After a week in which Carmine Appice took aim at Motley Crue and Rick Allen was physically assaulted outside a hotel, Tracks Of The Week is here to remind you that rock music isn't all about beef and violence. Sometimes it's actually about music.
This was certainly true last week, when Rival Sons' new song Bird In The Hand took home first prize in our regular vote, swiftly followed by The Cold Stares' Got No Right and The Damned's Beware Of The Clown. And it all happened without punches being thrown or disparaging comments being made. Lovely.
Let's see if we can do the same this week, shall we?
Ayron Jones - Blood In The Water
He’s been turning heads for a few years, but there’s a kind of sense that rising Seattle star Ayron Jones is just getting started. Kicking off with a clean, mournful guitar line that made us think a bit of the Chili Peppers’ Under The Bridge, Blood In The Water swiftly escalates into something much more crushingly moody and epic. Ayron’s a damn fine singer as well as a guitarist to be reckoned with, and that comes through more clearly than ever in this song’s mighty choruses. He’s got a new album, The Chronicles Of The Kid, coming in June – definitely one we've got our eyes on.
James And The Cold Gun - My Silhouette
We caught these guys on tour with Those Damn Crows, and they went some way to supporting their ‘South Wales’ loudest group’ tag. Now they bring the noise with spadefuls of darkness on this stonking, smoke-filled new headbanger. It’s a bit like The Damned dragging The Hives to some dark, subterranean dive joint, with drum crashes and guitars sawing like knives through shadows – and all of it set to a chorus that gets in your chest.
Elles Bailey - Riding Out The Storm
Taken from the new deluxe edition of Elles’ album Shining In The Half Light, this gorgeous live rendition of Riding Out The Storm is the first time its full cast played it together in one room. Easily one of our favourite tracks on the album, it finds the Bristol singer-songwriter creating the sort of rock n’ soul suntraps you’d typically find in Beth Hart and Imelda May sets. That, and it’s got a sweet, stick-in-your-head chorus that we’re still singing into our coffee. Lush.
The Answer - Oh Cherry
Northern Ireland’s frontrunners of 21st century classic rock have just released new album Sundowners, and it’s a belter. If you’re looking for a particularly tasty first taste, Oh Cherry will set you up nicely – all-swinging, all-dancing Rn’B swagger and sass. Says frontman Cormac Neeson: “After seven years away we all came back fired up and the end result is an album we’ve been waiting to make our whole lives…full of good time rock’n’roll and positive energy created by four brothers who quite frankly just really missed each other.”
The Revivalists - The Long Con
“The Long Con is a song for the marginalised, the underrepresented and taken advantage of,” says singer/guitarist David Shaw, of this eight-strong New Orleans collective’s urgent, highly chantable call-to-arms – a bracing dose of soul-charged alt rock with heavy, bluesy bite and a socially astute heart. “It’s heartbreaking to see what’s happening in our country. I wanted to write a song that we could all sing together at our concerts, and truly feel connected and aligned. It’s a song for the people.” They’re big news in the States (upcoming gigs include three consecutive sold-out nights at Red Rocks) but much less so in the UK. Maybe this will be the year that changes…
Michael Catton - Ready For The Takin'
A proper chunk of old-fashioned melodic rock from former Tainted Lady singer Michael Catton, Ready For The Takin' sounds like a track that could have been a highlight on any recent Def Leppard album. Indeed, the song was influenced by the music its singer was listening to as he fell in love with music, which included Sheffield's finest and MTV-era Kiss. Written with Glenn Hughes' regular guitarist Soren Anderson, Catton says, "It’s a fun rocker and holds a special place in my heart, representing my teenage dream of releasing my own songs that has now become a reality”.
The Last Internationale - Ghettoway Driver
From new album TLI3 – out March 31, date fans – The Last Internationale's Ghettoway Driver has the kind of 80s sheen of Pat Benatar or Berlin, with banks of ice-cold synths giving the New Yorkers' latest venture a futuristic yet weirdly nostalgic kick. Delila Paz comes on like a cyborg Stevie Nicks, but she can sing better than most, and the advice from the band is sound: "Best heard blasting through your car speakers," they say. Presumably as you follow them around Europe on tour, from March 30.
The Tazers - In My Mind
South Africa isn't renowned for its garage rock, but perhaps The Tazers' new single In My Mind will change all that. It actually feels a bit Australian, with the lackadaisical vocal delivery of an otherwise frisky song bringing Sydney's Celibate Rifles or The Stems from Perth to mind. What it also has is a great "ooo-weee-ooo" bit you can sing along with without bothering to learn the words, and a psychedelic edge that takes it places you don't expect. "It's a song about global issues," says excellently-named singer Jethro Lock, "with relation to how your mind receives information and how it's all in your head at the end of the day."
