It's been a big week for our new favourite Germans, Velvet Rush, whose debut single Euphonia topped the most recent edition of our Tracks Of The Week contest, collecting an alarming number of votes as it did so. At this rate, they'll be headlining stadiums by April. Don't forget that you read about them first here, yeah?
The minor medals were shared by SKAM and The Quireboys, so well done to them. And well done to those who've made our new shortlist. They're below, eagerly awaiting some ear love.
Please don't forget to vote, down there, toward the bottom.
The New Roses - Hold Me Up
German hard rock troupe The New Roses join forces with Hot Damn! singer/guitarist Gill Montgomery on this heartfelt new ballad – all countrified yearning, warm guitars and massive, arm-swaying chorus, with just the right amount of cheese. "We tried to show the whole spectrum of rock & roll emotions,” the band say of the song’s parent album, Attracted To Danger. “Good times, hard times, the traditional road vibe, a ballad and some harder riffs. So If you wanna have a rock'n'roll party this record is the soundtrack for it."
Starcrawler - Learn To Say Goodbye
Teenage schlock-rockers turned cool, grungy alt noiseniks, Starcrawler spent their last tour cycle (for 2022’s Roadkill) in a world of major labels and A-listers – opening for Jack White and My Chemical Romance along the way. Now they’re back with their first independently released single, and it’s rather good. Tender yet propulsive, its fuzzy guitars and driving, caffeine-laced beat come with one of their most earwormy melodies yet.
Myles Kennedy - Saving Face
Another riffy banger from Myles’ rocked up new solo album, The Art Of Letting Go – the most arse-kicking ode to anxiety (seeing it, dealing with it and letting go of it) we’ve heard all year. Saving Face finds him in ruminative yet oomphy territory that wouldn’t feel out of place on an Alter Bridge record, albeit with more of a bluesy heart than you’d typically find with Tremonti and co. Catch him on tour in the UK in November, with Devin Townsend opening (two of rock’s nicest, most anxious blokes and biggest voices, on one bill? We’re in!).
Sonny Jim - Wrong Side Of Hell
Independent Welsh rockers Sonny Jim are back with the title track of their latest EP, and it’s a bit of a banger. Once again they sound like a much bigger band than they are, all deep-grooving, thick-set guitar crunch with a soaring, emotive performance from singer Jay Donagh – if Dave Grohl and AC/DC were lamenting the need to put rock’n’roll dreams on the backburner, in favour of paying the bills, they might have sounded like this. As they told us “we're not re-inventing the wheel, just trying to write killer no-nonsense rock tunes.” Mission accomplished.
Beth Hart - Wonderful World
Few singer-songwriters capture vulnerability like Beth Hart. On Wonderful World she celebrates the women in her family, showing ripples of her own, deep-set struggles in the process: the repeated lyric ‘I’m just living for you’ manages to be both hopeful and quietly heart-stopping. "Wonderful World was written for and about my beautiful niece," she says. "As time has gone by, I see that it's really written about the lineage of the women in my family. All of the generations; my great grandma, my grandma, my mom, my sisters, my niece and her daughter. So it's the lineage and how imperative it is for me to see that, and what a gift to finally see that."
Jerry Cantrell - I Want Blood
Flanked by one heck of a rhythm section – Duff McKagan on bass, Mike Bordin on drums – the Alice In Chains guitarist has a deliciously woozy, menacing rocker on his hands with the title track of his new solo album. “There’s a confidence to this album,” Cantrell says. “I think it’s some of my best writing and playing and certainly some of my best singing. There are large chunks of this record where I felt like my face was pressed to the ceiling of my abilities, operating at the top of my capacity.”
Ricky Warwick - Don't Leave Me in the Dark (feat. Lita Ford)
Thin Lizzy/Black Star Riders man Ricky Warwick kicks off the campaign for his upcoming solo album Blood Ties with an uplifting chunk of heartland rock featuring the legendary Lita Ford. "When I wrote the lyrics for Don’t Leave Me In The Dark I knew right away the song needed to be performed as a duet," says Ricky. "Lita instantly sprang to mind. I’m honoured that she agreed to be a part of it. She absolutely nailed it sonically and visually as I knew she would.” Bonus fact: that Hamer guitar in the video is the one Lita used to play in the Runaways.
Radioactive - Reset
The great producer "Mutt" Lange came out of retirement this year to work on the excellent Crossbone Skully album (out November 22), and look, here he is again, adding backing vocals to Reset, the new single from Swedish guitarist/songwriter/producer Tommy Denander a.k.a. Radioactive. Lange also co-wrote the song, which features a vocal from former MSG/Survivor frontman Robin McCaulery, while King Crimson/Peter Gabriel/Chapman Stick legend Tony Levin handles the bottom end. Reset is as slick as you'd expect considering the calibre of those involved, the kind of gleaming, atmospheric track that might've soundtracked a poignant, end-of-episode montage on Miami Vice had it been released in 1985.
