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!

The Venus Fly Trap – Mars (Glass Modern)

The Venus Fly Trap – Mars (Glass Modern)

Get your corpse paint on paint your nails and hope that that’s a fog filling up the room and not your house on fire.

I’m reliably informed that The Venus Fly Trap which has had a new lease of life from the late ’80s were born from ATTRITION, ISAWS, RELIGIOUS OVERDOSE, WHERES LISSE? & TEMPEST.  Hatched in the mid-’80s it wasn’t for a few years that this album was originally released mixing electronic with a dark Goth mood sort of Depeche Mode with guitars or the Sisters with that snappy Alesis drum machine snare sound.  Songs like ‘(I Get) Flowers’ are total ’80s Goth and its a sound that hasn’t really dated that well.  There are some decent melodies here like the aforementioned tune and I like the riff but was never a bit fan of that Soft Cell snare.

They try to create the mood with ‘Morphine’ but having that low-fi guitar fuzz that sounds like its barely in tune is a throwback to bands like Joy Division.  I wouldn’t mind betting vocalist Alex was a fan of Ian Curtis and the way the band would construct their songs. The time really shows through on this reissue although I do like that bass line on ‘Ruby Red’ coming across as Dave Vanian fronting the Sisters its a good tune and the arrangement is great regardless of what decade it is.

Is that a Roland Jupiter I hear tweaking and whirling away on ‘Desolation Railway’ what a fantastic lyric and title. I guess what comes around goes around and it would seem about time fo ran 80’s synth / Goth crossover reunion where the Mode meets Eldrich meets pop meets the modern age kinda thing – how glorious would that be?  With today’s technical advances in sound, this record would sound absolutely huge and songs like this would fill cathedrals.

 

‘Catalyst’ is like a dark Goth ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ from the mind of Nick Cave.  It’s not that I dislike it at all because I don’t and there are some good songs on offer but the cliches of the time that haven’t stood the test of time and they weigh heavily. Maybe played loudly I’d like ‘How The Mighty’ because I love The Mission and like the Mish, ‘Violins & Violence’ is trying new things and that’s cool and we all like the Kennedy mystery and this is better than Saxons ‘Dallas 1 PM’ for covering that topic.

 

Maybe this would have been better left and be one of those albums you stumble across and hail as a long lost treasure or maybe I wide of the mark and it’s just me.  Yeah, that’ll be it.  It’s just me.

 

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Author: Dom Daley

I Am Lono – Hunt Us Down Like The Dogs We Are (Louder City Records)

I Am Lono – Hunt Us Down Like The Dogs We Are (Louder City Records)

Already picking up admirers such as BBC Radio 6  and BBC introducing I Am Lono sound like the real deal with a cold as steel exterior yet it just covers a boiling hot center borrowing from masters of the dark post-punk synth rockers like The Cure and The Mission there is also a healthy amount of pop via the likes of Japan and Bauhaus.

You have the heaving thump of the bass guitar on the sparse ‘Lovers’ with its mechanical drum thud and bass throb it has the echoey vocals and synth layering the song until after the chorus when it soars as the guitar takes over.  Huge sounding record and to be fair a really impressive track too.

Let’s not jump the gun here and rewind to the opener ‘America’. There is a real familiarity to this one – sounds like a dark Visage (if I might be so bold).  I love the bands I’ve mentioned in my introduction and there are shades of all of them in this for sure and ‘America’ reminds me of the post 90’s period Bowie.  Call it art rock or post-punk synth pop I couldn’t care less its captured superbly and the moody ‘Abigail’ sounds huge and should rightfully turn heads as people will sit up and take notice. The production and songwriting is excellent with the songs being really well arranged and none of them outstay their welcome with just the right amount of Guitars and Synth and great vocals throughout. In fact, Mr. Hussey could do a lot worse than check these out and maybe take them on tour with him, his audience would love this.

Available on 10″ vinyl maybe its time to embrace your dark side and get a headful of I Am Lono you might be very pleasantly surprised.

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Beauty In Chaos – ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’ (33.3 Music Collective)

Beauty In Chaos – ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’ (33.3 Music Collective)

The brainchild of Human Drama/Gene Loves Jezebel guitarist Michael Ciravolo, Beauty In Chaos is a goth-tastic supergroup project that brings together legendary names from the likes of The Mission, The Cure, Gene Loves Jezebel, Cheap Trick and Ministry to contribute on their debut album ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’.

Influenced by the like of My Bloody Valentine, The Cocteau Twins and Lush, the LA-based guitar slinger hooked up his delay and reverb pedals joined forces with Ministry producer Michael Rozon and set about creating soundscapes rich in gothic goodness. Then enlisted the help of various musical acquaintances, such as Michael Aston, Wayne Hussey and Al Jourgensen, to add their own unique talents.

 

Opener ‘Road To Rosario’ sets the scene. With Michael Aston taking lead vocals, it unsurprisingly comes on like a lost Gene loves Jezebel cut as haunting, effect-ridden guitars weave in and out between a pounding bass line and lush distinctive vocals. A crisp production job ensures no sound goes unnoticed as guitars and vocals build in unison to create a killer opener.

Up next, ‘The Storm’ is the first of a trio of tracks to feature The Awakening main man Ashton Nyte on vocals. Atmospheric and emotive old school Goth, just the way we like it, baby! Later on, he opens his dark soul on the nomadic, Eastern tinged ‘Bloodless & Fragile’ and the moody closing title track. These tracks would not sound out of place on The Crow soundtrack.

Al Jourgensen lends his dulcet tones to an industrial tinged take on T Rex’s ‘20th Century Boy’ and pulls it off with ease, while the unmistakable vocals of The Mission main man Wayne Hussey are perfect for ‘The Long Goodbye’ and the simply enthralling ‘Man Of Faith’ (also featuring the talents of The Cure bassist Simon Gallup), possibly the stand out tune of the day for me.

Human Drama vocalist Johnny Indovina adds ethereal Bowie textures to ‘Memory Of Love’ and Ville Valo romanticism to ‘Beauty Lies Within’.

There’s a couple of unexpected diamonds in amongst the black ashes that permeate this collection of dark, gothic goodness. Namely, the power pop of ‘Drifting Away’, featuring an on form Robin Zander and top backing vocals courtesy of a certain Michael Anthony amongst others. Then Dug Pinnick and Ice T pump up the volume to industrial levels for ‘Un-Natural Disaster’, a song that retains the de-tuned, grungy feel of King’s X, while the spoken word rap of Ice T takes things down a darker street.

 

Collaborative musical projects run the risk of losing direction and focus, but Ciravolo takes the signature sound of each vocalist and adds his own textures to create an outstanding work of art that is both dark and cinematic and flows as a complete album.

‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’ is an album that celebrates the alternative late 80’s and puts a modern, edgy twist on a genre that has a place in the dark hearts of rockers, ravers and lovers the world over.

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