Erik Grönwall has enjoyed one helluva career, from singing with H.E.A.T, Skid Row and Michael Schenker, to winning Swedish Idol, to appearing in Jesus Christ Superstar. But we suspect that winning our most recent Tracks Of The Week contest might just be his greatest achievement. So we salute him.
You voted the Black Crowes and Whiskey Myers' cover of the Rolling Stones' Star Star into second place, while Bleeker's Great Unknown was third. So we salute them too.
Below, you'll find eight more combatants, raking their hooves in the mud and snorting, ready to charge.
Skindred - My People
Further proof of new album You Got This’ all-killer-no-filler status, in rocks My People. It’s exactly what we needed to start the week: a slamming, highly danceable cocktail of fat groovy metal, dancehall flavours, mic-wielder Benji Webbe in a big fluffy hat and the whole band having a marvellous time on the streets of London. You’d have to work hard to not like 'em, frankly. Heavy music is a weirder, noisier, more fun place with them in it.
King Kraken - Call To War
Welsh rockers King Kraken go full Clutch on this first new single since last year’s March Of The Gods, inspired by H.G. Wells’ immortal sci-fi epic War Of The Worlds. Tighter, punchier and groovier, it finds them elevating their founding stoney beefcake ingredients into their most commanding track yet (the flashy midway guitar solo feels a bit like it belongs in a different song, but it’s still Good Stuff so we can overlook that). A load more like this and they’ll be laughing.
Des Rocs - Fall Together
Imbuing those dark times we all face with a sense of poise, resilience and even triumph, the latest taste of Des Rocs’ new album To Hell And Back punches high and hard. Expect Queen-meets-Muse flavours, a touch of Zeppelin’s Kashmir and a tonne of feeling. “Sometimes you find yourself stuck in a place where no matter what you do, you’re gonna lose,” Danny Rocco (aka Des Rocs’ all-singing, all-riffing mastermind). “This song’s about that dead-end feeling, when both roads lead to the same place. Nothing good. It’s a heavy one, but it’s a real part of the story of this album.”
The Karma Effect - Ride Or Die
The Karma Effect get all snake-hipped and southern on this new piece of their next album, Cruel Intentions (out next month), like Aerosmith throwing a party at the Grand Ol’ Opry, with a touch of AC/DC in certain vocal parts. Mainman Henry Gottelier moonlights as a classic rock covers singer, and based on this it’s not hard to imagine him confidently doing a Paul Rodgers, a Steven Tyler etc etc. Like what you hear? One for windows-down drives this summer. Catch the band live up and down the UK this autumn.
Marisa & The Moths - Nothing’s Getting Better
Marisa Rodriguez and co turn a bagful of lemons into spiky yet sweet lemonade on this oomphy, melodic hard rock ode to the shortcomings in women’s healthcare. Whoever you are, though, it’s an anthem for humour and hope in the face of low points. “The song actually started out sounding really sad when I wrote it acoustically,” says singer/guitarist Marisa, who wrote this on the back of ongoing obstacles to proper endometriosis treatment. “But turning it into this upbeat emo anthem gave it a real sense of defiance – turning that pain into something powerful that other people can connect with.”
Jared James Nichols - Runnin’ Hot
Jared serenades an OAP, does a spin class, rocks out in a laundrette, eats a really hot sandwich and sneaks in a little Liquid Death product placement in the name of this galloping, cocksure bluesy rock’n’roller – co-written with Tuk Smith. No wonder he needs a sitdown in the slightly bizarre, drawn-out closing sequence, accompanied by booze, a candle, Charlie’s Angels, a hairdryer, some kind of lotion… Do we want to know what’s going on there? Probably not. Song’s a banger, though. His new album, Louder Than Fate, is out in June.
The Gnomes - Magic Man
Melbourne garage rockers The Gnomes return with a video that finds them looking like Status Quo circa Pictures Of Matchstick Men but sounding like a frantic, high-octane version of Status Quo circa Paper Plane. The video was filmed in The You Yangs – a series of granite ridges rising above the Werribee Plain 50km southwest of Melbourne – and stars a local studio owner in the title role. "He was coming off a massive bender at the time," says frontman Jay Millar. "It was the perfect vibe, he smashed it." More fun than orientation week at clown college.
Billy Talent - Limelight
In which Canadian alt.rockers Billy Talent cover Limelight by fellow Canucks Rush. Originally recorded last year for Amazon Prime's Monday Night Hockey coverage, it might not be enjoyed by those who think that note-for-note covers of classic songs are largely pointless, but their version is performed with so much joy and obvious affection for the original that it's difficult not to be charmed. "I’ve been listening to this song since I was a kid," says guitarist Ian D’Sa. "I always wanted to learn Alex [Lifeson’s] parts because it contains three of my favorite Alex riffs of all time."
