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Skid Row Tour Dates

Skid Row Tour Dates
The MJR Group by Arrangement with IAA Presents
SKID ROW Plus Special Guests
(The Quireboys + Crash Diet + Hollowstar + Matt Mitchell & The Cold Hearts)


Multi-platinum selling band SKID ROW will embark on a full UK tour this year, which will see the New Jersey rockers playing shows across the UK, starting in WINTERSTORM FEST, Scotland on 29th November and ending at The Mill, Birmingham on 8th December. Tickets are on sale on 19th June at 9am on Eventbrite.co.uk.

Skid Row started in 1986 when a group of New Jersey kids, armed with their punk and metal
attitude, and a collection of riff-heavy, high-octane songs, set out to conquer the world, one
concert at a time. This determined and focused approach proved to be an unquestionable
success, as the group went on to clock up numerous Top Ten singles, Gold and multi-Platinum selling albums and a Number 1 on the Billboard albums chart. In other words, the world was theirs.

They might have conquered the world several times over, but guitarist Snake Sabo admits the success hasn’t changed him or the band, and Skid Row are focused on making more earth shattering music. He says: “I will always be that 16-year-old kid in front of the mirror, pretending to be Ace Frehley or Michael Schenker. It’s still about writing a great song with your friends, praying it connects with someone. That has never left me. That willfulness will always exist, and there’s so much left to say!”

Joining Skid Row for a special co-headline show at Winterstorm Fest, Scotland is Hollowstar.
Surging into the top five in the ‘Best New Band’ category at Planet Rock’s 2019 awards,
HOLLOWSTAR are carving their own route to the top, paved with hard-hitting riffs and cemented by melodic yet inherently impactful lyrics.
Hollowstar will also be supporting Skid Row on every date of their UK tour apart from
Birmingham, along with quintessential British rock’n’roll band THE QUIREBOYS. Following the band’s inception in 1984, The Quireboys are certainly enjoying a revival – selling out venues around the world. 2019 saw the release of their new studio album ‘Amazing Disgrace’ – their 12th – on April 5th.
Ultimate sleaze hard rock band CRASHDIET will be joining Skid Row on five out of the eight dates of their UK tour. “Go big or go home” has been their motivational “catchphrase” for the Swedish group ever since they started out in 2000. Their undeniable flirt with the 80s big arena rock bands like Guns N’ Rose, Kiss and Skid Row themselves, combined with a notable element of punk, has made them a significant name in the revival of the sleaze and glam genre. In September 2019, they will release their fifth studio album.
MATT MITCHELL & THE COLD HEARTS will be joining Skid Row at both Winterstorm Fest, Scotland and The Mill, Birmingham. Matt started out singing and writing songs in his late teens, leaning his craft in several bands early on and Matt Mitchell & The Cold Hearts is Matt’s solo project with an array of extremely talented guests players. The project got off to a great start, with the first single ‘Black Diamonds’ released on January 25th 2019, being championed across the UK and the rest of the globe.

Full Skid Row Tour Dates:
Winterstorm Fest, Scotland – 29th November – Skid Row + Hollowstar
Warehouse, Wakefield – 30th November – Skid Row + Quireboys + Hollowstar + Matt
Mitchell & The Cold Hearts
Rock City, Nottingham – 1st December – Skid Row + Quireboys + Crashdiet + Hollowstar
Engine Rooms, Southampton – 3rd December – Skid Row + Quireboys + Crashdiet +
Hollowstar
Tramshed, Cardiff – 4th December – Skid Row + Quireboys + Crashdiet + Hollowstar
Planet Rock Stock, Trecco Bay – 6th December – Skid Row + Quireboys + Hollowstar
Corp,
Winter Rocks, Sheffield – 7th December – Skid Row + Quireboys + Crashdiet +
Hollowstar
The Mill, Birmingham – 8th December – Skid Row + Quireboys + Crashdiet + Matt Mitchell
& The Cold Hearts

*Tickets on sale from Eventbrite.co.uk, 19th June at 9am
https://www.skidrow.com/

Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants/Criminal Mind – The Louisiana, Bristol – 9th June 2019

Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants/Criminal Mind – The Louisiana, Bristol – 9th June 2019

With ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ being, in my humble opinion, one of the very best albums released in 2019 thus far the prospect of catching Alvin Gibbs and his band of Disobedient Servants live on a short run around the UK was just too much of a “one of kind” opportunity to be overlooked, plus the gig is in one of the best venues Bristol has to offer, so a ticket for this must-attend event was duly purchased.

For those of you who might never have been to The Louisiana it’s got that fantastic upstairs above a pub vibe going for it and over the years it has seen everyone from Airbourne to Fleet Foxes treading its – oh so low it could be a step – stage. Views in this place are of a premium when it’s packed out so that’s why even before local street punks Criminal Mind takes to the stage the place is a tippy toe view only kind of full.

I’m actually embarrassed to say I’ve never seen or heard Criminal Mind before tonight, I’m embarrassed because with over 10 years together as a band, playing hundreds of shows around the UK, I’m not entirely sure how they have evaded me. Their set tonight is packed full of great tunes (which I’m of course hearing for the first time) all loaded up with chant-along choruses and delivered with the kind of enthusiasm and attitude that first made me fall in love with the ‘Total 13’ era Backyard Babies. There’s a hint of The Living End to be heard during the anthemic ‘Blood On The Cobbles’ plus a dash of Rancid on show when bassist Ben Dowling takes over the vocals mid-set but what Criminal Mind do have in spades is their own identity – something which is not lost on the diehards who holler back every word. We always love it when a new (?) band falls into our laps here at RPM towers and with their third album due to be released very soon you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll be catching up with Criminal Minds very soon indeed.

Promising tracks from the  ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ album along with some choice Gibbs voiced Subs tunes plus maybe a few surprises (and guests) along the way reports online that the aptly named Disobedient Tour has been doing brisk business ticket wise is reassuring to hear given the apathy a lot of venues (not the Louisiana I might add) across the UK seemingly has towards original music right now. The army of West Country UK Subs fans makes sure that tonight is no exception and the Cheshire Cat grins on the faces of Alvin Gibbs, Leigh Heggarty and Jamie Oliver as they fight their way through the crowd to the stage does indeed speak volumes. This promises to be everything I thought it might be…even if we don’t actually get any special guests here tonight.

Kicking off with the opening 1-2 from the ‘Servants’ album, ‘Arterial Pressure’ and ‘Ghost Train’ is simply stunning in the live setting, the latter still the best Iggy song Iggy never wrote with Alvin commanding the dual role of bassist and lead singer with consummate ease. ‘Bordeaux Red’ is the first of the UK Subs songs to be aired tonight and it’s here that Gibbs truly shines in his day job, twisting his body and the strings on his Fender Precision into places other bassists can only dream of going. Elsewhere there’s a ferocious two-song tribute (‘Down On The Streets’ and ‘1969’) to Alvin’s stint with Iggy all complete with a hilarious Iggy V’s Charlie anecdote that I won’t spoil here, and then there’s Leigh Heggarty taking over the mic for a fantastic version of ‘In A Rut’ that perfectly segues into ‘Warhead’ mid-song. Of the other Subs tunes aired ‘Stare At The Sun’ from ‘XXIV’ is the wildcard Gibbs has personally chosen whilst ‘Dragging Me Down’ from ‘Killing Time’ sounds reborn devoid of the awful late-80s production that drowned that LP.

Of course tonight is really all about the ‘Your Disobedient Servant’ album and the trio certainly do not disappoint delivering the likes of ‘Dumb’ (dedicated to Trump, Farage and Bojo), ‘Clumsy Fingers’, ‘Polemic’, ‘Camden Town Gigolo’, ‘I’m Not Crying Now’ and a frantic ‘Back To Mayhem’ like the band have been on the road for months…not days. Credit also that the guys effortlessly pull off the epic soundscape that is ‘Heaven And Angels’ even with Alvin complaining his throat was a bit sore after 6 consecutive shows this really is a faultless performance.

Encoring with a run through of Ian Hunter’s ‘Once Bitten, Twice Shy’ and Urban Dogs’ ‘A Bridge Too Far’ the Servants eventually have the venue lights turned on as a subtle reminder they have broken all the Sunday night curfew rules and probably should know better than that by now…but what the hell this is punk rock, right?

Make sure you catch Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants live at Rebellion Festival this August it’s one set you really do not want to be missing.

 

Author: Johnny Hayward

Rainy Days & Mondays

Rainy Days & Mondays

Billy Liar’s “The Righteous & The Rats” comes from his debut album, “Some Legacy” out on Red Scare. This long-anticipated release is almost here and first up this Monday morning take a peek at this excellent tune from that very album.

Do you want to know what the legacy of Kurt Cobain was?  Try this new one from All The Colours this happy ditty about the impending doom of mankind is taken from the forthcoming new album ‘Vol.3.’

To round off this weeks three is the brand new video from Hands Off Gretel with ‘Freaks Like Us’

Happy Birthday Michael Monroe

Happy Birthday Michael Monroe
pic by tommy@tommyfoto.no

Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm (Born 17 June 1962), you might know him as the legend that is Michael Monroe.  Not content with being the leader of the 80s best band Hanoi Rocks he then went on to form Demolition 23 (ok so Jerusalem Slim was before but that was something of an experiment) after Demolition 23 broke down he went on to record some superb solo albums as well as reform Hanoi for a few years with Andy before forging ahead with his solo career.

Beginning with ‘Nights Are So Long’ Monroe spent time living in NYC before returning to his native Finland where he still lives today.  You can debate til the cows come home as to which album is the best but for me ‘Nights Are So Long’ was the first and best.  ‘Not Fakin’ It’  followed and whilst it was commercially more accessible I never really liked the sound of the record as it tended to lean towards to Rock fraternity stateside and was the least Rock and Roll album of his back catalogue even if it did have some great tunes on it.

During the two thousands, his solo work contained some excellent self-penned songs as well as some awesome covers that gave the listener a glimpse into his record collection and what shaped him musically, before arriving at the last decade where his output and stable(ish) line up consisting of longtime collaborator and accomplice Sami Yaffa, Karl Rockfist and Steve Conte and Rich Jones are helping churn out some of the best live performances of his career as well as his most consistent albums since Hanoi.  ‘One Man Gang’ is eagerly anticipated and I’m sure will be a massive hit with fans old and new.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Svart Records were responsible for doing an amazing job on ‘Nights Are So Long’ and ‘Peace Of Mind’ and work is well underway on the next reissues. So with these the tour and new album its all ramping up to an exciting second half of 2019 and no sign of Monroe slowing down any day soon.

Ask anyone who’s seen him live as he still performs like a teenager. Constantly touring around the world playing songs from all corners of his career he still has the chops that’s not even up for debate  – the energy and above all the songs are there as is his energy  Monroe is a lifer to the cause of Rock and Roll and the multi-instrumentalist still has the passion.

Having just announced an extensive UK tour for later this year to coincide with the release of this album as well as working on re-releases of his solo albums with new packaging and bonus tracks Michael Monroe is a formidable force of nature.  when the album comes out buy it and when the tour comes around watch it.

Over twenty albums and countless singles and guest appearances, Monroe deserves all the plaudits he gets and the adulation of his many fans.  Keep Rockin’ like Fuck and Happy Birthday from RPM Online.

From The Vault – Boy could he play guitar!

From The Vault – Boy could he play guitar!

On this very date David Bowie unveiled his landmark album, ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars’. His breakthrough LP, it sells over 7 million copies and is hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time. As genius as it was it has to be said that without his Spiders Ziggy would have been nothing (or at least not a fraction of the success) Ronnos guitar playing was exceptional throughout as were the bass lines. Of course, the image was mind blowing even for the early ’70s.

The concept album serves as the introduction to Bowie’s most iconic of reincarnations: Ziggy Stardust, a flame-haired Martian messiah who visits Earth in an attempt to bring a message of hope to humanity in their final five years of existence. Flamboyantly dressed and dazzlingly androgynous, Stardust helps revolutionize ideas about gender and sexuality like never before.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars is recorded over a two-week period in November 1971 at London’s Trident Studios – the same place where The Beatles made “Hey Jude” in 1968. The legendary album cover depicts a resplendent Bowie posing outside of a Mayfair furriers named K. West.

The album peaks at #5 in the UK, and remains on that chart for two years, bolstered by a groundbreaking performance of “Starman” on Top of the Pops in July 1972.

Although “Ziggy played guitar” for the final time in July 1973, his blazing legacy lives on.  The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is about Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust, an androgynous bisexual rock star who acts as a messenger for extraterrestrial beings (drugs who mentioned drugs). Bowie took Ziggy on tour through the United Kingdom, Japan, and North America. The album and the character of Ziggy Stardust explored themes of sexual exploration and social taboos and it wasn’t until that fateful night in The Hammersmith Odean that Ziggy made his last appearance as Bowie ruthlessly ended the characters existence.  this after shipping over seven million copies worldwide – still to this day an incredible decision from a man at the peak of his powers.  Amazingly the album only made it to number five in the UK charts whilst barely denting the US top 75!

 

Its no question one of the most influential albums for many reasons would there have been the huge new Romantic explosion of the post-punk 80s had it not been for Ziggy?  Also, it was a big influence on the UK punk scene with many of its detractors since citing this particular tour as being very influential fashionably and musically.

 

Track from the album has been covered many times over by many different artists including Bauhaus who did ‘Ziggy Stardust’ as did Def Leppard and RPM favourite Jeff Dahl.  ‘Moonage Daydream has also been covered by varied artists such as LA Guns, Mike Scott and Tim Wheeler of Ash. whereas ‘Suffragette City’ has been covered by such polar acts as Boy George, Steve Jones, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Turbonegro and god forbid Poison! As well as recently on volume 1 of The UK Subs covers album.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-17521244/site-of-ziggy-stardust-album-cover-shoot-marked-with-plaque

Ghost Announce New Webisode

Ghost Announce New Webisode

Ghost Plays to Some Quarter-Million Fans on Leg One

of Metallica’s “WorldWired” European Stadium Tour

Manchester & London shows set for next week!

Ghost premieres a brand-new webizode, “Chapter 7:  New World Redro.”  This chapter first brings the viewer up to date with the Cardinal Copia-Papa Nihil-Sister Imperator storyline and then begins to lay the foundation for more backstory secrets yet to be revealed.  Check out “Chapter 7:  New World Redro”.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVvAByIDtmk&feature=youtu.be

Ghost is spending the bulk of its summer as Special Guest on Metallica’s four-leg “WorldWired” European Stadium Tour.  Leg One saw Ghost playing to more than a quarter-million fans; Leg Two kicked off on June 8, and Legs Three and Four will take place July and August.  Ghost will perform at Heavy Montreal on July 27, and then kick off its North American “Ultimate Tour Named Death” headline arena tour on September 13.

As Forbes writer David Hochman put it in his review of Ghost at the Los Angeles Forum last November, “Equal parts horror church, headbanger’s ball and midnight Stockholm cabaret, a Ghost concert draws elements from opera, Gregorian chant, classic glam rock – Kiss, Alice Cooper and Bowie, come to mind…Imagine Iron Maiden or Blue Oyster Cult under a blast of liquid nitrogen, and you start to get the vibe.”

JUNE

13-20 Metallica’s WorldWired European Stadium Tour

18       Manchester Etihad Stadium

20       Twickenham Stadium

JULY

6-21   Metallica’s WorldWired European Stadium Tour

27      Heavy Montreal, Montreal QC

AUGUST

14-25 Metallica’s WorldWired European Stadium Tour

SEPTEMBER

13 – 30 “Ultimate Tour Named Death” North American Fall Dates

OCTOBER

1 – 26  “Ultimate Tour Named Death” North American Fall Dates

Royal Republic unveil new Video

Royal Republic unveil new Video

Royal Republic proudly presents the video for our 4th single of Club Majesty “Like A Lover”. The video was shot in Berlin but the footage was almost completely lost due to a technical malfunction. However, through the miracle of technically skilled people (and money), we were able to salvage much of the footage.
Thanks to the amazing dancers. Our friend and constant director Leo Åkesson and all the crew who worked tirelessly through the entire night to make this video happen.
While the song is a little bit of a departure for us musically, somehow it always felt very natural to us. We hope it does for you too.

 

The Waterboys – Where The Action Is (Cooking Vinyl)

The Waterboys – Where The Action Is (Cooking Vinyl)

You wait a while for one then a few come together isn’t that whats always said? It seemed like that waiting for a new Waterboys record and no it’s not ‘The whole of the moon’ or ‘fisherman’s blues’ revisited.  This is Mike Scott kicking over quite a few genres in one go from rockin’ out (the title Track and opener) to a bit of post-punk (London Mick) to some smooth pop (Right Side Of Heartbreak) to …ah wait n see.

Rewind to the opener and some raw reckless rock n roll and not for a while have I been this excited to hear what Scott has come up with and this is excellent. As is ‘London Mick’ as Scott regales us with tales of The Clash and Mick Jones. Vibrant and a fine piece of writing and as always Scott has a great tale to tell.

‘In My Time On Earth’ is Dylan if Dylan could still sing.  An achingly beautiful song that builds but not to such grande epic proportions but to a gentle raised voice rather than a shout.  This album ebbs and flows and the epic ‘Ladbroke Grove Symphony’ is classic Waterboys with a great arrangement then, you’re hit by the funk of ‘Take Me There I Will Follow You’ and from the scratches and backing vocals and Rap, this is a departure and one hell of a curveball nothing new for the Waterboys as there have been dalliances with different genres on previous albums ‘If I Was Your Boyfriend’ off the last album was slightly funky in a Stones ‘Miss You’ kinda way..  I’m not saying I’m against taking a departure – he’s not the first to mix things up but I don’t think I like the song regardless – there I’ve said it.  I can pass on this one.

The curveballs keep coming as we go down synth wormholes that again lose me momentarily. To be fair the second half of this record seems to have fallen off a cliff for me which is a real disappointment as it started out oh so well.  No, I’m quite partial to a bit of Beck and Eels and I can get it when a songwriter wants to push back some boundaries and I get the Prince thing but first and foremost the songs have to draw you in an so far that’s not happening.  Sure the first half of the record was an easy reel in for me but I’ struggling right through side two up until the melancholy ‘Piper At The Gates of Dawn’ all ten minutes of it. Much like the last studio album, I felt a little out of step and it never did really click with me not even the Scatman tune.

There is a CD version with a bonus disc where Scott really gets to fuck with the listener.  ‘Where The Action Is’ get the full Primal Scream treatment and I did raise a smirk on ‘London Mick’ with the introduction – I won’t Spoil it for you.  In fact, the whole second Cd is a homage to symbol or Prince maybe the Celtic Prince as Scott will call himself in future as he vanishes in a puff of experimental smoke as this will truly test his fanbase who might be looking for him to grow older gracefully  that doesn’t sound like it happening any day soon and I salute Scott for that.

Buy Where The Action Is Here

Follow The Waterboys:
Author: Dom Daley

On this day – Gone But Not Forgotten – Nick Knox

On this day – Gone But Not Forgotten – Nick Knox

Nick Knox, the drummer with the Cramps from 1977 until 1991, died at the age of 60,  (born Nicholas George Stephanoff; March 26, 1953).

He was the band’s longest-serving drummer and appeared on their biggest selling albums including 1986’s ‘A Date With Elvis’. Knox died of Cardiogenic shock (which is a condition in which your heart suddenly can’t pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs) on 15th June 2018.

Knox played drums for proto-punks the Electric Eels before joining Lux Interior and Poison Ivy Rorschach in the Cramps.  He played on ‘A Date With Elvis’ – which was the band’s most commercially successful album. It followed 1980’s ‘Songs the Lord Taught Us’ and 1981 follow-up ‘Psychedelic Jungle’. Knox’s final recording was, 1990’s ‘Stay Sick!’ before his departure.  The band extensively toured Europe under Knox’s watch and hes regarded as being the glue that pulled the Cramps sound together.

After retiring from The Band Knox didn’t surface until he appeared on stage with The Pagans in 2003and it wouldn’t be until 2017  when he was credited as “senior advisor” to the Cleveland-based punk band Archie And The Bunkers in 2017.

After his passing Knox had some wonderful testimonials from his peers such as his predecessor Miriam Linna, the Cramps’ drummer Knox replaced, She Said she’d visited Knox in the intensive care unit in Cleveland. She added, “I thank God that Nicky was a friend of mine. He was one of the kindest, funniest, most amazing human beings ever and I was very lucky to have been in his orbit.”

On his passing Former guitarist Kid Congo Powers tweeted, “Nick Knox Coolest of the cool. R.I.P. Glad to have played to your boss Beat. Meet you on the mystery plane.”

 

On a happier note  RPM favourite, Noddy Holder was born on this very day in 1946. Noddy went on to front The UK’s most successful singles band of the ’70s scoring 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six No.1’s impressive legacy by anyone’s standards.  Neville John Holder was born in Walsall, West Midlands.  Sadly Holder isn’t interested in joining his ex-bandmates for any shows and prefers to spend his time hosting radio shows and acting.  What would we give to hear him belt out a Slade tune with Jim, Dave, and Don.  We can but hope, anyway, Happy Birthday Noddy.

Also sharing his birthday on this day is current Wonder Stuff Bass player Mark Gemini Thwaite (born 1965) ordinarily known as a guitarist of the six-string variety Mark is standing in on Bass for shits and giggles according to Hunt and on the recent tour the band has never sounded so good largly down to the fantastic musicians in the current line up. 

The list of artists Thwaite has recorded and toured with is incredible – The Mission, Tricky, Peter Murphy, New Disease, Spear of Destiny, Theatre of Hate, Mob Research (with Paul Raven of Killing Joke), Canadian band National Velvet and he recorded with Gary Numan, Al Jourgensen of Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Roger Daltrey of the Who, P.J. Harvey, Alanis Morissette, Primitive Race(with Chuck Mosley of Faith No More), Ricky Warwick of The Almighty, Ginger Wildheart, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics, Franz Treichler of The Young Gods, The Wonder Stuff, Ashton Nyte of The Awakening, Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, Laurence “Lol” Tolhurst and Porl Thompson of The Cure and Ville Valo of Finnish band HIM. And breath; Mark has kept himself busy to say the least and landed himself some exceptional jobs with a whole variety of cool bands. Happy Birthday, Mark!

LAST GREAT DREAMERS – ‘RETROSEXUAL’ 25TH ANNIVERSARY

LAST GREAT DREAMERS – ‘RETROSEXUAL’ 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Last Great Dreamers announce 25th Year Anniversary show for ‘Retrosexual’ In London Ticket details Here

Don’t hang about here folks because these will sell out.  Celebrate at The Lounge with the band as they return to their hometown with an exclusive one-off not to be missed show to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of their debut classic album ‘Retrosexual’. The band will play the album in its entirety followed by a 2nd set of fan favourites.

The ticket price also includes admission to the after-show party including a special DJ set from Marc & Slyder’s Glitterball Soho 70’s club night!