Sami Yaffa goes to The Innermost Journey to Your Outermost Mind

Sami Yaffa goes to The Innermost Journey to Your Outermost Mind

A guy who needs no introduction around these parts is SAMI YAFFA, best known for his work with New York Dolls, Michael Monroe Band and Hanoi Rocks has announced the release of his first solo album “The Innermost Journey to Your Outermost Mind”, out on September 22nd, 2021. The first single “The Last Time” will be released on June 11th via Livewire/Cargo Records.

“The Last Time is one of the first songs I wrote for this album when still living in Brooklyn NY back in 2015. It’s a story about two people whose communication is stuck. How hard it is to change one’s habits, no matter how much one wants it. It’s about the frustration and distress of addiction” – Sami Yaffa

 

 

Produced by Sam Yaffa. Mixed by Erno Laitinen. Mastered by Pauli Saastamoinen At Finnvox Studios. Recorded by Erno Laitinen / Sam Yaffa / Janne Haavisto / Jose “Puter” Puigserve.

Sami Yaffa has had a unique career as a musician. He joined the punk band Pelle Miljoona Oy at the tender age of 16 and played on the band’s now-legendary album Moottoritie On Kuuma. Pelle Miljoona Oy was Finland’s number one band at the time, but Yaffa and his future cohorts were aiming higher: as an original member of the band Hanoi Rocks, he spent the first half of the ’80s as an international rock musician with all its ups, downs and trappings. The band influenced many of the acts that would later become huge in the world of Rock n’ Roll – including Guns n` Roses.

After the break-up of Hanoi Rocks, Yaffa was asked to join some of the most notable artists in R’n’R history such as Joan Jett and The Blackhearts 2002-04, as well as one of Hanoi Rocks’ major influences, the New York Dolls 2004-10. In 2009 he started a band with the Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monroe. This collaboration continues to this day, but now Yaffa is also releasing music under his own name.

 

“The idea for the solo album started to take shape a few years back. Previously I had written music for the New York Dolls and the Michael Monroe Band, but now some of the songs that I was writing and had written started to sound more and more like my own stuff instead of what I would write for those bands.”

What kind of music does Yaffa release under his own name then? Versatile. “I’ve always loved bands like The Clash and Rolling Stones. They could write country, funk, reggae, rock`n`roll or jazz without fear and make it their own. I wanted to have that same kind of versatility and freedom for my own record.”

The album has wide influences, but that is hardly surprising to those who have followed Yaffa’s career: in addition to his own musical career, he has been getting to know the musical traditions from different parts of the world as the host and co-creator for the Sami Yaffa: Sound Tracker TV series. “However, my roots are deeply in punk and rock`n`roll. I don’t shy away from that.”

Even though it’s a solo record, Sami has always been a member of bands and because of that, a team player. Yaffa mentions a couple of names without whom the record would not have come to completion – at least the way it finally became. The first to mention is a childhood friend, drummer Janne Haavisto with whom Sami made his first forays into the world of music. Sami and Janne created the basic tracks together and invited valued friends and musicians to collaborate on the album. Rich Jones, the guitarist from the Michael Monroe band helped pull together a lot of the songs lyrically, Christian Martucci from the band Stone Sour played guitar on half of the album, the other half was played by another old friend Rane from the cult band Smack and Sami’s old bro from the Hanoi days, Timo Kaltio.

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If You can’t beat em join ’em – Spotify playlist for June

If You can’t beat em join ’em – Spotify playlist for June

 

This month on RPM we have plenty of awesome albums to review as well as celebrating important players who’ve had an impact on us all.

 

We’ve put together another playlist championing some of the records we’ve covered or will be covering as well as tipping the hat to some of our brothers who’ve passed away and people we won’t forget and if it makes you go investigate a back catalogue or discover new music then Awesome! that’s our job done.  Tell your friends – tell us – buy music and keep Rock and Roll Evil oh and stay sick!

Californian Singer-songwriter Jordan Jones has a record coming out via those good people at Beluga Records (Swe) and Spaghetty Town Records (USA) here is the first track taken from it and if it’s on those two labels then that’s good enough for us. 

Coming this week we have the fantastic new long player from The Satanic Overlords Of Rock And Roll reviewed by Gerald the record will be available from Savage Magic Records – Get in touch and let em know who sent you!

Whilst there is some fantastic new music coming at you this month we also tip the hat and pay tribute to some of our musical heroes who are no longer with us – the brilliant Nick Marsh, Stiv Bator and Dee Dee Ramone, Ronnie Lane and Roky Ericson who passed this month. Lives well worth celebrating I’m sure you’ll agree. What better way to remember them than to indulge in their music.

Back to new records released one of the best albums to hit the shops in June and a shift of gears from the day job, Duff McKagan released ‘Tenderness’ this month and Ben reviewed it for RPM. Whilst he rightly noted it won’t sell like GnR it’s right up there with the likes of Izzy Stradlin and the JuJu Hounds for quality so we’ve picked the title track to go in our playlist but think you should check out the whole record.

We also carried an interview with Birchy from Black Bombers who of course aren’t on Spotify neither are Gunfire Dance (both would be on our playlist if they were) so we’ve included another band he plays with currently and The Godfathers and their classic ‘Birth School Work Death’.

 

Back to the newer bands you might not have come across yet and for your listening pleasure, we have the stunning new album from The Sweet Things reviewed on RPM so we include one of the best songs on the album.  Coming up we have the review of Dangers Of Love have a listen in our playlist then order the record – you know it makes sense.  There is also a choice cut from the Bat!  June seems like a good minth to review a few compilation albums so we give you the tribute to Dead Moon out on Ghost Highway Records and it seemed like as good an opportunity to play one of the original tunes so we included Dead Moon ‘Walking On My Grave’.  Seeing as this week marks the passing of Stiv Bator and also the release on DVD of the movie ‘Stiv’ we’ve put ‘A Million Miles Away’ in this month.

With the sad news of the passing of Roky Erickson, we thought it would be fitting to include one of our favourite tracks from the guy so ‘If You Have Ghosts’ makes the cut  Rest In Peace Roky!

Before we sign off we thought we’d leave you with another banger and one to watch out for.  From the Spaghetty Town compilation record, we include RMBLR  and their epic tune ‘Next Time’ so until next time go check out some Rock and Roll via our playlist but better than that we hope you discover a new favourite band and go search out the record and support Rock and Roll buy buying off the bands and labels who are keeping Rock and Roll alive. Over and out.

So click the Spotify link give us a follow and spread the word.  Maybe we’ve missed someone you think should be making our playlist why not get in touch on social media or email us at rpmonlinetcb@yahoo.com

 

The Sweet Things ‘In Borrowed Shoes, On Borrowed Time’ (Spaghetty Town Records)

The Sweet Things ‘In Borrowed Shoes, On Borrowed Time’ (Spaghetty Town Records)

 

To say I have been looking forward to this album would be a massive understatement, their early singles over the past two years should have been blasting on every rock radio station in the world, and these guys should already be huge from the likes of ‘Love to Leave’ and ‘Slather.’ To be clear, my anticipation for the album would have made it easy to be disappointed in it, but my faith has been rewarded with an album that could very easily be my album of the year and is sure to be one that will remain in constant rotation for years to come. The Sweet Things have distilled the essence of rock n roll’s primal ingredients and then added their own secret spices to make it all their own. Comparison points definitely include the Rolling Stones and Guns N’ Roses, but those are not the only ones, for example, as I would say the spirit of Chuck Berry is essential to the band as well.

Lead video ‘Liquor Lightning’ kicks off the album in fine style as we hear the sound of bottles clinking together before a riff that encompasses the shambolic spirit of something like the Black Crowes ‘Thick n Thin’ gives way to Dave Tierney frantically spilling the words from the first verse over the riff in a race to the finish line. Everything then falls perfectly in time as the band is in fine form with the addition of some excellent piano work included behind them to give the song even more flavor. The reprieve in the pre-chorus provides even more urgency to the chorus as the horns explode in the background. The guitar solo is razor sharp and captures the Chuck Berry spirit before the band slam the chorus at us again. If someone asks for a song in the spirit of rock n roll, this can be it. Follow up ‘Dead or Worse’ slows the beat a bit and features some excellent harmonica work. Sam Hariss (also bass) provides the first verse on this one with his rasp being a perfect fit, similar to Izzy’s vocals in GN’R. The production gives the music plenty of space with Tierney taking over for the second verse before they combine vocals at the end. I hate to think how many times I have heard the live version of this on YouTube. The excitement and the vibe have translated over to the vinyl in remarkable fashion.

The title track takes us on a mid tempo journey with a timeless classic rock epic that immediately grabbed me with the band again receiving support from piano, horns, and some harmonica. Simply put, I do not understand how fans of early Black Crowes, Dogs D’amour, Quireboys, Faces, Rolling Stones could not be drawn in with this song. I have this urge to lift a glass in the air and singalong with this one every time it plays.  Another of the early release songs follows with ‘Almost Faded’ being another perfect rock n roll song with some horn work that would do 80’s era Hanoi Rocks proud. It is not a stretch to think Tierney (also guitar), Hariss, Lorne Behrman (guitar/ vocals), and Darren Fried (drums) had a cryptic meeting with someone down at the crossroads to come up with this album. The time that has gone into creating these songs and this album has paid dividends. If you are not singing along with ‘Almost Faded,’ I really do not know what to tell you other than your rock n roll spirit is apparently dead. Hyperbole? Give it a listen and find out for yourself. Wrapping up the first half of the album is ‘Dr. Crazy Girl’ whose guitar riff slowly builds before the song starts moving and conjuring the spirit of the New York Dolls. While perhaps not as monumental as the first four songs, this one keeps the momentum going nicely.

Flipping the record over introduces the classic rock infused ‘Drained.’ Again the band has really thrown in all the bells and whistles…. Okay, maybe it is all the horns and piano to create something really special that will still kick butt in the live setting without them. The chorus begs for a singalong from all of us listening. ‘Coke’n’ has been one they have played live which was originally done by Izzy Stradlin back on his 2002 ‘On Down the Road’ album and fits the Sweet Things like it was written with them in mind.  The groove is timeless and shows in terms of the songwriting the heart and soul that Izzy provided GN’R. This is another one just made for blasting out the windows wherever you are as everyone around you should be listening to it too. ‘Through the Cracks of the City’ is another I am familiar with as the band originally released it a couple years ago and have played it live. The hook simply sticks to you and does not shake loose, and the guitar riffs throughout the song are awesome.

‘Fix to Kick’ brings us to the final stretch of the album with the band making another timeless riff look effortless. The Sweet Things simply rawk in all the right ways with this being another classic chorus that they smartly do not use to overwhelm the music. It falls right in line with the music in the mix, giving it a great live feel. This has future single written all over it. Finale ‘Feed My Dog’ slows things down a touch with another slow burner that does not waste one second of its five minutes. The guitar licks are perfectly done and the extended musical section in the song gives me chills before the vocals come back to wrap up the album.

I wrote in another piece here on the site how several huge albums have come out in May between the Wildhearts, the Darts, Glam Skanks, and the Sweet Things. I only have the Glam Skanks yet to hear, but every album in that group has simply killed. This stands tall as an Album of the Year contender and beyond that really as the album is simply a timeless piece of art and a testament to the band. World dominance should be next for them as long as you give this a listen, buy it, and then let your friends, acquaintances, and even your enemies know about it as everyone needs this rock n roll in their lives.

 

Buy ‘In Borrowed Shoes On Borrowed Time’ Here

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Author: Gerald Stansbury

 

 

Happy Birthday Izzy Stradlin

Happy Birthday Izzy Stradlin

Well, we don’t want to always be reporting sad passings of Rock n Rollers we love sometimes we should celebrate some of the good guys who’ve had a big influence on what we’ve listened to over the years so today we’re celebrating the Birthday of Jeffrey Dean Isbell born on this day in 1962 in  Lafayette, Indiana to an engraver and phone company worker.  His folks divorced when he was just eight years old.

 

His first instrument was a drum kit after he was influenced by his grandmother and this led him to form a band with a guy named William Bailey (W Axl Rose) which was the beginning of a magical journey that was to see the pair become two fifths of the biggest band in the world at the time. In 1980 he moved to California and formed a punk rock band.  By ’83 Isbell had left the drums behind and moved onto bass and ultimately the electric guitar it was around this time he reacquainted himself with Rose and wrote ‘Reckless Life’, ‘Anything Goes’ and ‘Shadow Of Your Love’ three of Guns n Roses best songs as it goes and ones that have stood the test of time. Hollywood Rose morphed into Guns N Roses and the rest, as they say, is history. Stradlin was always considered the cool Keith Richards like member of Guns and its believed to have been the driving force for their better songs.  ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’, ‘Paradise City’ and ‘Patience’ to name a few. After the phenomenal success of Appetite Stradlin sobered up (allegedly) and by the time the band reconvened to push Use Your Illusions one and two he was losing interest.  Still, he was responsible for the best songs on the albums with the likes of ‘Dust n’ Bones’, ‘Don’t Cry’ and ’14 Years’ Stradlin in true Rock and Roll fashion upped and fucked right out the door never to return. 

It wasn’t the last of him of course as we got the magnificent Ju Ju Hounds album as well as a string of less successful albums throughout the ’90s a few of which were only released in Japan and then some only via the internet or Itunes but if you wanted to investigate he was still writing excellent rock and roll albums no bloated rock operas for Izzy just good honest three minute rock and roll tunes.

 

He has since cropped up contributing to Velvet Revolver but declining the offer to join the band permanently then in 2006 he got up with his former band and played a couple of tunes at a show in New York City.  A year later he released two albums in twelve months the excellent ‘Miami’ only through iTunes then at the tail end of the year he knocked out ‘Fire’ and acoustic album which took his output to an impressive eighth album. There were a further two Internet-only albums by 2010 before he played on the debut solo album from Slash before blowing out the Rock and Roll hall of fame when the band was inducted and the attention-shy songwriter had Duff read out a prepared press statement.  He then refused to join the reformed Guns N Roses due to the money not being shared equally between the band and I’d like to think without Adler in the engine room it wasn’t really a Guns N Roses reunion, was it?  with only three-fifths of the line up reforming so again good on Stradlin’ for sticking to his guns (no pun intended). He also refused to join the band onstage after turning up for soundcheck at a show but it was never confirmed if it was the show that Adler played a couple of classic tunes on.

So, right up to the here and now Izzy remains active in Rock n Roll having cropped up on the last Mellencamp album guesting on ‘Grandview’ so who knows whats next – Me I’d love to see him do a few club dates in the UK with the Ju Ju Hounds and play that debut album in full now that would be something really special.  Izzy if you’re out there get in touch RPM Online loves ya and wishes you a Happy Birthday.

Buy Izzy Stradlin Music Here

Also on this day Donita Sparks,  L7 was born in 1963.  Happy Birthday, Donita.