Episode Transcript
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 58, the last one of 2023 of the classic rock podcast. For those about to pod, we salute you on this last episode of the year. We have latest news. We have some new rock on the block for you.
And we have a review of 2023 where we look back at a events, songs, albums, gigs that we, Matt and I, have been to. But here he is.
You know about the elf on the shelf. This is Matt with the diamond head hat. Hello, Mr. Rogers. Merry Christmas to you. You have a good break.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: And a merry Christmas to you, Brian.
Yes, Christmas is not quite over yet, but, yeah, so far so good. How about you? Did you have a nice Christmas day?
[00:01:20] Speaker A: I love Christmas, too. Yes, lots of Christmas. Yes. I'm back in Ireland drinking lots of Guinness and my mum's making me lots.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Of cups of tea. Oh, lovely. Yeah, I can see you're in a different location. You threw me there because you normally got that picture of Princess Diana behind you, haven't you, in your home office?
[00:01:41] Speaker A: It's Kenny doll gleesh.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Anyway, happy Christmas and a merry new year. Hny. We can start saying hny soon. That'd be nice.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: Do we have to? We have to do that hny thing.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Yes, I'm afraid we, uh. A few things have happened since we last spoke. So kiss eventually, finally, have played their last ever gig. Well, as a human entity, as it were. But they played their last gig in New York City on the 2 December, which I suppose is quite appropriate because they formed in New York. I think we touched on that last time in the context of the letter k. No, a to z, of rock this time, by the way, boys and girls, because obviously we're doing the review of the year.
But, yeah, the last gig in NYC at the Garden. And apparently it went down very well, as you can imagine. But during the course of that show, they unveiled the new era of kiss as avatars, in the same vein as Abba have become avatars.
What do you think about that? What do you make of bands kind of carrying on as avatars? Brian?
[00:03:01] Speaker A: I wish kiss had taken a little bit of a break from.
They do the last gig and then it's like coming up next week, get a cinnamon aru. Or here's the virtual kiss, at least with ABBA. Abba's last gig was, what, 1977?
And they split up in 1983. There's a fair amount of waiting before ABBA, you know, did their avatar thing. I'm not a fan, Matt. I have to say, live music is live, but I have to say, of anybody who's ever been to the ABBA Voyage show, which is in London at the moment, everybody's thought it was brilliant, but. So who am I to if that's how the next generation of rock fans can get to see a band like kiss who will never tour again?
Fair play. I just hope they don't.
Hope they're not going to be charging like, 100 pounds, $100 to go and see an avatar and just see it as a money making exercise. That's my only fear about these things. You.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I tend to agree. And I also agree with Ace. Frailey. Is it Frailey or Frailey Fraley?
Frailey. I've been saying it wrong all my life.
I tend to agree with Ace Fraley.
I don't think you're supposed to emphasize the Fraley, are you?
I agree with Ace. Ace, who said in a german interview, or interview with a german publication called Rock Antennae. It's quite an interesting name. Anyway, he doesn't like it. He's dismissed it. He says he's not very rock and roll. And I tend to agree. I was under the impression that kiss were going to continue as a kind of a brand, as a sort of franchise, in that they get four new guys on, four new guys in, four girls, but four new people in and continue with someone else dressed as the dickyman and someone else dressed as the Starchild and so on.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: But anyway, I have to say I was slightly disappointed that there was a little part of me that was thinking, last ever show. It would have been nice if they could have let bygones and Ace and Peter Chris come out and maybe do a couple of songs or even change the set. They did nothing different between the tour that went around Europe that I was lucky enough to see kiss on this last tour, but they did nothing different. Matt.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: And I would have thought for the last ever show ever, New York City. They're a seminal New York band. They did nothing.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Anyway, moving on.
In other news now, you've got to enjoy this. So this is the latest and a long line of those sort of. Sort of star musicians that have got together to form. What's that thing called, Brian? Everyone gets together in super grip. That's it. Thank you. Thank you now. Yeah. New band called whom gods destroy.
Interesting name. Anyway, this is the brainchild of Derek Shiridian, keyboard player with, amongst others, dream theater and black country communion. Ron Bumblefoot, foot thal. It's difficult to say. It's quite a tongue twist, that one. And the guy you think is one of the greatest vocalists ever, Dino Gelusic, have got together with Yash Nomura and Bruno Valverde to form whom gods destroy.
I don't know whether we need another super group, Brian, but I suppose sons of Apollo have apparently finished one in, one out, I guess.
And they've got a new album coming out next year called Insanium, out in March.
It's prog metal. Apparently.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: That's a new genre. Praggy Prague metal.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Yes, indeed. Sunday morning. Sunday morning, proggy prog metal. Metal.
Can't even say it. What's wrong with me today?
I'm breaking these teeth in. They're quite new.
Yes. Sunday morning, proggy prog metal featuring whom God's destroyed. You must be excited about that, Brian. You love a super group, don't you?
[00:07:40] Speaker A: I love a super group.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: They're probably with frontiers as well, aren't they? I don't know who they're with. But you haven't mentioned them for a while. You must be.
You're slipping.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: I am slipping. Do you know what? If I were a betting man, I would say that they're not on frontier records and they're probably on inside out music.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: Well, you've done your homework, haven't you.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: Matt?
You're absolutely right.
I've heard a few snippets on TikTok and Instagram, because that's what, obviously, you and I are old school. We're Facebook and Twitter.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: They have got an Instagram account, by the way. Did you know that?
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Probably. That's one you probably use more than me. But the kids.
The kids.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Did you see them over Christmas?
[00:08:27] Speaker A: I didn't see the kids over Christmas.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: Me neither. No, I got a present from them.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: We did.
So it'll be heavy.
Dino likes his heavy slip. Naughty tool. It'll be very heavy.
And Bumblefoot and Derek Sherinian and some of their solo stuff. And some of the material on Sons of Apollo was really dark. And I just think that this album will be. It will not be Sunday morning Prague. It will be Friday night scare night.
Complicated.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: I'm looking.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Hey, I'm looking forward to it. I love Dino. Dino is amazing singer.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I know you'd be looking forward to it. Anyway, more to come on whom gods.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: Destroy and talking about. That's a new band, but I suppose finally.
Yes, finally.
Bon Scott is getting honored in a tribute concert in January, which I know he's got his in the UK. There's the lovely statue up in Kiri Muir for Bon. And they have bonfest every year, but it's nice that they're finally in the mainstream, going to do a Bon Scott tribute concert and there's some big headers that are going to be there at the two hour show. Scott Ian from Anthrax, Dave Lombardo, probably the best drummer that's ever played with Metallica.
Controversial Josh Freeze, JB Cannon. It's fabulous. I'm looking forward to.
Hopefully there'll be some streaming of that and that we'll be able to see it as well, too. So I thought that was nice that with all of the activity around AC DC, will they? Won't they? And the power trip show. It's nice that there's a little bit of love being shown to bond.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: Absolutely. Couldn't agree more.
All righty. That was the rock news.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: So, Matt, we come to new rock on the block and you are going to be reviewing for us the last album from Bernie Marston, working man. What did you think of that?
[00:11:02] Speaker B: That's right, yeah. Sadly, obviously recorded before he died earlier this year.
Working man.
It's all classic birdie, really. It's got that sort of blues tinged rock americana vibe about it.
Double album actually was quite nice. I got a vinyl copy.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Yeah, which is lovely.
You got lots of vinyl of it?
[00:11:33] Speaker B: I have four sides, four sides of vinyl. Got some good songs. He's made that cardinal sin. I never like songs that rock stars write from an autobiographical basis. I e so tough being famous, as in the introductory song called being famous. But it's got some good balance on. It's got a really good song called long time, which he writes about meet someone he hasn't seen for a long time. Midtown's pretty cool song.
There's a few instrumentals on here, actually. Interestingly, we talked about the song Steel House Mountain a few episodes ago that he wrote about his affinity with Steel House, as in the Steelhouse festival, which is up a mountain for those who've never been or never even come across it, which is pretty good. Song called the Pearl. Quite like that. It's quite nice. Shades of kind of Peter Green. He's a massive fan of Peter Green, of course. So a bit sort of early Fleetwood Mac vibe to that. He does a song with brilliant singer called Jamie Kyle, who I'd never heard before. She's a Nashville kind of sort of starlet, if you will, in the making or star in the making.
She's on a song called Invisible, which is pretty good.
A couple of songs that you think could be classic white snake, a song called just Sorry, who's fooling who is a bad reputation. A very kind of white snakey.
Obviously, everything's written by Bernie Marsden, so there's no Coverdale. Sort of no Coverdale involved, as it were. However, until the final disc, or the final side of the second disc, I should say, where he covers a few white snake classics. Here I go again. Ain't no love in a heart of the city, which, of course, was the COVID of the old bobby blue bland song till the day I die. Interesting choice to be put on this album. Of course, it's a posthumous release from great man, but one of their songs, I think that's from come and get it. I think time is right for love and common in my kitchen. So all songs that were written with the mighty cove back in the day. So all in all, a good album. It's got that kind of Sunday morning kind of laid back groove about it.
I know we talk about Sunday morning quite a lot, don't we? But it's got that sort of laid back vibe. You can have it over the background. It's quite a cool kind of atmospheric album. His playing instrumentally is fantastic. I mean, he was a magnificent guitarist, of course, both acoustically and electrically. I mean, you played the guitar not very well, as we established many times, but you must appreciate how good his guitar playing is on this album. So I think at the end of a magnificent career for Bernie Marsden and the gatefold, it's got a brilliant gatefold sleeve, the double vinyl. It's got pictures from his career going back to pace Ashton and Lord and Cozy Pell's hammer and obviously white snake and so on. So it's a nice sort of nice kind of tribute, in a way, to the great man. A nice epitaph, if you will.
What did you think of it, Brian? Briefly.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: Briefly, for somebody in the last few years?
[00:14:59] Speaker B: I say briefly because we've got a lot to get through.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: We have a lot.
You're absolutely.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: No offense.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: No, that's okay.
Bernie spent the last few years focused on the blues. He did three chess album, he did the King's album, the Chess albums, the trio's album. So he was really rooted in the blues. And this album comes out and when I listened to it, it's very commercial. It's like commercial blues. We're in Joe Bonhamassa territory.
It's not rough, it's smooth, it's radio two, friendly.
And as you quite rightly say, it's when he brings in and he's a very good. Bernie's always been a good singer, but when he brings in Jamie to a song like invisible.
When Bernie's songs are sung by a great singer, it lifts it up a notch. And I think that sums up Bernie's career for me, because when he's been working with amazing singers like the COVID and with White Snake, you can see where those songs were. The songwriting talent of Bernie Marsden when he did it with Alaska and when he went solo himself, etc. He just. Great songs, but there was never that great singer that was left in those songs. So a lot of these songs are great, brilliant tribute to him. And I could see some of these songs ended up being covered by country artists or members of the Eagles were in that sort of sphere. But, yeah, a lovely tribute to Bernie. And as you say, disc two is peppered with a few of the white snake classics and a few songs from his earlier career. So, yeah, nice tribute to Bernie.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: Yes, indeed. So that brings us to the second album we're going to review, bright, which I asked you to review it because you've been listening to it avidly last few days by Andy Taylor. Now, Andy Taylor was the original guitarist in Durandaran, and since he left Durandran, he's moved into production. Prior to that, he was with the power station, with Robert Palmer, of course, and in recent times he's produced Watunda, he's worked with Reef and many more, and amazing instrumentalist, and he's brought out this new album called man's a Wolf to man.
What did you make of it, Brian?
[00:17:41] Speaker A: Matthew, if this album had come out in January of 2023, I can probably bet that in my Spotified rapped that this would have been the most listened to album on my Spotify, because man's Wolf to Man, it's Andy's third solo album, first in something like 30 years on first listen. And it's a DIY album. It's something he made in the pandemic. And that's right, here's me tinkering about and recording with a bont tempe keyboard and an acoustic guitar, and all my recordings sound rubbish. But Andy Zealor's been. He's made something in his back shed and it sounds fantastic. It's a great album. The first thing off the bat is vocally. I couldn't believe when I heard the first couple of tracks, how much Andy Taylor sounded, or there was just the inflections of David Bowie. Oh, yeah, there was just so.
It was quite staggering how close to boy was. Now, I am a big fan of Andy. We've even had Andy as a hidden gem in earlier episodes. So I haven't been a massive fan. I'm a massive fan of the power station. His guitar playing is great, but the singing on this album is just better than anything that Andy's ever done before. And the songwriting superb.
Gary Stringer from Know turns up on the album as well too. And Gary's a great singer. Some of the really rocky tracks on the album. And then Tina arena turns up and Andy and Tina do a duet on the album as well too.
The track being try to get even and got to give is a track with Gary Stringer. It's an eleven track album, Matt. It's just well written, well arranged, well produced and well sang. And Andy's had a tough year.
Yes, indeed. He didn't make the Rock and Roll hall of Fame.
He had the benefit concert where Robert Plant sang stairway to heaven for an amazing amount of money.
And I'm kind of hopeful that I know Andy, he's going through some therapy at the moment for his cancer and things are going well, better for him. And I'm kind of hoping that this album allows him to maybe do some live show, do some recording. I know that he's working again with the guys in just. It's just great to see him, with everything that's gone on his life, produce a work like this. Fantastic album. Fantastic.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: What do you think about?
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Yeah, well, like you, I loved it. It was fantastic. Got everything going on in it. Of course, as you say, it's got a bit of bowie kind of vibe to it, bit of Elton John sort of feel to it. And those guys, the Duranderan guys, spanner ballet guys, they grew up with that sort of early 70s glam rock, dare I say? And we're clearly influenced by the likes of Elton John and Mark Boland and clearly David Bowie. On this album. My favorite song off the album you touched upon it is the duet with Tina arena, one of my favorite singers. She's just a fantastic singer. Try to get even is just mean. The title track's good. It's just all good.
And you say it's great. He's got stage four prostate cancer. He's having treatment to kind of contain it, as it were.
And obviously that's an amazing piece of work considering that we came across it. I've got to give a shout out to the other podcast that we listened to, the rock on tours, an amazing interview with him. If you get a chance, boys and girls, have a listen to Andy Taylor or the Rock and Tours podcast because it's a very raw interview and he just comes across fantastically. They talk about this album.
Where's he been hiding that voice all these years? And you have to say, wow. Yeah. I mean, it's fantastic. So, yeah, check out man's a wolf to man by the great Andy Taylor. So, Tina arena, she's from Australia.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: I do indeed. I've got a couple of albums I genuinely love. Tina Rena.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: Oh, me too, me too.
Was it I'm in chains. That was a big hit.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: I actually have the single Matt.
I have the single chains. And there's a single that she brought.
The single is very, very aor melodic called. Is it hold out my.
Yeah, I love that album.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: I was thinking more of whistle down the wind. She did an amazing version of that song. But I've often wondered whether, back in her native Australia, if they opened a venue in her name, whether it be the Tina arena or the Tina arena. Arena.
That's been playing on my mind anyway.
Should we move on?
[00:23:35] Speaker A: Let's move on.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: That's brilliant.
So, Brian, it's become an annual tradition that we review the year that has passed. We're not quite out of 2023 yet, but we're going to look back at the year that has just been.
So we're going to look at the event of the year, our gigs of the year, song of the year, and I'm going to run down our top ten albums of the year. That's new.
And we're also going to look forward to 2024 and think about what might be coming our way in terms of gigs, albums and who knows what. Interesting. Looking back at our predictions for this year, strangely enough, we were interested in the Getty Lee autobiography, which came out a few weeks ago. We talked about Bruce Dickinson. He's got a new album coming out next year, which I suppose a little bit late, but still good. He's had a lot on his plate with Iron Maiden and everything.
What else we talk about? We talked about going to see priest and Ozzy. Now, that never happened, did it? Unfortunately, for reasons that we touched upon Ozzy's health, sadly. But we're not too bad with our predictions. Let's see how we get on with the 2024 prediction.
[00:24:44] Speaker A: Exactly. We also predicted that bad company would put out some material in 2023. But we didn't get bad company, but we got Paul Rogers.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: That's right. I think we're also looking forward to AC DC. And that's one of my main events of the year, was the return of AC DC at the Power Trip festival. I called it the power up festival. The last episode, which, of course, was the last album, I think, from them. Anyway, you can forgive that slip of the tongue, but the power trip festival and that, of course, sparked lots of conjecture as to whether there's going to be a tour or gigs or festivals. We touched upon it, obviously, many times we'd have to go over it. And of course, the mayor of Munich let the cow out of the bag, as it were. But, yeah, I mean, wow, fantastic. Great to see AC DC back, of.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: Course, and another band that featured quite a lot in 2022 for us, which was one of our events of the year, which was the Foo Fighters. I suppose, in some ways, an event of the year, was finally the unveiling of Josh Freeze as the drummer of the Foo Fighters. And they put out, remember, on social media, on YouTube, a video where Tommy.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: Lee demand from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Yes. Chad's your man. Your man, Chad.
Your man, Chad. And then, what do you call dawn? Fellow from Motley Crue, Tommy Lee.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: Thomas Lee.
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Tommy Lee. And then Danny Kerry from tool. And they all come into the studio and then the camera just switches around to Josh Freeze and says, guys, you were going to play some music. Which was the unveiling of Josh Freeze as the new drummer for Foos, which I thought was a nice event based on what the Foos went through in 2022.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Typical kind of tongue in cheek stuff from Dave Grohl and the boys. Of course, on a personal note, I went to see an up close and personal.
Can you still say that? Up close and personal? Anyway, I went to see an acoustic session by the rival sons, courtesy of a friend of ours, Matt. He invited me along, seen him at the Planet Rock studios. That was quite something. Seeing Jamie Cannon and Scott holiday playing literally 10ft away from me, that was amazing. I mean, on a personal note, that was quite something.
On a random note, of course, we bumped into. Well, I bumped into rob Taylor at the call of the Wild festival, and Rob is the owner of Scotland Rocks radio, one of the owners and folks that run the station. And subsequently we've been on Scotland rocks radio since the summer, which is great. Thanks for having us, guys.
[00:27:29] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: On every third Tuesday, of course, which is great about you. Brian, any more big events?
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Oh, yes, one of the events of the year. We did lots of festivals this year. We'll maybe get into some of that around gigs, but probably one of the events of the year, which shows you the roller coaster emotional ride of a rock career, was the Motley Crue, def Leppard and Mammoth. WVH package that came to the UK.
Mammoth WVH on the back of Wolfie's second album were stupendous. Anybody that follows Mammoth has got to be on their metal and be on top form, because they just slayed everybody. To which def Leppard didn't do. Too bad. Def Leppard came out. Def Leppard came out, played the hits, played a few tracks off diamond star halos and did a very efficient professional job. Matthew. And we got what we expect from Def Leppard.
Then Motley Crue comes on the stage and that's where the roller coaster starts hitting the skids, where you're getting cover versions and medalies of COVID versions, and Tommy Lee and Nikki six spending what felt like 4 hours chatting to the audience and chucking drumsticks and plectrums into the audience and going, hey, UK, you're amazing. And not playing a lot of music. So that was an event for me for a lot of reasons, around how rock bands should do shows and how they shouldn't.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I tend to. So did you have def Leppard after Mammoth?
[00:29:19] Speaker A: No. Yes, Mammoth opened, def Leppard was second and Motley Crue closed was.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: I guess it was a double headlight. Yeah, we had the other way around in London, which is a bit more appropriate. But I quite enjoyed Motley crue. First time I'd ever seen them. But yeah, they are what they are. They're good fun.
Yeah. So those are the events of the year so far?
[00:29:48] Speaker A: No, your favorite gigs of the year, Matthew?
[00:29:52] Speaker B: Yes, well, went to a few, actually. I went to one a few weeks ago. We didn't mention it at the time because you didn't have time, but I went to rockstock. That was fun. Down in Trekko Bay in Wales. Saw a lot of our tried and trusted know the Graham Bonnet Band and Michael Schenker doing an amazing UFO set. And obviously solo career set and closed by your friend Glenn Hughes doing a deep purple set, which is pretty good.
But I've got to mention some up and coming bands or some new bands I saw while I was there. Night demon, California.
Cross between sort of iron Maiden and Metallica. Check them out. Night demon. They do a brilliant version of the sun goes down. They also cover, would you believe, lighting to the nation's bride by Diamond Head. I was talking to the drummer. It's also called Brian. What my wife and I were talking to. Nice guy, actually. Very long hair for a drummer. I always think drummers should have short hair because otherwise the sticks would get tangled in it. Anyway, he took his shirt off, which is very brave in the middle of winter in Wales, I have to say. But anyway, good. Lazuli French Prague band. They're amazing. Mesmerizing. A band from Holland called Dwarf. We talked about them before.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: They're brilliant piece.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: Yeah, fantastic. I booked their triple live album when I was there.
After a few drinks, of course. Cassidy. Paris was great. The blue Lena. They were good. Kind of bluesy, praggy band. I'll chat with them afterwards. They're pretty cool.
And back with the hot one too, who I shall come on to later on. Okay. But yeah, great festival. Other gigs briefly saw dirty honey, top three. Dirty honey. I saw them earlier this year. I thought it was last year, actually, but it was very early in January of this year. They were pretty good. Maid of Stone, the inaugural made of Stone festival at Maidson, our spiritual home bride, the home of rambling man. They twisted things around 90 degrees. So it's a bit off putting because for half the gig I was facing the wrong way.
There's a stage that's down there. Felt two stages, one at each end, but both at 90 degrees to where it used to be. But my gig of the year was iron Maiden at the two in London. Sounds absolutely magnificent. Doing songs off of sinjutsu, which is up there with my list of favorite made albums and songs from somewhere in time, of course. Brilliant set. And it's a far cry since I saw Iron Maiden in 1981 when I was in row three, I think, if I recall. And my hair was in row 15.
But great. Fantastic. I made my gig of the year two. Fantastic. How about you, bright?
[00:32:43] Speaker A: I've just pictured you at made of stone, Matt with a map out going.
[00:32:47] Speaker B: True.
[00:32:48] Speaker A: Going. The stage was here last year. The stage was here last time we were here. The stage was where? But we can hear music coming. But where's. Oh, it's right there.
It's behind you.
[00:33:00] Speaker B: Exactly how it happened. You need to come next year in 2024. It's a good festival. Got some good acts next year, as you know.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Absolutely. Anyway, Mr. Big.
[00:33:09] Speaker B: Mr. Big, Mr. Big.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: I have a cornucopia, a smorgasbord of gigs that I went to of note, and I do indeed.
I'm going to start off with.
[00:33:25] Speaker B: The.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Final gig of kiss in the UK was in Glasgow.
The first and the last time that I'll ever see Kiss. They were amazing.
Kiss were an event in themselves and I'm so pleased I got to see them. Peter Gabriel. I went to see Peter Gabriel in Birmingham.
For a lot of reasons. Peter Gabriel was just amazing.
But my top three gigs of the year I'm going to kick off with the band who surprised the hell out of me. And we talked about this band with Chrisombi from Stone Dead festival was a band called Duraps. So Duraps, a canadian band. The first time they'd ever played in Europe, not just the UK. And they came out sort of mid afternoon and played basically a Van Halen set. And they just tore stone dead up. And they did cover versions of I think it was blockbuster by the suite. They did hot for Teacher by Van Halen. And it's lovely to see a band come out and just shred and sing and you'd never heard of them. And they were brilliant. So duraps were my number three gig of the year. Number two gig of the year was Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden were amazing. In the oval hydro in Glasgow.
Probably my favorite era of Maiden. Around the somewhere in time album. It's just some great stuff on that album.
Bruce was just singing off the charts. And the fact that Nico wasn't fully fit to get through that tour was fantastic. So great. And only pepped. Iron Maiden were only pepped by Blur. I got to see Blur and Newcastle city hall, which is one of my favorite venues to go and watch. And Blur played Newcastle City hall for about 2000 people. And they tore the riff off the place.
And it was just special to be able to see a Glastonbury headliner in a theater. And they sounded great. So those are the three mentionable gigs for me in 2023.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: Very good. A couple of notable mentions because you mentioned Glastonbury headlines. Of course you saw the mighty Cassabian, didn't you?
NYC notable mentions for me quickly saw the darkness of Blackstone cherry. That was a strange kind of coupling as it were.
They were good though. Darkness always put a good show. Blackstone cherry, ditto. Saw skin dread for the first time at the aforementioned maid of stone. I managed to focus on the stage by that point. Turn around through 90 degrees. There they were. They were good. And then on the other stage it's got two stages. Really good. One at the top of the hill, one at the bottom of the hill. And the top of the hill was Robert John and the wreck. They were great. So check out those bands if they come play near you. Of course. Any of those.
[00:36:36] Speaker A: Anybody.
And we go to Steel house every year. A shout out to everybody who hung around all weekend.
Especially those people who stood.
Who stood in the rain and not under the canopies and watched all of the bands on Sunday. You deserve, if we did, medals. And for those about to. Pods, we salute you. You all deserve a medal for standing in that rein on the day.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: It's a good point, actually. Yeah. I remember vividly standing under that canopy, which is there band to keep the sun off people. Everyone was huddled under it like refugees. And during the Troy Redford set, we touched on this. And that canopy is about 40 yards back from the stage. Not 40ft. I think it was a mention at the time, about 40 yards back, and there was a few diehards on the barrier watching Troy Redford. It was great, by the way. Troy Redford. Fantastic. Fantastic act. Deserved a better audience, although they were huddle, but, yeah, brilliant call the wild festival. Went there for the first time. That's pretty good to call the wild. That's on again next year.
Or if you're listening in 2024. This year, that's got a good bill this year coming out or next year coming up. So that'll be fun. Might go there again, actually. We'll be in. Well, so that was the gigs of 2023, Brian, which brings us to song of the year.
That's tough choice, wouldn't it, really?
What you got for us?
[00:38:07] Speaker A: My song of the year, Matthew, and.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: I'm going to do top three first.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: Top three, okay. Top three songs for me of the year will be in third position.
[00:38:24] Speaker B: Yes. You expected a drum roll?
[00:38:28] Speaker A: I'm going to go with off the Foo Fighters album track, which Dave sang with his daughter Violet. Show me how is my number three.
Number two, I am going to go with rise by extreme.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: Good choice.
[00:38:47] Speaker A: And number one for me is not take a bow.
It's take a bow from Mammoth WVH.
That is just stupendous track. And more for Wolfie's amazing singing. His guitar playing is exemplary in his musicianship, but his singing took it up a notch on his second album. I thought he was fabulous.
My track of the year is take a boy by mammoth. Wvh your tracks, Matt?
[00:39:22] Speaker B: Well, good choices there, Brian. By the way, I don't have any of those on my list, which is good.
Number three.
I've got joint third place, actually.
I'm going to have 4321.
Indulge me. So what set me alive by dirty honey. I love that song. Great album.
[00:39:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:42] Speaker B: This is now by Anne Wilson. We touched upon that, didn't we? An epic song in about three and a half minutes. Amazing song. The road to Hell by the dust. Coder is my number two now, I saw those a few weeks ago at the aforementioned planet rockstock. They closed their set with this song. It's an absolute ripper of a song. So the road to hell, not to be confused, of course, with the fantastic Chris rear road to hell. Completely different song.
We'll put both on the podcast, as usual, and you can compare and contrast. But my number one by some distance. And this was a nailed uncertainty very early on in the year. And I saw these guys a few weeks ago, and this was the highlight of the gig. I saw Greta Van Fleet with my friend Nick and Matt. He was there. Hello, everyone. If you're listening, meeting the master is my song of 2023.
You got to do this. You predicted that would be my number one. I think I touched on it. I absolutely love this song. It is amazing. Fantastic vocals by Josh Kisker. Brilliant song, atmospheric, uplifting, you name it, it's got everything.
A lot of people will be surprised, actually, that I've chosen this. I was quite disparaging about Greta Van Fleet when I went to see them, but they're 15 minutes guitar, so loads and everything. But this song was the standout of their set and absolutely brilliant. So meeting the master by Greta Van Fleet is my number one song of 2023. So, Brian, that brings us to our top ten albums.
All right, pop pickers, dot off.
I think, for a change.
We'll do our top ten.
You do yours, I'll do mine, and then we'll kind of. I suppose we'll end up with a sort of unanimous verdict as to what's number one. I don't know that's going to work, but let's try it anyway. What's your top ten albums of the year, Bry?
[00:41:45] Speaker A: I'm kicking off with number ten, rival sons, dark Fighter, who you saw this year. Fabulous album.
[00:41:53] Speaker B: That's great album.
[00:41:54] Speaker A: Great album.
[00:41:56] Speaker B: By the way, we're going to put tons of these songs on the playlist. Of course. It's going to be great for hours.
[00:42:02] Speaker A: It could do, could do, could do. Would you like me to go with number nine, then?
[00:42:06] Speaker B: My number ten is Paul Rogers and Midnight Rose. We reviewed that a few episodes ago, actually, didn't we? That's a great album. They love the great man and his birthday just before Christmas. And we wished a belated happy birthday to the great man, 75 years old, Paul Rogers on the 17 December.
So, yeah, Paul Rogers. Fantastic. Midnight Rose. What you got for number nine, Brian? Number nine?
[00:42:33] Speaker A: I'm going with a band who return, a joyous return to form, not twelve days of Christmas, but 72 seasons of metallica. Their album, Fabulous Matt, it's just a return to form. Well produced, older, thrashier. Yeah, I love that.
That's my number nine.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: Older, thrashier. Sunday morning thrash.
We're talking of metal, actually. Number nine is the band we saw at Steelhouse, strangely enough, in the mud. I think they put it done better in the sun, because they are kind of that sort of band, but elegant weapons. Their first album, horns for a halo, with Ronnie Romero and Rich Faulkner from Judas Priest, of course. Great album. Again, we reviewed that. Did we? Quite like that.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: We did.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: Got some good songs on it. Of course we did indeed.
That's my number nine. We got it for number eight.
[00:43:35] Speaker A: Number eight has already been mentioned in dispatches, which was one of your songs of the years, which is the track this is now, which is off Anne Wilson and Tripsetter's album another day. That album is tremendous. There's a track on it which nearly met my shortlist of top songs, reign of Hell.
Fabulous Anne Wilson is in top form. So, yeah, that's my number eight album. Matt, what's your number eight?
[00:44:06] Speaker B: Well, I'm going with a band that we attached upon. Two piece from Canada who we came across.
We love their album Fearless by Crownlands.
A bit rushy, but there's nothing wrong with that. Clearly influenced by the Toronto three piece, these guys are from just outside of Toronto and I was there in the summer. That was one of my events of the year. Fantastic Toronto. Loved it. Loved her minute, but didn't bump into these guys, unfortunately. But, yeah, Crownlands album, fearless. Absolute classic. Good stuff. That's my. That's my number eight.
[00:44:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:44:42] Speaker B: Number seven. Brian, we got. Yep.
[00:44:44] Speaker A: Finally, Matthew, I know this is going to put a big smile on your face.
Inhale and exhale from those damn crows are number seven for me.
A very mature album from the guys. They're just getting better and better and better.
So you've grind me down.
[00:45:07] Speaker B: Only taken five years.
[00:45:08] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:45:10] Speaker B: Since we saw them at opening the aforementioned rambling man festival. Of course, yeah.
Come see them, everyone. They're great. The first band on. Really? Who? Those damn. What? All right. There's no one else on. Might as well watch them in a tent. That was when I saw that guy, the other guy who had his king's x t shirt on, who's standing over to our left, said, brian. Brian, look, it's a king's x fan. Go and talk to him. Come here, mate. Come and talk to him.
I may or may not have had a couple of drinks at that stage. Where were we? Seven.
Greta van Fleet. Starcatcher for me.
Is it called Starcatcher? Yes.
Great album. Great album. Not so good live, but good album. We're saying number six. Brian, what you got?
[00:45:55] Speaker A: I've gone with Crownlands, who you spoke about earlier. I've gone with their album Fearless, which is just rushtastic.
[00:46:05] Speaker B: Indeed.
6th place for me is the dust coder with loco paradise.
Again. Good album. A good sort of step forward for them as a band.
I bumped into Adam Mackey of duskoder in very intense person. Adam met a few times, actually. Nice guy, but, yeah, their album's pretty good and they played a few songs of it. I think. Let's take them to the next level.
The dust coder local paradise, featuring the aforementioned road to hell, of course.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:46:38] Speaker B: One of my songs of the year. Yeah.
[00:46:40] Speaker A: Five extreme in at five extreme with their album six.
[00:46:49] Speaker B: They know more. Yeah, we enjoyed that. It's got some great shredding by fabulous. Great man Uno. I saw them before Christmas. They were fantastic in London. Brilliant stuff.
Where were we? Five for you. Five.
The second by Wolfgang and his friends mammoth. WBH. It's a great piece of work, isn't it, you're going to touch upon? Sure.
[00:47:13] Speaker A: I am indeed.
Number four for me. I'm going with the album that we reviewed earlier on the show. I'm going with Andy Taylor's man's a wolf to man. That's my number. Fourth album. It's fabulous. Number four for you.
[00:47:28] Speaker B: Very good. I got those crows we touched upon earlier. Great album. In hell. Ex hell. Saw that a couple of times. Play those songs up here. Massive songs. Almost got a coldplay in their hugeness.
Yeah, great stuff. Shane Greenell and the boys step forward for them.
And a great album. And looking forward to the CNM, to mad of Stone actually, next year, which be great.
Number three. Top three, Brian.
[00:47:58] Speaker A: Now we're getting to the tougher sections of the top albums. I could have put this album at number one, Matt. It was that close. But number three for me is in times new roman by the Queens of the Stone Age. A return to form riffin complex.
Great songwriting. Queens of Stone Age in times of new Roman. Great, great album. Number three for me. Your number three.
[00:48:26] Speaker B: Very good. Number three. Dirty Honey can't find the brakes. Touched upon that. I think last episode we talked about that.
[00:48:32] Speaker A: We did indeed.
[00:48:32] Speaker B: Great album. Great stuff on that. So looking forward to seeing them back next year.
Haven't seen them in London. Probably the early date of the UK tour, but there you go.
[00:48:41] Speaker A: No, they're not. They are coming. They're playing the 10 February in Glasgow.
[00:48:46] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:48:47] Speaker A: I personally asked them just to come up to Scotland and it's going to be me and my front loving room, dirty honey are going to play. That's the only way I could get them.
[00:48:56] Speaker B: Who did you ask to play? Who were we interviewing this year? And you asked them to come and play in Battermans? Was it the dusko, the karma effect boys? Yes, it was, yes. Did any joy with that?
[00:49:06] Speaker A: No, not yet.
[00:49:10] Speaker B: Right, where were we? Number two.
[00:49:12] Speaker A: Number two is the second album by Mammoth WVH great album. Has my song of the year.
Wolfie just gets better and better and his singing is Miles esque.
[00:49:27] Speaker B: Yes, indeed.
[00:49:28] Speaker A: So anyway, number two for you.
[00:49:30] Speaker B: Well, funny you say that, but I remember when we reviewed this album, the first album by King heard, we thought that it was quite a nice kind of. It sort of married quite nicely with the Wolfgang wvVH mammoth WVH album. So, yeah, King heard first album by then, self by them, self titled. Great stuff on that album we talked about that time. One of my albums of the year. Indeed. Not quite, but it's number two. So, yeah, self titled by the mighty King heard.
So number is number one, bry.
[00:50:10] Speaker A: I've listened to all my top ten albums recently, Matt, and this album is just. It covers so many genres and so many periods of this band. For me, I couldn't see past the Foo Fighters latest album, but here we are. I just think it is just from rescued, which is a great kickoff track. The whole way through the album is just for what the Foos have gone through and they could have shelved it. They could have not done any music.
You could have understand completely. But to come back with such an album, the Foos, and against such strong albums in 2023, well deserved number one album for me.
[00:51:02] Speaker B: Well, we are unanimous. Not for the first time, hide that from my number one as well. Magnificent piece of work.
Quite a cathartic piece of work, I think, for the band. A couple of tributes to both Taylor Hawkins, at least. We perceived at the time when we were talking about it, that they were tributes to Taylor Hawkins and also Taylor Hawkins and also Dave Grohl's mum who passed away in the last couple of years as well. Songs like under you and hearing voices. And as we touched on it, if you've ever lost anyone, then those songs will resonate with you, of course. So, absolutely magnificent album. And as you say, just going back to it since June, it came out actually middle of the year in this country and just a fantastic piece of work and a well deserved album of the year. So we are unanimous. Not for the first time. I think we were unanimous a couple of years ago with the first Mammoth album.
[00:51:56] Speaker A: We were, yeah.
[00:51:57] Speaker B: And here we are again. So great minds, et cetera.
[00:52:01] Speaker A: Brian, would you have any notable shout outs, Matt, of albums that nearly made your top ten?
[00:52:08] Speaker B: I didn't have the extreme album in my top ten, actually, which was probably a bit remiss of me.
Two albums I would not have had in the top ten were the Dolly Parton rock star album and Def Leppard's Drastic Symphonies. I probably would have put Andy Taylor's album in there. We've started listed that recently. That's a fantastic piece of work.
No, I think between us we got most basses covered.
[00:52:37] Speaker A: Brian, I would just like to give a little shout out to a band that we saw at Steel House in the summer. I thought they did a great set and a real good album.
Just missed out on the top ten for me, was the answer. I thought the answer, Sundowners was a really good, really good album. And I couldn't agree with you more about albums that would never be in my top ten. The drastic symphonies of Def Leppard and Dolly Parton's missed opportunity of rock star. But we talked about that in the last episode.
[00:53:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. So that was it. That was 2023. We look forward 2024. Specifically new albums by the karma effect. Looking forward to that. Promised land comes out early in the year. New Bruce Dickinson album hopefully comes out. We predict that for 2023, the Mandrake project new album by priest, their only UK gig for the Scorpions, where I'll be.
And similarly with Mr. Big, their final gigs. Plan a couple of festivals which be nice. Looking forward to seeing them.
[00:53:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:49] Speaker B: How about you?
[00:53:50] Speaker A: 20, 24, 24. I'd love AC DC deter.
I'd also like kiss, not deter. And stick to their word.
I'd love heart to tour in 2024 and it would be lovely.
We talked about it in the last show. If Sammy Hagar and Joe Satriani and Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham, if they made a trip across to Europe in the UK to do the Van Halen stuff, I think that would be something special. And predictions in 2024. Rock and Roll hall of Fame it would be really nice if finally Iron Maiden got into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. But I'd love to see Pearl Jam have always seemed to be the ones that are the darlings of the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. Eddie Vetter seems to be inducting everybody, at least one band every year. But I'd love to see Soundgarden or Alison Chains get at least a nomination for what they've done. So those are my predictions and wishes for 2024.
[00:54:57] Speaker B: Well, all be well. We should look back at the end of next year and see how those went.
So of course, that brings us finally to everyone's favorite part of the podcast.
[00:55:10] Speaker A: In any year, hidden Ginger.
[00:55:14] Speaker B: Thank you, Lola. Happy new year to you and your family.
So, Brian, what you got for us? Anything? Got anything?
[00:55:20] Speaker A: I do, actually.
And this album came back into my orbit over the last couple of weeks.
Simon Phillips, the well renowned session drummer who played for many, many years as he played in the who he was Pete Townsend.
We've discussed Simon and the show before. Song hero on song hero, exactly. So Simon's actually been on social media and on other interviews recently talking about how difficult it was in the 22 career year. Career that he had with total to kind of really fit in.
I have been listening to, I'm a big massive fan of Toto, but one of the most organic albums of Toto, which Simon played on is an amble, is an album called Tamboo. Tamboo is their 9th album, was released in 1995. It actually was the first album which featured Simon. And it's quite an organic, it's lots of real piano, real drums, not that 1980s well produced albums that total were those slick productions. It's quite organic and it's quite bluesy in some areas. So I want to put forward Tamboo, which was Toto's albums. Some of the tracks Matt put on the enormous playlist that you'll put together, I'd love to put if you would put gift of faith, which is the lead off track, and if you belong to me, which is a fabulous track off Tamboo, much forgotten album. But when you go back through Total's catalog, it's an album that should be up there along with total four and their debut album. So Tamboo from Total, a new man.
[00:57:29] Speaker B: Very good. Well, I touched upon this band earlier. I saw them for the first time at the Planet rock event, Planet Rockstock, and I was absolutely blown away by this band, the hot one two, who I think are going to be huge five piece, come from Cambridge, East Anglia, where I'm from, which is nice.
So there's no bias, of course, prize, you can imagine. Not at all. Fantastic band, tons of energy, really enjoy what they're doing. And their debut album came out this year actually, 2023. It's called Superbia and it's absolutely brilliant. Loved it. What a debut.
And might put the whole thing on the playlist. Actually, I'm going to pick out some songs. The phrase is great. Is it hot? That's a great song.
Feeling good, demon days and so on.
Classic rock titles, but brilliant, great musicians.
Only young, but fantastic. Great stuff. And as I say, they're going to be big. They're actually opening the Stone Dead festival. They won the poll of up and coming bands. Yeah. So if you go Friday night to the Stone Dead festival, later on in 2024, you will see them, and they are well worth checking out. So the hot one to Superbia is my hingem for this episode. Bry. And that's it. Done. Dusted in the bag. 2023. Done. Should we do some more podcasts in 2024?
[00:59:06] Speaker A: What do you think? Absolutely. I've booked the studio time already for 2024.
[00:59:11] Speaker B: Have you? You mean your room with Princess Dina, picture on the wall?
[00:59:17] Speaker A: Yes, of course.
[00:59:19] Speaker B: Kenny. Doug leash picture. Of course.
[00:59:20] Speaker A: My Kenny dog.
[00:59:24] Speaker B: You never got a live endangered picture behind you, of course, from the giant box set. We didn't do reissues, did we? But the humongous box set that came out this year. You could talk to us about that some other time. We've got a few hours to kill, Brian. But for now, thank you. Listen to us on Scotland rocks radio, the aforementioned every third Tuesday, which is great. And please subscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. We're also going to be on YouTube soon, aren't we, Brian?
[00:59:56] Speaker A: We are on YouTube, Matthew.
[00:59:58] Speaker B: Are we?
[00:59:59] Speaker A: We are. All 57 previous episodes are on YouTube. So if you would prefer to listen to us on YouTube, we are there now. Just put for those about to pod, we salute you in your search engine in YouTube, and you will find us.
[01:00:18] Speaker B: By the way, shout out to my friend Fred, who recently discovered us and listened to 30 episodes one after another. Good on him. Good on you, Fred. I would say. Where would you start? Like the classic fantasy festival episode, which is about episode seven or one's? Episode one's pretty good, but I think seven or eight is the classic festival. The festival episode. Matt stock and Bryfest start there. Start there and move on. Come up to date.
[01:00:47] Speaker A: And once we get to a thousand subscribers on YouTube, Matt.
No. A thousand. If we're a thousand, then we're able to earn pennies and Pence from our shows.
[01:01:01] Speaker B: Are we now?
[01:01:05] Speaker A: Oh, yes, exactly. Pennies of pence. I can't wait.
[01:01:08] Speaker B: Maybe we could go to Los Angeles and do the podcast from the Rainbow bar and go as we've always. So that we've always dreamed.
[01:01:17] Speaker A: Exactly.
[01:01:18] Speaker B: Please subscribe on YouTube. Therefore, everyone that listens, tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell complete strangers, et cetera, et cetera. But mainly, look after yourselves. Enjoy. Happy 2024. A good one. Yeah, and you, Bry.
[01:01:36] Speaker A: Thanks, mate.
I thought you were doing your king speech there.
[01:01:43] Speaker B: No, that was Christmas day. All right, thanks, everyone. Speak to you soon. Lots of love. Thanks for listening. Bye for now. Happy New Year. See you in 2024.
[01:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah, see you there, Maya. Take care. Bye bye.
[01:02:00] Speaker B: Pod. We salute you. Is a mania. Rogers production.
