, a quick run down of some new tracks & videos worth checking out! If you got any new classic rock/hard recommendations, drop me a note or put them in the comments! As always, for more info, check out the descriptions in the videos for more info and links.

RUSS BALLARD – New York Groove

Originally of the classic band ARGENT, Russ Ballard left the band for a solo career, and is likely better known as a songwriter who’s songs have become hits for numerous acts like Rainbow, Kiss, Santana, America, and this song – which was a hit for Kiss’ Ace Frehley in 1978. The song was previously covered by British glam band ‘Hello’. And now Ballard has made a new version of the song.

HAREM.SCAREM – Reliving History

Canadian rockers HAREM SCAREM have a new single out. I picked up the band’s first 5 or 6 albums way back, and always enjoyed them. This is good, very likeable compared to the early stuff.

HOUSE OF LORDS – Cry Of The Wicked

Fronted by singer James Christian, HOL is pretty consistent with good songs and album covers! 🙂 This is from the band’s new album Full Tilt Overdrive.

ENVY OF NONE – Under The Stars

the 2nd single from the 2nd (forthcoming) album of EON, which features Alex Lifeson (Rush), and Andy Curran (Coney Hatch). Check it out. Very atmosphere track, nothing like anything you’ve heard before.

STREETLIGHT – Captured In The Night

New single from Swedish band that is influenced by 80s AOR/melodic Hard rock like Journey, Toto, Kansas… Their new (2nd?) album is titled Night Vision, due out next month.

HELLOWEEN – Future World (live)

From German power metal legends HELLOWEEN, who have a new Live At Budokan release out now.