SEASON 4 PODCASTS (Part 2)

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Black Label Society

So that, as they say, is a wrap.  2021 in its P.  Season 4 ended with episode 52 and it aired live on 30 Dec 2021 on Rebel Rock Radio.  It was a wonderful show featuring music released in 2021.   I ran out of time and should definitely have done a 4-hour show.  My biggest disappointment was not having enough time to play the title track from Deangersmith‘s amazing album Lead Us To Your Taker (Disable the Corrupt)  or what I consider to be the best SA release this year, a gem by metal outfit Sunken State called Solace in Solitude.  So with those apologies out the way and a commitment to fixing that in 2022 let’s have a quick summing up.

The show kicked off fittingly with Tom Morello (feat Bring Me The Horizon) and a track called ‘Let’s Get this Party Started‘.  From there we continued with Alice Cooper’s ‘Hanging By a Thread‘ off Detroit Stories and wound our way through US and UK releases to our first SA release, Albert Frost’s title track ‘Sacred Sound‘.  Other SA talent featured included Dan Patlansky with ‘Hounds Loose‘, Roland Suttie with ‘Messages in My Head‘, and a stunning track from a band called Imagine&Nation out of Cape Town.  The song was called ‘Rivers and Dreams‘ off an EP called Never Be Quiet.  I am hoping for more material from these guys in 2022.  They definitely got an additional sale on iTunes last night and well deserved too.  We checked out Nibs Van Der Spuy and Guy Buttery off Live in Lisbon.  Exodus put out the best seriously heavy album in my view, we took a listen to ‘Elitist‘.  Gary Holt has done amazing work on this album.

The last hour was a rush to get to the 6 tracks that really rounded out 2021 as a fantastic year in music.  My favourite SA song was ‘Beautiful Evolution‘ by Springbok Nude Girls and my best overall song was ‘My Love Remains‘ by Ayron Jones.  It’s reminiscent of ‘Purple Rain‘ and it’s loaded with emotion and has an awesome solo and just hits the spot.  Comments on the Whatsapp line pretty much confirmed this song as being exceptionally good.  The L.A. Maybe, Smith / Kotzen, and Neil Young were in my top 5 and I gave 2nd favourite to Volbeat and played ‘Wait A Minute My Girl‘ before closing off with my personal album of 2021, Doom Crew Inc from Black Label Society.  ‘Farewell Ballad‘ off this seriously good album closed a great year in music and marked the conclusion of Season 4 of The Story of Rock and Roll Radio Show.  Thanks for all the support and I hope to see you for Season 5.

Artists featured:  Tom Morello, Alice Cooper, Thunder, L.A. Guns, U.D.O., Albert Frost, Blaze Bayley, Joe Bonamassa, Gojira, Buckcherry, Todd la Torre, Billy Gibbons, Dan Patlansky, Image&Nation, Greta Van Fleet, Exodus, Me & That Man, Ricky Warwick, Michael Schenker, Iron Maiden, KK’s Priest, Nibs Van Der Spuy & Guy Buttery, Roland Suttie, Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, Foo Fighters, The Stranglers, The Pretty Reckless, Seether, Serj Tankian, Smith / Kotzen, The L.A. Maybe, Springbok Nude Girls, Ayron Jones, Volbeat, Neil Young, Black Label Society

Gary Holt Exodus

Not sure what to say about this one,   It went out live on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 23 Dec 2021.  I wasn’t in a good space at all, I think that you’ll hear that, in the words of Simon & GarfunkelI am distracted and diffused“.  I get some mojo back about halfway.  Another factor is that 2021 has been a fantastic year for good music and I have been very busy putting together next week’s show which will be spectacular.  I am looking forward to putting a knife into the heart of 2021 and I have an incredible soundtrack to do just that. 

This show was very much a jam session, it is noticeable for the lack of heavy hitters like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Metallica and for the inclusion of more obscure bands like Gluecifer, The Raven Age, Cirith Ungol, Stone Sour, Iced earth and the like.   It also only features one SA band in the form of the very likable Future Radio and their track called ‘State of Emergency‘.  I didn’t love this episode but maybe it will grow on me.  I was very quiet on the WhatsApp line and that always affects the show negatively, December is notoriously quiet and the ratings for RRR always fall through the floor.  In the final analysis is was heavier than normal with Pantera, Deangersmith, Exodus, Anthrax, Children of Bodom & Kreator.  It will probably end up being one of the most popular shows ever.   

The highlight for me was ‘The Fires of Division‘ by Exodus off their new masterpiece Persona Non-Grata, Gary Holt has excelled on this.  The lowlight was the auto DJ kicking in every time the wifi connection drops.  You won’t hear it on the podcast but it really breaks the rhythm of the live show.  I am looking forward to next week’s show,  if 2021 gave us nothing else the music released was fantastic.  

Artists featured:  Palaye Royale, Last in Line, Accept, Black Sabbath, Children of Bodom, Exodus, Killswitch Engage, Linkin Park, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, The Sweet, Sixx A.M., Cirith Ungol, Hinder, Stone Sour, Kid Rock, Buckcherry, Rush. Texas Hippie Coalition, Lindemann, Iced Earth. John Mellencamp, James Reyne, Pantera, The Raven Age, The Stranglers, The Distillers, The Temperance Movement, Black Label Society, ACDC, Mammoth WVH, Future Radio, Kiss, Gluecifer, Volbeat, Deangersmith, Kreator, Anthrax

Adam Nergal Darski of Behemoth & Me and That Man

Episode 50, two to go in Season 4 and we are done.  This episode aired on 16 Dec 2021, Beethovens birthday.  We started with a few minutes of ‘Symphony No 9‘, known as Scherzo before moving on with Deep Purple and Highway Star.  After that is was standard fare with Def Leppard, Metallica, a bit of Megadeth off the Cryptic Writings album, and a track called She-Wolf. 

The love affair with Boston and Greta Van Fleet continued and I continued to play new stuff off the latest Volbeat and Black Label Society albums.  The brand new Neil Young called Barn and the third album from Nergal‘s side outfit Me and That Man went down very well.  The track we heard was called ‘All Hope is Gone and featured Exodus / Slayer guitarist Gary Holt, Mantas from Venom, and Blaize Bayley ex Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden.  The album is called New Songs, New Man, Same Shit Vol 2.  

There was a sad moment for me personally as I paid tribute to a very special lady who was very much a second mother to me growing up and sadly passed away this week.  I am currently in lockdown as my daughter has covid so covid once again permeated the show in a not so subtle way.  Other than that it was a mix of classic (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest), heavy (Parkway Drive, Arch Enemy), and some acoustic-type stuff from The Boss Bruce Springsteen. I ran out of time and just managed to slip in the SA music right at the end.  You’ll get The Uninvited and the Koos Kombuis classic ‘Johnny is Nie Dood Nie‘ if you hang in all the way to the end.  

Artists featured:  Ludwig van Beethoven, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Cold Chisel, Halestorm, Megadeth, Metallica, Boston, ACDC, Massive Wagons, The L.A. Maybe, The Pretty Reckless, Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, Foo Fighters, Greta Van Fleet, Leslie West, Jonny Lang, Scott Stapp, In This Moment, Blue Oyster Cult, Me & That Man, Scorpions, Volbeat, Queen, David Essex, Hollywood Vampires, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Monster Truck, Black Label Society, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Seether, Arch Enemy, Parkway Drive, The Uninvited, Koos Kombuis

Wings

S4E49 aired on 9 Dec 2021 on Rebel Rock Radio.  It is probably one of the few episodes that haven’t featured heavy hitters such and Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, ACDC, Metallica, or Guns ‘n’ Roses.  So, in that respect, it is quite different.   We kicked off with ‘Bat Country‘ from Avenged Sevenfold.  It’s a track that pays homage to Hunter S. Thompson‘s essential reading masterpiece Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas  Then we had a few topical songs such as ‘Get Me Out of this Place‘ by Rose Tattoo and ‘Heat Wave‘ from Thundermother.  Buckcherry and Boston bought some party to the proceedings.  Hellyeah‘s cover of the Phil Collins hit ‘I Don’t Care Anymore‘ made the point that Covid really needs to move on now, it’s time to get on with life. 

There were a number of regular TSORR listeners tuned in and I aimed a couple of tunes in their direction, Rory Gallagher, The Jam, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, the brand New Volbeat track Shotgun Blues, and Stone Sour’s ‘Your God‘ were all dedicated to people who join me week after week. I am very grateful to you guys.  SA music included Koos Kombuis’s scathing attack on the SA situation with ‘The Fokkol Song‘, as I pointed out that was recorded in 2010 and things have only got worse :-).  Johnathan Martin showed once again that he is the most underrated musician in the country.  Johnathan deserves way more success than he has had, his songwriting, singing, and guitar playing are world-class.  We also checked out The Color Blew and Jasper Dan. 

Highlights of the show for me were the seriously heavy duo provided by Machine Head and Exodus and then the rather subdued ending provided by 8 minutes of Neil Young, a very moving Springsteen track, and ‘Backwards Traveler‘ from Wings’ London Town album.  the show ended fittingly with ‘Out of Time‘, a 1966 release from The Rolling Stones.  

Artists featured: Avenged Sevenfold, Extreme, Ozzy Osbourne, Rose Tattoo, Thundermother, Desperado, Buckcherry, Boston, Seether, Hellyeah, Live, Machine Head, Exodus, Alice Cooper, Hinder, Led Zeppelin, Greta Van Fleet, The Jam, Stiff Little Fingers, The Clash, Volbeat, Black Label Society, Stone Sour, Rory Gallagher, Koos Kombuis, Johnathan Martin, Jasper Dan, The Color Blew, Warrior Soul, Skid Row, Edguy, KK’s Priest, Bruce Springsteen, Wings, The Rolling Stones.  

Lyzyrd Kyngs

We are near the end of Season 4 now, as the season closes and we build to the 2021 wrap up we have episode 48 as a bitter-sweet reminder of how this year has gone.  The episode aired on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 2 Dec 2021.  The show kicked off with Thin Lizzy’s ‘Are You Ready‘  and was followed by a whole host of tracks off albums released in ’84 / ’85.  These included Dokken, Q5, Deep Purple, and Hanoi Rocks with a track called ‘Underwater World‘ off the brilliant Two Steps From The Move album.  I have most of these albums on vinyl and it is fantastic how good they still sound over 25 years later.  I am grateful that I was participating as much as I was during this prolific Metal Age.  

I said hello to a few friends who had tuned in and we hit the Foo Fighters with ‘Times Like These‘ and Kid Rock’s ‘Wasting Time‘.  There was a number of very special supporters of TSORR tuned in and it was great to shift the show in their direction.  A highlight for me was Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name‘.  I don’t think it has been played on the show before, for the life of me I don’t know why.  It’s a true masterpiece and the sentiment is probably more relevant today than ever before “fuck you I won’t do what you tell me”.  What a rallying cry in a world of politicians and bureaucrats hell-bent on deciding what’s good for you.  

Up until this point, the show was light on metal so I fixed that with a 3M triple play of Megadeth, Mercyful Fate, and Metallica and how they link up.  From here we had a bit of punk and some blues-based rock from our very own Dan Patlansky and the wonderful Samantha Fish.  Dan’s new track ‘Hounds Loose‘ is great, check it out.  On a personal note, I said cheers to a loving and loyal little black dog named Lara who we sadly had to put to sleep and I am sure that as this year draws to a close many of you can relate to the sadness that seems to permeate everything in 2021, Temple of the Dog with ‘Say Hello 2 Heaven‘ and Judas Priest with ‘Beyond The Realms of Death‘ did the job.  We ended with some more local stuff, Asylum Kids, The Uninvited, and The Fismits.   We closed with U2’s masterpiece ‘ Moment of Surrender‘.  The highlight for me was Lyzyrd Kyngs and Piet Botha‘s beautiful lyric, check it out and feel that piloerection.   

Thin Lizzy, Hanoi Rocks, Vandenberg, Blackfoot, Deep Purple, Dokken, Q5, Rammstein, Volbeat, Stone Temple Pilots, Brownsville Station, Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Black Label Society, Kiss, Rage Against The Machine, The Rolling Stones, Jasper Dan, Lyzyrd Kyngs, Blues Scream, Megadeth, Mercyful Fate, Bluescream, Metallica, Mason Hill, The Clash, Ramones, The Offspring, Dan Patlansky, Samantha Fish, Temple of the Dog, Judas Priest, Asylum Kids, The Uninvited, The Fismits, ACDC, U2.

Elton John

Episode 47 of season 4 aired on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on Thursday 25 Nov.  We kicked off ‘nicely’ as requested by one of the ladies in the office.  Nicely lasted about 2 minutes and then we were off and running with Manowar.  We went onto the SA music early and took a listen to a track of Albert Frost’s new release called Sacred Sound.  Johnathan Martin got a chance next with ‘7 Years Bad Luck‘.  In between, we had a bit of Queensrÿche and Gary Moore before getting back to South Africa and two of our most iconic SA bands, Dog Detachment and Asylum Kids.  The Whatsapp line comments confirmed the wisdom of this selection.

We took in a lekker little early ’70s twosome with Free’s track ‘Remember‘ and Elton John with ‘Razor Face‘ off the fantastic Madman Across the Water album.  A highlight for me was the new release from Pirates of Radio called ‘Parasite‘.  I reckon it’s their best release so far and you should wake up with it stuck in your head.  Things took a turn for the weird with Electric Six’s ‘Danger, High Voltage‘ which was fun to hear again.

Then it was time for a bit of Metal courtesy of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Hell Fire.   The Jesus and Mary Chain, Falling Mirror, John Mellencamp and Earl Slick with a  superb cover of Sam Cooke‘s ‘ A Change is Gonna Come‘ provided a bit of respite before we built all the way back up to Warrior Soul, In Flames and the phenomenal Parkway Drive.  All in all, it was pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Artists featured:  Joe Bonamassa, Manowar, Ace Frehley, Boston, Triumph, Devils Train, Blackberry Smoke, W.A.S.P., Albert Frost, Johnathan Martin, Burning Rain, Gary Moore, Massive Wagons, Queensrÿche, Dog Detachment, Asylum Kids, Def Leppard, Black Sabbath, Free, Elton John, My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, Pirates of Radio, Electric Six, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Hell Fire, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Falling Mirror, John Mellencamp, Springbok Nude Girls, Earl Slick, The Cult, Joan Jett, Warrior Soul, In Flames, Parkway Drive, Bob Dylan.

Truimph

Episode 46 aired live on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 18 November 2021.  It was a show that I used as therapy to move through a really bad day at work.  You know those days where everything just goes wrong?  Yeah, one of those.  There was a massive thunderstorm in JHB with roads underwater, accidents, cars on the side of the road, and load shedding on top of all of this.  It was a great opportunity to demonstrate the therapeutic power of rock.  We kicked off with ACDC and ‘If You Want Blood (You Got It)‘, then went over to Germany for ‘Wild, Wild Nights,’ another track off the brand new Running Wild album called Blood on Blood.  A bit of ZZ Top followed and then some Triumph which I thought was a highlight of the show. It is easy to give Rush all the credit for great Canadian music and forget about Rik Emmett and the lads.  This track ‘ Fight The Good Fight‘ shows admirably how good Triumph and the Allied Forces album was.

We had plenty of heavy hitters; Rammstein, System of a Down, Five Finger Death Punch, and then some Boston and Foreigner to highlight why some people are stuck in the ‘70s.  Pearl Jam and Soundgarden took care of the grunge and Ramones and Blink 182 gave us our weekly dose of punk.  Then a strange thing happened and I played ‘Mirror in the Bathroom‘ by The Beat which was a song I didn’t like when it came out in 1980.  This is probably because it was the opposite of British Steel, Back In Black, Blizzard of Oz, Ace of Spades, Heaven and Hell, and Iron Maiden which were shaping my life at the time.  But it sounded good, I have mellowed.

From there we tipped the hat again to Tokyo and Sao Paulo who are leading the listenership rankings for TSORR podcasts.  Sepultura’s ‘Refuse / Resist‘ was awesome and I enjoyed Japan’s Lovebites with a track called ‘The Wrath of the Hammer‘.  From there it was the downhill run, there was a 5-minute break in the transmission of the live show as the power came back and the wifi had to restart.  The joys of an ANC run South Africa are evident.  We took a listen to the guitar work of Anton L’amour on Valiant Swarts’ track ‘Droomrivier‘, this was a small tribute to Theuns Jordaan who passed away this week and was loved and respected by many. The new Mastodon is awesome, we listened to ‘The Beast‘, the show ended in grand style with ‘Strachan‘ by The Hitchers and then some input from the Gallagher brothers with both Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds and then Oasis.  As usual, I totally ran out of time.

Artists featured:  ACDC, Running Wild, Backyard Babies, Black Stone Cherry, Triumph, ZZ Top, Black Country Communion, The Dead Daisies, System of A Down, Five Finger Death Punch, Boston, Foreigner, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Equator, Children of Bodom, Mother Love Bone, Jimmy Barnes, Rammstein, Texas Hippie Coalition, Blink 182, Ramones, The Beat, Sepultura, Lovebites, Valiant Swart, Jack Hammer, Metallica, Volbeat, Samantha Fish, Judas Priest, Tom Petty, Mastodon, The Hitchers, Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds, Oasis, Nirvana

Marq Torien of BulletBoys

Season 4  Episode 45 aired on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 11 Nov 2021.  I have to confess that I thoroughly enjoyed this episode very much.  It has been a rough week with load shedding in South Africa, we have had power outages for two to three hours at a time 3 to 4 hours a day.  There is a general feeling of burnout and a bit of high octane rock and roll was the best antidote in the world.

We kicked off in grand style with BulletBoys and a track called ‘Hell on My Heels‘  the immortal opening count-in from Marq Torien serving as a message to the government.  From there we continued with ‘80s metal in 2021 with Running Wild’s latest release Blood on Blood and Mötley Crüe reminding us of how it was back in the day with ‘Bad Boy Boogie‘ off Girls, Girls, Girls.  Then a trip back to the early ‘70s with Alice Cooper and Grandfunk Railroad.  And so it continued for a blistering 3 hours.

It was wonderful to have 3 of the original TSORR supporters tuned in.  TSORR started on the community station Mix FM in Midrand JHB on 21 Dec 2017 and was on air between midnight and 2 am and 4 years later it is great to have some of those listeners still tuning in.  There was another amazing thing about this show,  in recent episodes, Sao Paulo Brazil and Tokyo Japan have become the top listeners of the show and I paid tribute to both.  In their honour, we checked out Sepultura and Loudness and raised a glass in appreciation of the support around the world as TSORR edges towards 15 000 listens.

There was some great SA music from blues master Dan Patlansky, a gritty track from Jasper Dan and a really excellent song by The Burning called ‘Taking My Kindness‘.  The Aussies got a look in as always with Cold Chisel and The Screaming Jets and Germany with a brand new track from Scorpions called ‘Peacemaker‘, there was also the obligatory bit of Rammstein.   Check it out it was a jol.

PS, there was also the great exposure of the truth that Dee Snider is really Larry David 🙂

Artists featured:  Bulletboys, Running Wild, Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad, Disturbed, Therapy?, Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, Cold Chisel, The Screaming Jets, Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Death Angel, Iron Maiden, Greta Van Fleet, Massive Wagons, Twisted Sister, Motörhead, Sex Pistols, The Jam, Social Distortion, Dan Patlansky, Jasper Dan, Sepultura, Loudness, Kid Rock, John Cougar, Metallica, Wrathchild America, Scorpions, Mastodon, Black Label Society, The Burning, The L.A. Maybe. The Gaslight Anthem, Little Steven, Foo Fighters, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Nirvana

Episode 44 of Season 4 aired on 4 Nov 2021 at 19h00 on Rebel Rock Radio.  Kicking off with Van Halen and running through a series of rockers from the likes of Quiet Riot, Chrome Division and Jorn got the show off to a lively start.  We had a bit of prog for a change, Porcupine Tree and Mastodon doing the honours.  I have always seen Mastodon as a metal band despite the prog label attached to them.  They have definitely moved in that direction in the last 10 or so years.

We celebrated 20 years since Nirvana’s Nevermind and played ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit‘ and more grungy stuff from L7, then into a very cool cover of ‘Boys of Summer‘ by The Ataris.  For some reason, we had fewer of the classic bands like Judas Priest, Aerosmith & W.A.S.P than normal.  I think it’s probably the first time ACDC didn’t get a run.  We also made up for the lack of SA music last week and checked out Fokofpolisiekar & Arapaho.  I needed to wrap up the elections theme that I started last week and The Uninvited and The Burning, out of Cape Town and Benoni respectively stepped up for the job.  The final word on elections was given to Deangersmith from his album Lead Me To Your Taker (Disable the Corrupt) and a track called ‘ The Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall’.  P.S. The Hollywood Vampires track featured Jeff Beck, I couldn’t find it during the show.

Artists featured:  Van Halen, Wolf, Quiet Riot, Jorn, Chrome Division, Hollywood Vampires, Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey, W.A.S.P., Avenged Sevenfold, Rob Zombie, System of a Down, Porcupine Tree, Mastodon, Nirvana, L7, The Ataris, The Clash, We Are Harlot, Trivium, Judas Priest, Manowar, Danko Jones, Buckcherry, Demon, Faith No More, Aerosmith, AMH, Arapaho, Fokofpolisiekar, Hinder, Dave Hause, Neil Young, The Uninvited, The Burning, Audioslave, Clutch, Massive Wagons, Volbeat, Deangersmith

KK Downing

Episode 43 of Season 4 went out live on Rebel Rock Radio on 28 Oct 2021.  It was politically charged, I had no choice.  In the midst of load-shedding 4 times a day, labour unrest and trucks being burnt on the  N3, South Africa is on its knees due to the disastrous ANC government.  A rot started by Jacob Zuma and perpetuated by Cyril Ramaposa is destroying the country.  Municipal elections are taking place on 1 November, this show is inextricably linked to this point in time.

We kicked off in party mode with My Chemical Romance and ‘Vampire Money‘ off Danger Days.  next up Massive Wagons off their 2020 release House of Noise.  Then it was time for ACDC and it flowed from there.  There were plenty of classic bands.  We heard from the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and Alice Cooper with ‘Elected‘ (what else?).  New stuff came from Joe Bonamassa off his new Time Clocks album, and from KK’s Priest with ‘Metal Through and Through‘.  Note that AA Milne is not in the band :-).

As shows go it was pretty well balanced.  We had Venom, the godfathers of today’s metal, with a track called ‘Don’t Burn the Witch‘.  We had punk courtesy of The Stranglers and UK Subs, we had the blues with Joe Bonamassa and Rory Gallagher, we had amazing guitarists in Mr Big, Winery Dogs and with Gary Moore.  Reference was made to the situation with the songs.  For example, We had The Cruel Sea with ‘Anybody But You‘,  Adrenaline Mob with ‘Judgement Day‘,  ‘Race to Extinction‘ from Accept,  and, another track possibly written about the SA government titled ‘Straight From Hell‘ by Helloween,  In the end, we had some good positivity with Little Steven and ‘Out of the Darkness‘ which I sincerely hope I will be able to report on favourably next week.  We shall see.

Artists featured:  My Chemical Romance, Massive Wagons, ACDC, The Rolling Stones, The Cruel Sea, Seether, Accept, Helloween, Anthrax, Ratt, Bad Company, Billy Talent, Soundgarden, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, KK’s Priest, Adrenaline Mob, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Great White, Venom, The Stranglers, UK Subs, Anti-Flag, The Donnas, The Cult, Rush, Killswitch Engage, Avenged Sevenfold, Joe Bonamassa, Rory Gallagher, Mr Big, The Winery Dogs, Gary Moore, Judas Priest, Metallica, Little Steven, Richard O’Brien, The Uninvited

Larkin Poe

S4E42 aired on Rebel Rock Radio on 21 Oct 2021.  I was in Clarens with my band the Bunk Girls Motorcycle Club on a guitar clinic with the most amazing Dan Patlansky so the episode felt a bit different from normal.  Having people around changes what you play and consequently, it’s the first show that doesn’t have something really heavy, no Slipknot, no Trivium, no Killswitch, sorry about that.

We kicked off in the usual way with some upbeat rock and roll from Buckcherry of the new album Hellbound,  Avenged Sevenfold’s ‘Girl I Know‘ off Diamonds in the Rough.  We stayed raucous for about  an hour and then got into the Neil Young, Springsteen phase before going really bluesy with the ladies, Larkin Poe making a TSORR debut) and the wonderful Samantha Fish with a track called Down in the Swamp.

There was a nice stretch of SA music with Dan Patlansky and Albert Frost, two of the finest players around.  We paid special attention to Dan’s tone and the fact that it is a product of a relentless lifelong search to get the right sound.   I then did something weird and played pretty much every band that the haters love to hate in a row.  I don’t plan these things it just worked out like that.  All in all, I don’t know what I think of this one, let’s see what you think, comments as always are welcome, you can find The Story of Rock and Roll’s Facebook page if you have anything to say about it.  Peace.

Artists featured:  Buckcherry, Avenged Sevenfold, Godsmack, Halestorm, Warrior Soul, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Stone Cherry, Massive Wagons, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Larkin Po, Samantha Fish, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Megadeth, Hellfighter, ACDC, Kiss, Rush, Springbok Nude Girls, Bed On Bricks, Dan Patlansky, Albert Frost, Hinder, Nickelback, Def Leppard, Greta Van Fleet, Supertramp, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, John Mellencamp, Kid Rock, L7, Marilyn Manson, Matthew Good Band, The Wildhearts, The Damned, Foo Fighters, Mötley Crüe

Joe Bonamassa

Episode 41 of Season 4 contained 40 songs which is probably a record for the show.  It aired at 19h00 on 15 Oct 2021.  It was a fairly joyous affair, we had no load shedding and I got my car back from the garage, I think the mood permeated the show.

We kicked off with Black Spiders out of Sheffield and then checked out Craig Goldy‘s, ex Dio’s, band Ressurection Kings from their 2016 release of the same name.  We pulled in some big guns in the form of W.A.S.P.  and Skid Row and then took in two in a row with Chris Cornell on vocals. The early stuff was taken care of by Mott the Hoople, The Rolling Stones, and The Who.  There was some commentary around the fact that the Stones have dropped ‘Brown Sugar‘ from their new live set supposedly because of pressure from the politically correct.  I played ‘Some Girls‘ to highlight the Overton Window.  The Who sounded great with ‘1921‘ off Tommy.

We checked out the new Black Label society track off the new album Doom Crew Inc which will probably be called Doom Squad forever on TSORR.   A highlight for me was the new Joe Bonamassa release called ‘Time Clocks‘.  I had a bit to say about the amount of hate Joe gets these days and highlighted the fact that this song is an anthem.  Give it time to grow on you, Joe is amazing, I am grateful he keeps giving us an album a year where most artists keep us waiting 5 or more years.

We went to the UK for 4 tracks, especially enjoyable was Death of the Clown by Dave Davies.  SA music was taken care of by Blue Scream, L.A. Cobra, and The Color Blew.  Blue Scream, was a Tully McCulley project with Roger Kaye and Robin Gallagher involved.  You can read more about the band and Roger in The Story of Rock and Roll, he was a hell of a character.  We hit the home straight with the two Toms, Petty and Waits, and an almost country and western track from Lynyrd Skynyrd off the God and Guns album.  Special shout out to In Flames and Trivium for bringing the heavy.  The New Trivium In The Court of The Dragon is stellar.  

Artists featured:  Black Spiders, Resurrection Kings, Smith / Kotzen, W.A.S.P., Skid Row, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog, Jorn, Wolfmother, Live, King Kobra, Mott the Hoople, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Whitesnake, Baton Rouge, Extreme, The Eagles, L7, The Pretty Reckless, Black Label Society, The L.A. Maybe, Loverboy, In Flames, Trivium, Joe Bonamassa, Seether, Oasis, Dave Davies, Stiff Little Fingers, The Dogs D’Amour, Blue Scream, L.A.Cobra, The Color Blew, Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Tom Petty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Halestorm, The Lazys

 

David Lee Roth

S4E30 aired on 7 Oct 2021 on Rebel Rock Radio.  We had the threat of load shedding once again but the power utility waited until the show was over before cutting us off.  I am grateful for that but the fact that they haven’t been able to turn it back on against is an extreme source of irritation.  So, we started with ‘Troublesome Times‘ by Texas Hippie Coalition and then went to Germany to catch Devils Train and a track called ‘ You and Me‘.  We went old school with Saxon and Michael Schenker and then all the way back to the ’70s for some Deep Purple and Grand Funk Railroad.

Dan Patlansky took care of the Blues with a track of his Perfection Kills album and then we checked out the KK’s Priest album Sermon of a Sinner now that it is finally all released.  It is fully cool and the guitar work between KK and A.J. Mills is spectacular. Then there was an update on the incredible story of Richie Faulkner having a heart attack on stage while playing the final track ‘Painkiller‘. Richie has become the most metal oke on earth after finishing the song.  While his aorta ruptured filling his chest with blood, he faultlessly played all his solos and once the show was over was taken off to hospital and a ten and a half hour operation.  He is OK and we wish him a speedy recovery

The new Guns ‘n’ Roses was great, we checked the new track called ‘Hard Skool‘ and then said happy 70th birthday to John Mellencamp, can you believe he is 70!  We got our punk from The Stranglers and Stiff Little Fingers and then we checked out two tracks about the Orca, one from Legend of the Seagullmen and then a most poignant look at the plight of this most marvelous creature through the eyes of Johnathan Martin.  The song is extremely touching if you allow yourself to really connect with what he is saying.  We finished off with two very South African tracks that may be a bit of a mystery to non-SA listeners, trust me they are both very relevant, happy to explain them to anyone who needs it.  We finished off with a little cheers to Van Halen legend who announced his retirement this week with the final words “Stay Frosty“.  Enjoy it Dave you have earned it and you gave us fun by the ton m/ respect.

Artists featured:  Texas Hippie Coalition, Devil’s Train, Dropkick Murphys, Michael Schenker Group, Dee Snider, Five Finger Death Punch, Grand Funk Railroad, Deep Purple, Candlebox, Danko Jones, Dan Patlansky, Bush, Korn, Heaven& Hell, KK’s Priest, Judas Priest, Jimmy Barnes, Powderfinger, Adrenaline Mob, Gary Clark Jr., Guns ‘n’ Roses, Joe Satriani, Pop Evil, Kiss, John Mellencamp, The Doors, The Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers, The Damned, Johnathan Martin, Legend of the Seagullmen, Mark Morton, ACDC, The Temperance Movement, Koos Kombuis, The Cherry Faced Lurchers, Van Halen

Adrenaline Mob

Episode 39 of Season 4 aired at 19h00 on Rebel Rock Radio, incredible how the year is flying past!  We kicked off with ‘The Mob Rules‘ brilliantly covered by Adrenaline Mob.  The track came off a tribute to Ronnie James Dio album called This is Your Life.  It set the show off to a blistering start.  It fell to Alice Cooper and Slash’s Snakepit to pick up the pieces.  Slash features on both tracks.  From there we were into some Gospel music from Stryper and some not gospel music from Mötley Crüe.  There was a bit of early ’80s stuff then we went to Seattle to check out solo work from Stone Gossard and Jerry Cantrell of Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains respectively.

One of the show highlights for me was a 3 song bit featuring SA bands spanning nearly 40 years.  We went from a new band in Cape Town called Image&Nation with a track called ‘Rivers and Dreams‘ back to the mid-’80s and a recording I have of The Diamond Dogs, to AKing out of Bellville featuring half of Fokofpolisiekar.  We also checked out the power of Dean Smith, an ex-South African responsible for pioneering some serious SA Metal, and his new album released as Deangersmith.  The album is called Lead Us to Your Taker (Disarm the Corrupt) and the track was called ‘Buckle My Shoe‘.

In the last hour we got heavy with Hatebreed and Testament then commercial with Nickelback and Bon Jovi ( yes I said the N-word), and played out with some classic ACDC, Judas Priest, and show closer ‘Gypsy Lee Rose‘ from Brody Dalle’s outfit The Distillers.  I Ran out of time as usual.  I was so busy I totally forgot to play the new Guns ‘n’ Roses track, which tells you something about a few things.

Artists featured: Adrenaline Mob, Alice Cooper, Slash’s Snakepit, Stryper, Triumph, Texas Hippie Coalition, Black Star Riders, Sebastian Bach, Mötley Crüe, Stone Gossard, Jerry Cantrell, Biters, Kid Rock, Frank Marino, Rory Gallagher, Rival Sons, Black Stone Cherry, Dangerous Toys, My Chemical Romance, Seether, Image&Nation, The Diamond Dogs, AKing, Deangersmith, Testament, Hatebreed, Serj Tankian, The Stranglers, Queensrÿche, ACDC, The LA Maybe, Nickelback, Bon Jovi, Judas Priest, The Distillers.

Deangersmith

This has been quite a palaver to get this episode out, after two days of wifi problems I finally managed to get it out so apologies for that.  Episode 38 of season 4 aired on 23 Sept 2021 at 19h00 on rebel Rock Radio.  It was quite different due to the unusual amount of South African music from unsigned acts.  We kicked off with The Clash by accident when Thin LizzySuicide‘ didn’t load and I had to act fast with ‘Clash City Rockers‘.  From there on it was an hour of classic rock with Motörhead, Ozzy, Van Halen, Bowie, AX7 and Rammstein.

I spent a bit of time discussing how Dan Patlansky is not only one of the most talented guitarists on the planet but has also contributed to SA music more than most through his guitar clinics which have inspired many amateurs to get stuck in and start getting their music out there.  Two such artists, Roan Ash and Roland Suttie are examples of this and were featured next.  We also took a listen to Dean Smith and his track ‘Freedom Fighter‘ under the Deanangersmith monicker.  Dean is a SA Metal legend having been a mainstay of bands such as Odyssey, Ragnärok, Brothering, and Mouthful of Flies, he is absolutely prolific and deserves more recognition.  He also doesn’t give a fuck what you think and that is what makes him so endearing 🙂

We checked out another track from Mark Biagio and The Fismits and then got stuck into the brand new Stranglers album called Dark Matters.  I was extremely complimentary and made it clear once again just how much I love The Stranglers.  We did a bit of anger management with FokofpolisiekarAngs Aanval’ and Hatebreed with Black Flags ‘Thirsty and Miserable.  All in all, it was one of my most enjoyable shows.  Hope you dig it.

Artists featured:  The Clash, Thin Lizzy, Mason Hill, Rammstein, Rob Zombie, Blue Öyster Cult, David Bowie, Motörhead, Night Ranger, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Avenged Sevenfold, Tyr, Deanangersmith, The Fismits, the Pretty Reckless, Samantha Fish, Dan Patlansky, Roan Ash, Roland Suttie, ACDC, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Cinderella, Bon Jovi, California Breed, Gojira, Marilyn Manson, The Stranglers, Seether, Dirty Honey, Airbourne, Fokofpolisiekar, Hatebreed, Mark Knopfler, Foo Fighters, The Gaslight Anthem, Billy Joe Armstrong

Talking Heads

Episode 37 was one of the more difficult episodes due to the fact that I was traveling and had to record the show instead of broadcast live. .  The connectivity can’t be trusted for a live show and even recording is difficult.  It probably doesn’t have the flow it usually does , maybe I am too close to it, see what you think.   The recording went out live on 16 Set 2021 from the sleepy town of Sedgefield.

We kicked off with Bush, which on its own was a bit different, then we went onto some classic Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper.  New stuff came from The L.A. Maybe, and Ayron Jones.  I desperately wanted to play more off Senjutsu, the new Iron Maiden album to help those who are hating it see the light but it seems to have a block on the iTunes version which prevented me from playing it for you.

The Stranglers and Stiff Little fingers took care of the Punk and Talking Heads made another appearance on the show with their Brian Eno produced classic “Once In a Lifetime‘.  The heavy stuff came from Alexi Laiho and Children of Bodom, Slayer with a cover of Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida‘ and some Metallica and Megadeth for good measure.

The highlight of this show was the last 30 minutes where things took a turn in a slightly progressive direction.   We checked out Rush, Threshold, and Opeth and that led yo a beautiful final track from South Africa’s own Peter Hanmer.  Peter has some of the greatest guitar instrumentals it is possible to hear.  I urge you to check out his stuff.

Bush, The L.A. Maybe, The Darkness, Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Greta Van Fleet, Ayron Jones, Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, Y&T, Great White, Korn, Shinedown, Thundermother, Samantha Fish, Joe Bonamassa,  Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, Children of Bodom, Slayer, Metallica, Neil Young, Tom Petty, The Stranglers, Talking Heads, Stiff Little Fingers, Machine Head, Megadeth, Loverboy, Bon Jovi, Judas Priest, Rush, Threshold, Opeth, The Legend of the Seagullmen, Peter Hanmer.

Tom Angelripper Sodom

Episode 36 aired on 9 Sept 2021 on Rebel Rock Radio.  The episode was prerecorded because I was traveling at the time and not sure if I would have connectivity.  The first hour was live from a show I did on Bulldogs Radio on Friday 3 Sept and then I continued for the next two hours.  Consequently, the first 60 min is fast-paced balls to the wall rock and roll featuring the likes of Kiss, Van Halen, Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath, and mainly ‘70’s classic rock bands.

The new stuff came from Springbok Nude Girls who have had a major return to form with the release of their new Partypocalypse.  Overall it was a nice mix of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s metal and rock.  We heard some more from my current latest favorites Samantha Fish, Ayron Jones, and the new Serj Tankian EP Elasticity.  I really enjoyed Agent Orange by Sodom and Red Army Blues from The Waterboys.

Artists featured:  Black Sabbath, Michael Schenker Group, L.A. Guns, Cinderella, Boston, Skid Row, Mötley Crüe, Bullet Boys, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ayron Jones, Blue Oyster Cult, Van Halen, Kiss, Rainbow, Metallica, Paradise Lost, Hell Fire, Led Zeppelin, Godsmack, Sevendust, Samantha Fish, The Black Cat Bones, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Dave Davies, Springbok Nude Girls, Serj Tankian, Savage, The Clash, Live, The Waterboys, Molly Hatchet, Great White, Judas Priest, ACDC, Sodom, The L.A. Maybe, Warren Zevon

Ayron Jones

Episode 35 of Season 4 went out live at 7 pm on 2 September 2021.  The show featured a number of albums released in 2021 including one by a guy called Ayron Jones.  I am quite blown away by this album titled Child of the State.  He has a voice that reminds me of Prince in places, with shades of Terrence Trent D’Arby and Gary Clarke Jr.  He also plays a mean guitar, his track ‘My Love Remains‘ should raise some goosebumps.  Mason Hill’s album Against the Wall  is another new one I am enjoying. We took a listen to ‘Broken Son‘.   

I am also going through a Samantha Fish phase so we heard from her and rounded out the blues with some Jonny Lang.  The heavy lifting was handled by Onslaught, Bullet For My Vallentine and, Sunken State.  The latest Rob Zombie was pretty cool and so was a track off Serj Tankian’s latest EP called Elasticity, we took a listen to a track called ‘Your Mom‘ which is proudly flying the System of a Down flag.  I had a little rant about the state of the government and the local municipality, as we have been without water for 24 hours, it felt appropriate to take a track off Give ‘Em Enough Rope‘ by The Clash and ‘Fire & Gasoline‘ by Steve Jones.  The music and lyrics punctuated a number of disparaging remarks about the state of things in general.  They were unplanned but heartfelt.

The South African stuff came from Valiant Swart, The Burning, The Uninvited, and Sunken State as well as newcomers Image & Nation who have released an excellent EP titled  Never Be Quiet which could be a mantra for TSORR.     

Artists featured:  Herman Frank, Monster Truck, Seasick Steve, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, The Sweet, Mötley Crüe, Steelheart, Vain, Onslaught, Q5, Queensrÿche, Running Wild, Wolfmother, Grandfunk Railroad, Ayron Jones, Mick Jagger, Serj Tankian, Mason Hill, Samatha Fish, Jonny Lang, Image & Nation, Valiant Swart, The Burning, Bullet For My Vallentine, Massive Wagons, Mammoth WVH, Rose Tattoo, The Clash, Steve Jones, Accept, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motörhead, Windowpane, Mr Big, The Uninvited, Sunken State.   

 

Charlie Watts

Episode 34 of Season 4 went live on Rebel Rock Radio on 26 August 2021.  It was a great episode, one of my favorites, mainly because there is so much going on in life and with Rebel Rock Radio that I didn’t even have time to think about this show.  The station is growing and we have some seriously good shows being added to the line-up.  Ep 34 flowed because of the number of new bands I have been listening too and the sad passing of Charlie Watts.  The amount of love being handed out on social media for the passing of this rock star is unprecedented.  I played a few Rolling stones songs that really highlighted his drumming and helped to make the point about how Charlie was always in the pocket and very much the backbone of The Stones.

I had a number of bands that, while not new to the world, were new to me.  These included The L.A. Maybe and a South African band out of Cape Town called Imagine&Nation.  There were new releases from Iron Maiden and KK’s Priest.  I spiced the show with Killswitch Engage, Gojira, & Annihilator and we covered the Punky / New Wave stuff with Green Day, Titus Andronicus & Talking Heads.  It was great to hear ‘Burning Down the House Again‘.  We had more Chrome Division and more Greta Van Fleet.

The usual heavyweights, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Joe Bonamassa, Kid Rock, Dio, and Motörhead were featured.  I found a Motörhead song I had never heard called ‘ God Was Never on Your Side‘, I do not know how I missed the album, Kiss of Death.  The track actually reminds me of The Kinks ‘I’m Not Like Everybody Else’ which you can find on the website at emotional power of music from the movies. It is on the blog page and features an incredibly powerful video from The Sopranos.  The show closed out with a final goodbye to Charlie Watts and a few tracks that help us to realise that we are living the times discussed on page 185 of The Story of Rock and Roll.  “These heroes may die but their music lives on”.

Artists featured:  Guns ‘n’ Roses, Kid Rock, Kris Barras Band, Dokken, The L.A. Maybe, Annihilator, Myles Kennedy, Edguy, Grateful Dead, Billy Talent, Alice In Chains, Killswitch Engage, Dio, Royal Blood, The Raven Age, The Rolling Stones, Greta Van Fleet, Kadavar, Image&Nation, Chrome Division, Iron Maiden, KK’s Priest, Green day, Titus Andronicus, Talking Heads, Joe Bonamassa, Rory Gallagher, Pebbleman, Piet Botha and Jack Hammer, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers,  Hinder, Gojira, Motorhead, Linkin Park, Fokofpolisiekar.

Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy. The Cult

Episode 33 of Season 4 aired on 19 August 2021.  We kicked off with my current favorites Chrome Division and then spent some time in the ’70s with Grand Funk Railroad and Kiss.  From there we got right back to the present day with Seether’s new EP Wasteland – The Purgatory.  In general, it was a pretty balanced show we checked out John Mellencamp and Kid Rock and got as heavy as Anthrax and King Diamond.  The Punk came from Die Toten Hosen, The Jam, and The Clash.

Aussie was represented by ACDC and Airbourne and SA by Wonderboom, Government Car, The Uninvited, and Lithium.  We also risked the wrath of a world of haters by playing Nickelback and we countered the sexism of the song with an equally sexist viewpoint from the ladies in the form of The Donnas and ‘Take Me To The Back Seat‘.

The highlight of the show for me was back-to-back Led Zeppelin and The Cult with ‘Tangerine‘ and ‘Edie (Caio Baby)‘ respectively as well as Cold Chisel’s live long-form version of ‘Bow River‘ featuring the very underrated Ian Moss on guitar and vocals.

Artists featured:  Chrome Division, Grand Funk Railroad, Kiss, Seether, Soundgarden, Airbourne, Trouble, Philip Sayce, The Lazys, Led Zeppelin, The Cult, Nashville Pussy, ACDC, Greta Van Fleet, System of a Down, Blink 182, Shinedown, Cold Chisel, Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Die Toten Hosen, the Jam, the Clash, Anthrax, Coheed & Cambria, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Uninvited, Government Car, Kid Rock, John Mellencamp, Clutch, Judas Priest, Last In Line, Y&T, The Offspring, Wonderboom, Lithium, Nickelback, The Donna’s, Hell Fire.

Jack Hammer

Episode 32 of Season 4 aired on 12 August 2021.  It was a pretty mixed show with a healthy dose of bands that don’t get a lot of airtime.  I am talking about bands like Chrome Division, The Hitchers, Hell Fire, and The Gaslight Anthem.  There were more live recordings than usual, The Rolling Stones, Volbeat, Alter Bridge, and Slade were all live recordings.

There were also more new releases than usual, we checked out Dee Snider, Seether, Springbok Nude Girls, and Guns ‘n’ Roses.  Rock is alive and well even if Absurd by G ‘n’ R isn’t quite what I had hoped for,  It’s a grower.  The highlight of the show for me was 3 levels of heavy where we started with Skid Row’s power ballad ‘18 and Life‘, moved into 3rd gear with Hell Fire, my new love affair out of San Francisco,  and ended in overdrive with SA metal monsters Sunken State.  Note that Hell Fire is not new, I just found 2 more albums I didn’t have and I am Hell Fire befok.

The punk-ish stuff came courtesy of The Clash, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Sex Pistols.  We were light on Aussie and Germany and light on SA as well.  I am not sure quite how we ended up with a show so different from normal.  Anyway to quote Jack Hammer, “Thats how we roll”.   Check it out, see what you think, comments welcome as always, ’til next time, have a jol.

Artists featured:  Joe Bonamassa, Brides of Destruction, Sixx AM, Mötley Crüe, Wolfmother, Ratt, Poison, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Gaslight Anthem, Chrome Division, Nevada Beach, Slade, The Rolling Stones, Gary Moore, Seether, MDFMK, The Hitchers, Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Volbeat, Alter Bridge, Buckcherry, The Clash, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Sex Pistols, Smith/Kotzen, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Springbok Nude Girls, Aerosmith, Velvet Revolver, Skid Row, Hell Fire, Sunken State, Zakk Wylde, Judas Priest, Foo Fighters, Faster Pussycat

Led Zeppelin

Episode 31 went out live on Rebel Rock Radio at 7 pm on 5 August.  We kicked it off with ACDC and ‘ Kicked in the Teeth‘, the finest song ever started by vocals alone.  with the vocals before the band kick in.    Just to check that we took a listen to another vocal only start in the form of Led Zeppelin’s Black Dog.  Some of you might say that there is some instrumentation before Robert Plant starts singing but the answer to that is it has nothing to do with the song, it is just the sound of a band waiting for their singer to start.

The show was a lot more upbeat than last week for obvious reasons and we covered a huge variety of rock.  everything from Ballads by Boston with ‘Let Me Take You Home Tonight‘ to Slayer with ‘Divine Intervention‘.  In fact, we even got as chilled as Rodriguex=z and ‘Forget It‘.  The Jam with ‘David Watts was a breath of fresh air as was  Pat Travers with his amazing track ‘Snortin Whisky‘.  A highlight of the show was checking out two new releases.  Dee Sniders’ ‘I Gotta Rock (Again)‘ , and Seether with ‘ Feast or Famine‘  which is a real return to form.  I am starting to think a 4 track EP with some really good tracks every year is better than waiting for a new album with 4 good tracks and 11 tracks of filler every 4 to 6 years.

The local stuff was a bit different this week and very Rebel Rock Radio presenter-centric.  We checked out another track from Before The Hindsight by The Fismits.  Mark Biagio, who presents The Crooked Beat on Rebel Rock Radio is the main man behind The Fismits and writes the songs and does guitar and vocals.  We also checked out a demo by a band called Fire Horses with a track called Porsche Roller.  It was a song I wrote in Cape Town and never got a chance to record so together with Adam Thomas (the legend) and Jack King Lawless we recorded it one Saturday afternoon a few years ago.  It is here for posterity.  We closed out with Ozzy and ‘See You on The Other Side‘.

Artists featured:  ACDC, Led Zeppelin, Night Ranger, Rush, Todd La Torre, Boston, The Eagles,  Pat Travers Band, Seven Thorns, Loverboy, Sebastian Bach, W.A.S.P., The Pretty Reckless, Foo Fighters, Blink 182, Grand Funk Railroad, Reef, Dee Snider, Seether, The Jam, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Rodriguez, Slayer, Killswitch Engaged, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sammy Hagar, The Fismits, Fire Horses, Judas Priest, U.D.O., Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne

ZZ Top

Episode 30 of Season 4 went out live on 29 July 2021 at 7 pm.  It was a tough show for me in many ways.  My father passed away on 24 July and it was the first show since his passing.  Inevitably his memory permeated the show although he wasn’t a big music guy his influence on me was profound.  I tried to keep the show about life and death in general rather than getting too deep.  With so many loved ones passing in these troubled times my sense is that many people will be able to relate to certain tracks and get some comfort out of the music and its ability to both hurt and heal.  We kicked off with Metallica and ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls‘.

The first hour was pretty up-tempo with bands like Edguy, Krokus, W.A.S.P., and Skid Row.  I paid tribute to Dusty Hill, bass guitarist for ZZ Top, who passed away last night age  72.  He apparently died in his sleep which is about as good as it gets I guess.  We took a listen to Tush as he does lead vocals on that classic track.  the mood changed a bit once we hit the Springsteen and took in Atlantic City off his masterpiece Nebraska.   Zakk Wylde, Neil Young, and Windowpane with ‘The More I Run‘ kept the mood where it was.

The show moved along with typical TSORR fare, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, ACDC, Lynyrd Skynyrd all delivered the goods and in the last hour, I played a couple of tracks that I dedicated to Dad before taking us out with the only really heavy track of the show in the form of Machine Head’s ‘Davidian‘.  Anyway, it is what it is, I hope you get something out of it, it was a difficult show for me and I let Lemmy have the last word with ‘Till the End‘.

Artists featured:  Metallica, Edguy, Skid Row, Krokus, W.A.S.P., ZZ Top, My Chemical Romance, Bruce Springsteen, Zakk Wylde, Neil Young, Live, Windowpane, Richie Kotzen, Scorpions, Foo Fighters, Billy Idol, The Four Horsemen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackstone Cherry, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Theory of a Deadman, Linkin Park, Jimmy Barnes, Brian Fallon, ACDC, Gotthard, Johnny Cash, Valiant Swart, Roan Ash, Mammoth WVH, Aerosmith, Oasis, Jack Hammer, Black Sabbath, Machine Head, Motörhead.

Iron Maiden Senjutsu

Episode 29 of season 4 aired at 7 pm on Thursday 22 July 2021.  It was a difficult show to be honest, as you may well know there is a lot of trouble specific to South Africa at the moment, and like everyone, we are battling Covid.  This insidious virus claimed the life of Leon Economides on Monday this week.  Leon was a mentor to all of us on Rebel Rock Radio, it was Leon who got me on to Mix 93.8 FM and you can say that without Leon you may not be listening to this podcast.  Leon was respected throughout the world for his knowledge and passion for the music we love.  He genuinely was a walking rock encyclopedia and I say a few words about him during this episode.

The airwaves were very quiet for the first 90 min of the show which always makes it hard to choose the music.  It felt a bit disjointed at the time but the end result is fine I believe, you can be the judge.  Kicking off with some lesser-known bands like Resurrection Kings and Devils Train, we moved through the usual ACDC, Motörhead, Kiss, Whitesnake type fare interspersed with heavy stuff like Pantera, Slayer, and Five Finger Death Punch.  The new stuff came from KK’s Priest and Iron Maiden and a band of youngsters called AMH.  AMH stands for Adam and the Metal Hawks which is what the album is called.  This is going to confuse the shit out of everyone, people are not going to know what to call them.  But the music is great.  I buffered it with Greta Van Fleet and a band of youngsters out of the UK called Equator, all three bands showing that rock music is in good hands and very, very far from dead.

I said a few words about Leon and paid tribute to his contribution to my development, the formation of Rebel Rock Radio and the amount of effort he put into pumping SA music.  He was one of a kind and he will be missed.  The highlight of the show for me was playing a band called Sun Fish who were around in Cape Town in the late ‘ 90s early ’00s and put out a cracker of a track called ‘Dawn of Clay‘.  Other SA music came from Jasper Dan and Van Coke Kartel.  I let Black Label Society sum it all up with a track called ‘Sick of it All’.

Artists featured:  Dropkick Murphys, Devil’s Train, Ressurection Kings, ACDC, Drowning Pool, The Temperance Movement, Powderfinger, Hell Yeah, Texas Hippie Coalition, Pantera, Sinner, The Dead Daisies, The Four Horsemen, Five Finger Death Punch, Motörhead, Black Label Society, Buckcherry, Blue Cheer, Jethro Tull, Iron Maiden, KK’s Priest, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Stranglers, Sham 69, Kiss, Jasper Dan, Foreigner, Sun Fish, Van Coke Kartel, Whitesnake, Greta Van Fleet, Adam & the Metal Hawks, Equator, Slayer, Scorpions, The Rolling Stones, Gary Moore.

Jeff Labar

Episode 28 of Season 4 was a strange beastie.  It aired at 7 pm on 15 July 2021 and it marks the fact that South Africa was in the middle of a wave of, I can’t say unprecedented violence because it’s a violent place, so let’s just say precedented violence that we haven’t seen for a very long time.  Whole shopping malls have been looted and burnt down, Trucks have been burnt and thousands of people ran riot through the streets in KZN and Gauteng looting and destroying in an orchestrated orgy of violence that got totally out of control.  The result is supply lines cut off and shops that are empty.  It is not a good situation and at this point is not resolved.  While this show cannot but help to comment on the situation,  in many ways, it’s a celebration of people coming together to stand against looting and violence and to protect their communities against the inevitable results of years of government policy failure.

We kicked off with Godsmack and ‘Bulletproof‘ and then had ‘Something For The Pain‘ courtesy of Bon Jovi.  Next up, a shout-out to the guys and girls who were patrolling on neighbourhood watch and community groups in the form of ‘Guardian of the Night‘ and ‘Got Your Six‘ by Accept and Five Finger Death Punch respectively.  We got positive with Joe Bonamassa’s ‘Bridge to Better Days‘ and Queensrÿche with ‘Resistance‘ off the phenomenal Empire album.  I truly believe we are building a bridge to better days and solidified that with ‘United‘ off Judas Priest’s British Steel album.

There was a nice little bit talking about the music and how important it is and how special the people who understand and value TSORR are and how the guitar unites us.  Piet Botha’s ‘Man Met Kitaar‘ underlined the point.  Things got heavy with Lamb of God and ‘Walk With Me in Hell‘ but then we cooled it down with some Joe Jackson and The Boomtown Rats.  The bluesy stuff was courtesy of Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Tom Petty type stuff came from Tom Petty (surprise, surprise) and The Gaslight Anthem.  With about an hour to go, I saw the sad news that Jeff La Bar, guitarist for 80’s metal legends Cinderella had just passed away so we took a listen to him and said RIP and thanks for the music, Jeff.  Anyway check it out, comments, questions, suggestions etc welcome on the TSORR Facebook page.

Artists featured:  Godsmack, Bon Jovi, Buckcherry, Sinner, Accept, Five Finger Death Punch, Megadeth, ACDC, The Pretty Reckless, Joe Bonamassa, Queensrÿche, W.A.S.P., Sammy Hagar, Piet Botha, Neil Young, Judas Priest, Slash feat Lemmy, Lamb of God, Joe Jackson, The Boomtown Rats, System of a Down, Candlebox, Mötley Crüe, Pride & Glory, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Petty, The Gaslight Anthem, The Lazys, We Are Harlot, Cinderella, Johnathan Martin, White Zombie, Kid Rock, The Damned Things, The Distillers, The Uninvited, Volbeat, Parkway Drive, Iron Maiden.

pearl-jam

Episode 27 of Season 4 aired at 7 pm on 8 July  2021.  We kicked off suitably with ‘Jailbreak‘ by ACDC and then kept it there with U.D.O. and Animal Drive.  Next up we had a bit of vintage Def Leppard off the Mutt Lange produced High ‘n’ Dry and some classic Led Zeppelin.  One of the highlights was Ozzy Osbourne’s cover of Joe Walsh‘s ‘Rocky Mountain Way‘, it off his 1995 release Under Cover and features Jerry Cantrell doing the guitar work, it’s a wonderful track.  Another wonderful track was Pearl Jam with ‘Yellow Ledbetter‘, nice to hear Mike McCreedy out Hendrixing Hendrix. 

Other than that I didn’t want to spend too much of the show gloating about Zuma going to jail but it was necessary to play Pink Floyd’s ‘The Trial‘ off The Wall and highlight the immortal lines “Of all my years of judging I have never heard before, of someone more deserving the full penalties of law”.  I said my second last word about this and played Bruce Springsteen’s ‘One Minute You’re Here‘.  I think the point has been made.  The punk piece was fun with Blink 182, Green Day, and Sham 69 with ‘Borstal Breakout‘.  From Punk we went sort of proggy with a band out of Helsinki called Wheel and then we went to Sweden for a track off the brand new At The Gates album called The Nightmare of Being. I mentioned In Flames as being the band that members of At The Gates went to but it was actually The Haunted.  

Other than that it was good fun and going from Parkway Drive to Crosby Stills, Nash and Young is probably a radio first.  Short of SA stuff again this week, all we managed to hit was Derick Hougaat’s favourite band Van Coke Kartel.  Good times, see you next week m/ 

Artists featured:  ACDC, U.D.O., Animal Drive, Def Leppard, Chickenfoot, Led Zeppelin, Voices of Extreme, Overkill, Ricky Warwick, RavenEye, Mercyful Fate, Gov’t Mule, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam, Jimmy Barnes, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, Godsmack, Marilyn Manson, Soil, Soul Asylum, Blink 182, Green Day, Sham 69, Wheel, At The Gates, Van Halen, Thunder, Mötley Crüe, Buckcherry, Judas Priest, Journey, Parkway Drive, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Smith / Kotzen, Type O Negative, Van Coke Kartel, Rancid, Motörhead, My Chemical Romance.  

johnny -solinger

Episode 26 of Season 4 is the high point of the year as far as I am concerned, it aired at 7 pm on 1 July 2021.  E26 marks the halfway mark of the year and the joyous news of our ex-president’s impending incarceration.  It is also the only show so far to clock in at exactly 3 hours (and 15 seconds) and causing the most perfect switch over between me and the going ‘back to the studio’. switchover.  We kicked off with Megadeth and their Rust in Peace classic ‘Hanger 18‘.  It made sense to stay with the trash heavyweights of the world and we followed with Metallica and ‘Creeping Death‘.  Next up The Raven Age off their album Darkness Will Rise and this led to a brief discussion of a slight glimmer of hope for SA as Jacob Zuma goes to jail for 15 months for contempt.  We celebrated with Prison Bound by Social Distortion and some optimism in the form of Bon Jovi’s ‘Keep The Faith‘.

There were plenty of big names, we heard from Van Halen, ACDC, W.A.S.P.,  Scorpions, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest.  The highlight for me, other than all the Zuma jibes, was Skid Row with a track off  United World Rebellion- Chapter One called  ‘This is Killing Me‘.  It is an incredibly good song made all the more poignant by the sad passing of Johnny Solinger, the vocalist on the track earlier this week.  Largely ignored, these last two Skid Row albums shine, RIP Johnny.  We checked out a band I have just discovered this week, Seven Thorns out of Denmark, and their track ‘Black Fortress‘.  Check out the guitar work about 3 minutes in.  We also got a dose of what would happen if Marilyn Manson replaced Till Lindemann in Rammstein by listening to his vocals on Emigrate’s second album Silent So Long.

New stuff from Buckcherry, SA stuff from The Burning and Prime Circle, Punk from Sham 69 and The Jam, and oldies from Python Lee Jackson with ‘In a Broken Dream‘.  There were lots of dedications to listeners and as I said a huge celebration about Zuma’s impending incarceration.  I let The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, have the final word for Zuma with When You’re Alone.  It may well be the most perfect radio show I have ever done :-).

Artists featured:  Megadeth, Metallica, The Raven Age, Social Distortion, Van Halen, Cinderella, Python Lee Jackson, W.A.S.P., ACDC, The Burning, We Are Harlot, Bon Jovi, Prime Circle, Oasis, Clutch, Thin Lizzy, Emigrate, Seven Thorns, Children of Bodom, Skid Row, Scorpions, Tom Petty, Buckcherry, Danko Jones, Dirty Honey, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Hollywood, Vampires, Sham 69, The Jam, Type O Negative, Avenged Sevenfold, Nickelback, Papa Roach, Airbourne, Bruce Springsteen

Lynrd Skynrd

Episode 25 of Season for aired at 7 pm on 24 June 2021.  Kicking off with Airbourne, one of Aussies finest we kept the pace up about 30 min with Deep Purple, Def Leppard, and a few others before going down south with some Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blackberry Smoke.  ‘One Horse Town‘ off The Whippoorwill y Blackberry Smoke is an emotional look at small-town America and a very cool track.   Next, we went as close to prog as we normally go on TSORR with Coheed & Cambia and a live version of Rush’s masterpiece 2112.

Punk was covered by Green Day, the Clash, and Ramones, it was great to hear the Clash’s ‘Somebody Got Murdered ‘ again, it’s been ages since I heard that track off the very bloated Sandinista triple set.  For the heavy, we took in an aural assault courtesy of Pantera, Parkway Drive, and later some Mastodon and Megadeth.  Rory Gallagher and Zakk Wylde took care of the guitar lessons.  As usual, I had 3 times the amount of music that would fit into 3 hours.  The show is almost noticeable more for what we skipped than what we played 🙂

A highlight for me was Papa Roach with between Angels and Insects‘, that lyric is something else, I didn’t realise how good it is and that folks, is the beauty of the show, you get your attention drawn to the little things that are massive.  Another highlight was Queen off Live Killers, it is another of these “Never Forget” moments, Queen in their day were the best band in the world.  Anyway, check it out, if you want to get in contact check out The Story of Rock and Roll Facebook page, until next week Adios Ameoba’s

Artists featured:  Airbourne, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Armored Saint, Drowning Pool, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackberry Smoke, Coheed & Cambria, Rush, Thin Lizzy, Rainbow, Green Day, The Clash, Ramones, Slaughter, Warrant, Pantera, Parkway Drive, Rory Gallagher, Pride & Glory, Junkyard, ACDC, Queen, Queensrÿche, Disturbed, Black Sabbath, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, John Mellencamp, Jack Hammer, Papa Roach, Soundgarden, Paul Stanley, Palaye Royale, Myles Kennedy, The Pretty Reckless, Megadeth, Mastodon, Ozzy Osbourne