Sonic Perspectives

Moron Police.  The name just jumps out at you.  But up to now, the Norwegian group has been a bit obscure, perhaps limited by the obscure lyrics and some “in your face” song titles (“T-Bag Your Grandma,” “Stomp the Goomba,” etc.) .

So for the third album, A Boat on the Sea, Moron Police chief Sondre Skollevoll took a different tack.  More understandable words.  Mainstream song titles.  And very, very catchy tunes that explore prog, rock, pop, and more. 

Skollevoll recently spoke with Sonic Perspectives’ collaborator Mark Boardman about the band, the album, and how one has to change when one hits the big 3-0. Listen to their relaxed chat below, and as usual you can subscribe to our podcast to be notified of all our interviews in a timely manner. And don’t forget to stalk us on social media via Facebook and Twitter.

The post SONDRE SKOLLEVOLL, Sheriff of The MORON POLICE: “It Was Time To Grow Up To Make Some Changes, If We Were to Get the Band In front Of People” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Before his show in Boulder, Colorado, Jon Anderson spoke to Sonic Perspectives correspondent Scott Medina about the tour and his new album 1,000 Hands. Below is a recounting of several of the highlights of the interview, interspersed with an overview of the show itself. The complete audio of the interview is also available underneath. The tour continues its run through August, still visiting the cities below. Jon is singing brilliantly while his band delivers a joyful and fully engaging show that will satisfy Yes & Anderson fans of every stripe. This is a tour not to be missed! 

“Boulder, Colorado! Best place in the world…today! [chuckles]” Jon Anderson and his 1,000 Hands band have just arrived in the beautifully sunny state of Colorado, getting ready to bring their show to the Boulder Theater as they make their way across the States in the second leg of their US Tour of 2019. Jon’s opening joke reveals several sides to the man: eternally optimistic and upbeat, he’s also used to living in the present moment and going with whatever flow life brings him. You truly feel that, for him, whichever moment he is inhabiting actually is the best place in the world. Having recently finished a couple of years touring with former Yes men Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin, and with no likelihood in sight of rejoining his other Yes family of Steve Howe, Alan White and Billy Sherwood on stage, Jon has taken to the road with his own 8-piece band to promote his new album 1,000 Hands. Happily, the material, production and performance on the new recording is one of the most polished and engaging achievements of his solo career, in no small part due to producer Michael Franklin who assembled a cast of thousands (of hands) to support Jon in realizing his vision. 

The post Concert Review / Interview with JON ANDERSON: “Doing YES Songs a Little Bit Differently Than The Norm Is Part of My Adventure of Life!” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

I found myself in a dilapidated Chicago airport on a damp and dingy Friday in February 2001 without a plan, without a debit card, and frankly, without a clue. The freezing winds somehow didn’t feel terribly cold, I had traveled light, and I had to figure out quickly how I was going to make the fifty mile trek to J.J. Kelley‘s, a dank little dive bar spitting distance from a neighboring state. The snow, of which I’ve seen precious little in my lifelong home state of Texas, had melted and refrozen several times over, and had turned into a disgusting muddy slush as it emulsified with dirt, engine oil, and tire grime.

I eventually made it to J.J. Kelley‘s and ended up sharing a hotel room with a group of fellow Texans who, unlike me, were old enough to rent a car back then. The venue itself was unremarkable, with a capacity of about 350 and with a low ceiling that would prove to be the bane of Tom S. Englund‘s existence. Oh yeah, did I mention a few bands were playing? Three sets over the course of a day and a half featured the likes of Englund‘s outfit Evergrey, New Jersey luminaries Symphony X (who had replaced Nevermore), Bay Area beasts Zero Hour, Colorado old-schoolers Jag Panzer, and Swedish deities Pain of Salvation. Also on the bill were lesser-known but promising American acts like Reading Zero, Onward, and fellow Texans Power of Omens and Destiny’s End. 

The setting was meh, but the weekend was nothing short of magical. Roughly half the bands that mattered most to me were all gathered under one roof, playing their asses off to the shit-eating delight of a small but extraordinarily enthusiastic crowd. Metal festivals were hardly anything new; Donington had been enormous, Wacken was gargantuan, and Reading is literally as old as my dad is. Stateside, we had the Milwaukee Metalfest, which hosted roughly a hundred mostly death metal bands over the course of a weekend, and Ozzfest, a touring festival that focused on radio-friendly “metal.” But there was nothing prog-centric, and few power metal bands played at Milwaukee. 

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. 

From so simple a beginning,  ProgPower USA was soon moved into a top-notch venue in Atlanta‘s trendy Midtown district, and began focusing on bringing talent over from abroad. Multiple sellouts and a number of high-profile headliners later, ProgPower is currently the undisputed king of American heavy metal festivals. With the twentieth edition of the festival rapidly approaching, we thought we would invite festival founder a promoter Glenn Harveston onto the podcast. Glenn graciously joins SP totalitarian overlord and festival photographer Joel Barrios, Sonic Perspectives contributor and Talking Perspectives founder Nick Andreas, and host Gonzalo Pozo to discuss the festival’s impact, longevity, and his looming retirement. Glenn also talks about his favorite of the many magical moments that have graced the ProgPower USA stage, lkijbvfkjdvb, and the many headaches caused by the Agency That Will Not Be Named. So have a seat, pop open a beer, and envision yourself in the esoteric weirdness that is the Artmore Courtyard while you scratch your head in appalled befuddlement while the panel and guest all manage to let an obvious Dream Theater reference fly right past them. 

The post TALKING PERSPECTIVES: A Conversation with PROGPOWER USA Mastermind GLENN HARVESTON (Episode No. 26) appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Andrew Colyer should be doing something right. In a matter of years his has skyrocketed to world renowned fame. As the keyboardist for AWAKEN, CELL 15, 3.2 featuring ROBERT BERRY and his own band CIRCULINE, Andrew has achieved highly acclaimed success, in the world of Progressive Rock music.  Today Andrew discusses the many facets of his career and how he embraced his love for music as a dream that just wouldn’t die.

With the latest AWAKEN release Out Of The Shadows, Andrew has taken part in presenting  a piece of progressive rock mastery.  With cohorts and founding members Glenn DaGrossa, Mike Marrone, Eddie Jucius and special guest guitarist, Eric Gillette (of the NEAL MORSE BAND fame), this group of hard hitting rockers, have released a gem of an album, in a style that has been long missed by prog-rock fanatics.  This new release is destined to be embraced by those that love brilliant operatic metal vocals with a hard core, yet amazingly melodic driving punch.

However, Andrew doesn’t stay still, and keep adding successful notches on his belt. His band CIRCULINE, has been recognized by Prog Magazine, as one the most promising progressive rock bands in the worldwide scene, and he has also joined forces with Robert Richardson and his powerful vision for CELL 15, stunning live crowds and receiving standing ovations at national festivals. Andrew has now been tasked to take on the last writings of keyboardist demi-god, Keith Emerson, touring with 3.2 featuring Robert Berry.  The tour is to back up the release of The Rules Have Changed, an album written by former ‘3’ (aka Emerson, Berry and Palmer) vocalist Robert Berry and Keith, an album that was being written at the time of Keith’s untimely death in 2016.

Sonic Perspectives contributor Ron Matthews had the opportunity to sit down with Colyer and discuss the new AWAKEN album, the upcoming tour with 3.2 featuring ROBERT BERRY, what it was like to chase the dream of Rock and Roll and why every music fan should be at ProgStock Festival 2019  this year.  Please join us for this story of rock and roll triumph and don’t forget to watch or listen below and remember to subscribe to the podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post Renowned Keyboardist ANDREW COLYER Discusses the New AWAKEN Album, Touring with 3.2 Featuring ROBERT BERRY and Why You Shouldn’t Miss PROGSTOCK 2019 appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

New England’s leading metal band, DEAD BY WEDNESDAY released their self-titled full length album on April 19th, 2019 through Combat Records/ EMP Label Group. In addition, DBW released their new video for the first single off the record titled “You & Die.”

The 12 track album showcases a rebirth and rebranding of the band since their inception. A decade after their first record, the band has shown growth musically all while keeping the hard hitting grooves, integrity and passion that fans have come to expect. DEAD BY WEDNESDAY’s new record was produced by Nicky Bellmore (Dee Snider/Jasta) and was mastered by Zeuss. Their lineup has evolved as well, with the newest member, master shredder Dave Sharpe on guitar (ex-Blood Has Been Shed w/ Howard Jones, End-Time Illusion), Rob Roy on vocals and original founding members Mike Modeste on bass and Christian “Opus” Lawrence holding down the fierce foundation and furious rhythm section. The band recently accompanied David Ellefson on his Basstory Tour, with both Sharpe and Opus playing alongside Ellefson during his solo set. Christian “Opus” Lawrence is also the US touring drummer for Ellefson’s rock band with Frank Bello of Anthrax called Altitudes & Attitude.

Resident interviewer Michael Francisco sat down with both Sharpe and Opus before one of their recent shows with Dave Ellefson and they chatted about the new lineup, the band’s natural evolution in sound, the maturity in the material contained in their self-titled debut and many other topics. Listen to their chat on the links below, and remember to subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post DEAD BY WEDNESDAY Members CHRISTIAN “OPUS” LAWRENCE and DAVE SHARPE Talk Band’s Evolution: “Every Band Goes Through Different Changes and Morphs In Their Sound, That Is The Roller-Coaster Of Rock N’ Roll” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Despite arriving to their third decade in the music business, chances are you have never heard of THE 69 EYES, and if that’s the case you need to pay attention. Conceived in Finland in 1989, dark rockers THE 69 EYES have come a long way and shaped the genre of ‘Goth ‘n’ Roll’ like no other. With several platinum selling albums like Blessed Be and Paris Kills released around the millennium, the quintet not only reached #1 of the single and album charts in their home country of Finland, but also plunged the world into their sinful cosmos of love, death and eternal melancholy and outlived any other band emerging from the goth hype of the early 2000s.

And while the concept of time seems to play no role in the life of vampires, the year 2019 marks a reason to celebrate and blow out more candles on the cake than most other bands will ever be able to see flickering in front of their eyes. It’s time for the 30th anniversary of THE 69 EYES – and of course they prepared something special from the damp cold of their crypts. Leaving their dreams behind has never been an option for THE 69 EYES and their new anniversary album, West End has a truly apocalyptic taste to it and it seems that vocalist Jyrki, guitarists Bazie and Timo-Timo, bassist Archzie and drummer Jussi 69 are more alive than ever, while dancing in the ruins of our world.

Having been together for 30 years now, spending over half of their lives as a well-established team, the band refuses to recycle their sound over and over again and show no signs of slowing down in tempo. Therefore most of the songs on their 12th studio piece West End are up-tempo rock anthems full of heaviness, black memento mori moments and dark humor. To get the full picture of what transpired during the creation of West End, contributor Scott Medina talked to the band’s singer Jyrki 69 for over half an hour. Watch or listen below and remember to subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post THE 69 EYES Singer JYRKI 69: “I Think the World Is Ready Now for Our New Album” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Two excellent reasons to party for the Freedom Call camp: first, the band surrounding vocalist/guitarist Chris Bay are set to celebrate their 20th anniversary this summer; then, on 23 August 2019 they’re also scheduled to release their tenth studio album, featuring the promising title M.E.T.A.L. Since their 1999 debut Stairway To Fairyland, the act from southern Germany has been synonymous with anthemic melodic metal, driving grooves and atmospheric messages as well as optimistic lyrics. M.E.T.A.L., a unanimously impressive offering with an unusual title, is marked by these familiar characteristics but also by lots of other features.

“Everybody who’s heard the album has told us that some of the tracks could easily have featured on our first recordings,” Chris Bay explains with some pride, adding: “To me such statements are a big compliment because they imply that there’s a typical musical fingerprint, characteristic Freedom Call DNA that we’ve remained faithful to.”

While M.E.T.A.L. was recorded with live drummer Kevin Kott (Masterplan), from summer 2019 Freedom Call will tour with a new line up consisting – along with Bay and lead guitarist Lars Rettkowitz – of Italian bassist Francesco Ferraro and drummer Timmi Breideband. “Francesco and Timmi have brought lots of new ideas and a younger attitude to the band,” enthuses Bay about his new colleagues.

Expert interviewer Michael Francisco spoke with Bay at large regarding M.E.T.A.L., the band’s pure and unadulterated enthusiam and positive attitude. Listen to their chat on the links below, and remember to subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post FREEDOM CALL’s Singer CHRIS BAY: “We Are Doing Music to Make People Happy. I’m a Musician, Not a Metal Machine. I Am Honest to Myself” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Powerhouse drummer Ray Luzier is entering his 13th year with veteran ’90s metal titans KoЯn, and is currently on a co-headlining tour with Alice in Chains, but in between KoЯn album releases and tours, he finds time to work with dUg Pinnick of King’s X and George Lynch (Lynch Mob and The End Machine) to crank out albums as the band KXM. September 13th will see the releases of not only KoЯn‘s next album, The Nothing, but KXM‘s fantastic new album Circle of Dolls, as well.

While on tour with KoЯn, Luzier took some time out of his busy day to sit down and chat with Sonic Perspectives author and interviewer Austin Kokel to talk about everything from his days with David Lee Roth and the DeLeo brothers of Stone Temple Pilots, to what it was like creating Circle of Dolls with Pinnick and Lynch and ruining an old drum-set in a rain chamber for a KXM music video, to even how he ended up being watched warming up by Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck in Tokyo, and especially how Luzier and Kokel have some shared history, both growing up in and around the Pittsburgh area.

Find all about this and much more in the audio below, and remember to subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

The post KXM and KORN’s Drummer RAY LUZIER: “The Most Bizarre Day of My Life Was When JIMMY PAGE And JEFF BECK Watched Us Rehearse With The DEF LEPPARD Guys” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Currently on a lengthy North American tour to promote their latest album Warpaint, Buckcherry made a stop in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre last August 06th. Showcasing their unique blend of punkish attitude and sleaze rock, they brought in tow the newcomers Joyous Wolf, which were a pleasant surprise. Just before the show I had the opportunity to talk to Josh Todd, and you can listen to the audio of our conversation below.

I must admit I didn’t know what to expect of Joyous Wolf, and had no time to check out their songs prior to the show. And judging by the puzzled faces in the audience, not many people seemed to know about them either. But the flamboyance of singer Nick Reese won the crowd in a millisecond, and he didn’t stop dancing and swirling right until the end of their set. Blossoming with youth, he exudes the confidence of Mick Jagger, and the humor of David Lee Roth. Joyous Wolf are a four-pice like Van Halen or Aerosmith, where the main explorations are done by the singer and the guitar player, while bass and drums hold the fort and keep the pace.

Sonically, these Californians sound like a modern day Zeppelin, but without the feeling that they’re copying or mimicking what they did, like one may feel when listening to Greta van Fleet. With no time to spare, they kicked things off with the frantic “Undesired”, and left no time to breathe in their short set. The highlights were the blues-infused, stadium-ready “Said Too Much” and the quasi-Black Crowes closer “Quiet Heart”, where Derek jumped from the stage right onto the floor of the theater, and continued singing until the end of the song. A reassuring feeling dominated the crowd after their show – the feeling of knowing there are bands that can carry the torch of the great bands of the 70’s, without sounding like they were copying them.

Buckcherry entered the stage with a bold move, opting to kick things off with a song from the new album. Their take on Nine Inch Nails’ “Head Like a Hole”, with less industrial tones and more grit than the original, ignited the house. Singer Josh Todd was sporting a buttoned up long sleeve shirt which everyone knew wouldn’t last too long on him. Two more high points off their new album Warpaint were also played early on: the fast paced “Bent” and “Radio Song”, which was crafted to be their own “Purple Rain”. Their backdrop had a skinny and naked torso with wings, which was also depicted on a shirt which seemed to be selling fast at the merch stand.

A long standing number in their sets, “Lit Up”, the cocaine-alluding hit of the band’s first album, got everyone excited, and ended with a great solo by Kevin Roentgen. The anti-establishment, funky and punk “Somebody f**ked With Me” also got a rousing response, especially during the chorus. At that point, Josh was already exhibiting his intensely tattooed torso, something that was not ignored by the female contingent of the audience. He teased and pranced on the bluesy “Right Now” and “Tight Pants”, and one could tell he’s the consummate example of someone playing to his strengths. He knows exactly what his voice can do, and does the best with what was presented to him.

With the audience greedy for the hits, the band could not avoid songs like “Sorry”, “Gluttony” and “Crazy Bitch”, which understandably, got the best response. These are songs that they simply can’t not play, and along with the very literal, self-deprecating, Red Hot Chili Peppers – influenced “Too Drunk to f**k”, worked like fuel to the audience’s fire. Most of those present were in their mid to late 40’s, and saw no point in disguising their wish to go down a trip to memory lane, whose soundtrack was happily provided by Buckcherry. 

One more song from Warpaint, the cadenced “The Alarm”, and it was cover time: a medley with Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose”, Kool and the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” and Ike & Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” brought a lightness to their set, and saw the band jamming, improvising and alternating vocals with the crowd. The cathartic “Say f**k It” was the ideal choice to close the proceedings, and it was sung in unison by a crowd who seemed to want to convince themselves that it was OK to stay up late on a busy weeknight like this one.

Sticking to their guns and betting on what they know they can deliver, Buckcherry balanced their set rather well, and those once-bohemian-now-turned-family-men seem ready to face the remainder of the year. At the end of 2019, this band will have played almost 150 dates, and they show no signs of slowing down. This triumphant run in North America will be followed by dates in Australia, Asia and Europe, and if they’re ever playing close to you, do not miss the chance to see them and party like it’s 2005.

Undesired / Place in Time / Had Enough / Said Too Much / Mother Rebel / Quiet Heart

Head Like a Hole (Nine Inch Nails cover) / Porno Star / Bent / Radio Song / Lit Up / Somebody f**ked With Me / Right Now / Tight Pants / Too Drunk to f**k / Sorry / Gluttony / The Alarm / Medley: (Footloose, Jungle Boogie, Proud Mary) / Crazy Bitch

Encore:

Slammin’ / Say f**k It

The post BUCKCHERRY And JOYOUS WOLF at The Phoenix Theatre, Toronto (August 06th, 2019) appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.