SEASON 5 PODCASTS (PART 1)
showing 1-26 of 26 results
Episode 26 marked the halfway through the year spot. The show aired on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 30 June 2022. I got a chance to adjust my pants and dance the good time dance with Clutch’s ‘The Mob Goes Wild’ by Clutch as the show opener. Neil Fallon was in fantastic form on Blast Tyrant, my favorite Clutch album ever. Then in quick succession, we had two tracks about mothers, ‘Run To Your Mama‘ by Gary Moore and ‘Mothers Spinning In Her Grave‘ by Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains fame. We took in some Seether and then mellowed out in a powerful way with Alter Bridge. We heard a track called ‘Life Must Go On‘, and it must, no matter how fucked up the current situation is. From there very mellow, probably too mellow actually, with Ryan Adams off an album called 1989 and a track called ‘Bad Blood’. Â
Things warmed up with Black Country Communion and Satan (the band not the dude), and then we hit a bit of a Guns ‘n’ Roses theme with a cover of ‘My Michelle‘ courtesy of L.A. Guns. Phil Lewis‘s very British accent and Tracii Guns‘s guitar tone added serious value to the track. The new stuff came from Megadeth and Ozzy. Megadeth, in particular, is fantastic, seriously amazing, if the rest of the album is like this track titled ‘We’ll Be Back’ then its album of the year already. We checked out the new Ozzy, which is great, even though I blow hot and cold on it, I am warming to it. Make your own mind up on this one. I love Jeff Becks contribution but I’m not a fan of Andrew Watt in the producers chair. Â
I made up for a dearth of South African music over the last two weeks, starting with Richard Pryor in his Pebbleman guise and a cover of the Warren Haynes track made famous by Joe Bonamassa called ‘If Heartaches Were Nickels’, nickles, not nipples lol, Springbok Nude Girls, Mark Haze & 12th Avenue, Jack Hammer and a Cape Town metal band called Infanteria. Infanteria is a seriously world-class thrash band in the mold of Slayer, Metallica, and Testament, thanks to Metal Malletjie Greg Scott for finding them.
From there it was the downhill run with some US Punk (Blink 182 and Fall Out Boy) and some UK Punk (The Clash and The Jam) and We ended heavy with Sepultura, Arch Enemy, and Destruction.  There was probably too much moaning about the state of the country, load shedding, and abomination that the ANC has become so apologies for that, to quote the Boss “Someday we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny”. Let’s hope hey. Â
Artists featured: Clutch, Gary Moore, Jerry Cantrell, Korn, Seether, Alter Bridge, Ryan Adams, Black Country Communion, Satan, Michael Schenker Group, L.A.Guns, Dangerous Toys, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Def Leppard, Black Spiders, Buckcherry, Ozzy Osbourne, Rose Tattoo, Trivium, Metal Church, Pebbleman, Springbok Nude Girls, Jack Hammer, Mark Haze & 12th Avenue, Infanteria, 182, Fall Out Boy, The Clash, The Jam, The Cult, White Zombie, Sepultura, Arch Enemy, Destruction. Â
PS, I now know why Ryan Adams was considered possibly too mellow, his1989 album is a cover album. Taylor Swift recorded 1989 in 2014 which is the year of her birth, Ryan was born in 1974 and he has songs called 1974 so I guess that is all part of it. He decided to cover the whole thing. Taylor Swift hasn’t featured on TSORR before, I am aware that there is a Taylor Swift but up until now that was as far as it went. Don’t stress we won’t be hearing her album any time soon.  Â
PPS, the TV show where “Chris died for your sins” was Weeds and it was the character Andy who made the shirts. Â
Another fun episode of TSORR, this one went out on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 23 June 2022. It was episode 25 so we are nearly halfway through Season 5 already. Kicking off with Dee Snider and ‘Mask’, and then Lita Ford with ‘The Mask’ we symbolically said cheers to wearing masks in SA at last. Or until the next pandemic in 2060 but I don’t think flu will be around by then anyway, or me for that matter. Moving on. We checked out Autograph with a very fresh sounding 2017 live version of ‘Turn Up The Radio’ and then got down to business with some Megadeth, Saxon, and Guns ‘n’ Roses. The new Megadeth called The Sick, The Dying and the Dead is on pre-release but we took in a track off United Abominations called ‘Washington is Next. The G ‘n’ Roses track came off Chinese Democracy, just for a change.
To rebalance for a Guns ‘n’ Roses without Slash we played a track off his It’s 5 ‘o Clock Somewhere album.  There was a call for some metal so I played Asking Alexandria which was met with Oom-ish howls which a stated with Metallica’s ‘The Thing That Should Not Be‘. More howls, so we got back to old-school metal in the form of ACDC and Rainbow. The world has changed a lot.  Other than that we paid tribute to Clarence Clemons who died 11 years ago this week. ‘Born to Run‘ did the honours there. We heard the obligatory Tom Petty track and some Marilyn Manson with ‘New Model No 15‘ off Mechanical Animals. Rammstein hit us with ‘Haifisch‘ which means shark in English and then we celebrated a historic victory in which the forces of good triumphed over the forces of evil at the CCMA, Slayer with ‘Richard Hung Himself‘ marked that spot.
No SA music in this episode!!! can’t believe it, it just got too busy. Next week I promise. Other than that there were two good releases this week Machine Head with a track called ‘Unhallowed‘ and In Flames with ‘State of Slow Decay‘, heavy metal is alive and kicking ass. We went out quietly with Judas Priest’s beautiful ballad titled ‘Never Forget‘ which reminds us that they will keep going until they no longer can and that they will never forget the support from the fans, it’s a bitter-sweet reminder of the fragility of it all. Tom Waits closed the gate with ‘Gun Street Girl‘ off raindogs.
Artists featured: Dee Snider, Lita Ford, Kris Barras Band, Autograph, Bad Company, Megadeth, Praying Mantis, Rhino Bucket, Saxon, Dangerous Toys, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Asking Alexandria, Metallica, ACDC, Rainbow, Slash’s Snake Pit, Soil, Slayer, System of a Down, Soundgarden, Bush, The Jam, The Damned, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Windowpane, Skid Row, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Cold Chisel, Uriah Heep, Motörhead, Machine Head, In Flames, Judas Priest, Tom Waits
Episode 24 of season 5 aired at 19h00 on Rebel Rock Radio on 16 June 2022. It was workers’ day and being a Thursday most people took the gap and the long weekend. It was incumbent on TSORR to provide the soundtrack to the jol. With that mission in mind, the show kicked off with the Thin Lizzy classic ‘Cowboy Song’. From there it was time for some Clutch off the wonderful Blast Tyrant album and a track dedicated to the Gupta Brother called ‘Subtle Hustle‘. From there we ended in a weird little bit where every song was about Moving On. George Thorogood got it started with ‘Move It On Over‘, then we had two different songs called ‘Move On‘ first by Walter Trout and then followed by Paul Stanley. Speaking of Paul Stanley it seems pretty certain that we are not going to see Kiss in SA. Thanks, Covid Â
It was time for some metal so we moved on to Queensrÿche and Accept. The Accept track was called ‘The Abyss‘ off Blood of Nations and featured an awesome little Wolf Hoffman bridge about 3 min in, check it out. Next, we went political and dedicated a song by The New Black called ‘Send in the Clowns’ to the politicians. The hair metal days were celebrated as they always are on the show, this time with Ratt and Poison, Warren DeMartini, and CC de Ville showing exactly what the fuss was about. Â
For the Metal, we had Slayer, Cradle of Filth, Testament, Megadeth, and Wolf. Tom Petty, Kid Rock and Pride & Glory gave us a bit of laid back, what I like to call, heartland rock. Pride & Glory was Zakk Wylde‘s outfit after he left Ozzy but before Black Label Society. The track ‘Found a Friend‘ was dedicated to Athol and Margie who have been TSORR lifers since the show started in 2017.  We didn’t get any UK punk in this episode so that’s pretty rare, instead we took a lightning tour around the world ending up in South Africa via Germany, Canada, Japan, Australia, and France .  Oh, and of course, the new Kreator is out so we played a track called ‘Crush the Titans‘. We ended heavy with Kreator, Slayer and Slipknot, albeit mellow Slipknot with a track called ‘Snuff’, with about 8 min left it made sense to go from Slipknot to Nickelback to Hinder, why the hell not it’s only Rock and Roll and we like it. Cheers for now, catch you next episode.  Â
And Jaques got his drums.
Artists featured:  Thin Lizzy, Clutch, George Thorogood, Walter Trout, Paul Stanley, Queensrÿche, Accept, The New Black, Tesla, Ratt, Poison, Slash, Wolf, Joe Bonamassa, Megadeth, Marilyn Manson, Cradle of Filth, Testament, Audioslave, Stone Temple Pilots, Billy Talent, Blink 182, Kid Rock, Tom petty. Pride & Glory, Scorpions, Rush, Gary Moore, Loudness, ACDC, Gojira, The Black Cat Bones, Fokofpolisiekar, Kreator, Slayer, Slipknot, Nickelback, Hinder.Â
Episode 23 of season 5 aired on 9 June at 19h00 on Rebel Rock Radio. First up we had 1000 Homo DJs. Basically, that is Al Jourgensen of Ministry fame with a few buddies, people like Jello Biafra. From there we had a ‘Poisoned heart‘ by Black Star Riders. Classic rock from Def Leppard, Krokus, Journey, and Whitesnake off the Love Hunter album moved us along nicely. Korn took us into the 2000s and we stayed there with 21st-century bands The Temperance Movement and a solo album by ex-Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell.
Jaques called in to ask if there were any drums so we took a listen to Doro Pesch and Warlock with a track called ‘Hellbound‘. We celebrated the Queen’s platinum (70th) Jubilee with ‘God Save the Queen‘, the track that cemented the Sex Pistol’s reputation as foul-mouthed yobs. Staying in 1977 we checked out The Clash with ‘Hate and War‘ and UK Punk heavyweights The Stranglers with a track off 1978’s Black and White called 5 Minutes.
The highlight for me was playing a song that is very special to me by a South African band called Count Ash. Featuring guitar god Joe da Silva, Count Ash were resident at the Roxy Rhythm Bar in Melville in the early ’90s. I spent many Friday nights there in the company of fellow Sleaze Patrollers Marq Vas, Dave Lee Owen, and Stu Hollendrake. Thanks to Vas who has the largest collection of SA music in the world (check out Mark Vas’s South African Music Collectibles) I managed to get an MP3 copy of the track ‘Holding On’ which I rediscovered on my Phil Wright Tapes last week. It was amazing to hear it again. It made sense to keep those memorable days flowing with another track by The Diamond Dogs, they have been getting a lot of airplay lately thanks to Rebel Rock’s Tinus Nel, who gave me some recordings that he helped fund many years ago. I sort of lost control of the show for a while but we did chat briefly about Rodriguez, and Johnny Depp and we got to hear ‘The Economic Theory of Jesus’ by The Uninvited for the first time ever on TSORR.
Artists featured: 1000 Homo DJs, Black Star Riders, Def Leppard, Dangerous Toys, Whitesnake, Krokus, Journey, Metallica, Korn, Thunder, The Temperance Movement, Thin Lizzy, Phil Campbell, Warlock, W.A.S.P., Sex Pistols, The Stranglers, the Clash, Butchering The Beatles, Hollywood Vampires, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Rodriguez, Kid Rock, Children of Bodom, System of a Down, Sabaton, Stone Sour, Vixen, The Rolling Stones, Count Ash, The Diamond Dogs, The Uninvited, Johnathan Martin, Buckcherry, Skid Row, Slash’s Snakepit, Sixx AM, The Distillers, Ozzy Osbourne.
Episode 22 nearly didn’t happen, it became episode 23 for some reason. It looks like the time travel theme that signals the start of every show moved me ahead a week. Fortunately, I was able to change all the S5E23s to the correct S5E22 before everything got uploaded and created an irreversible hole in time. The show kicked off with The Doors and ‘L.A. Woman‘ and it was like cool running water, Jim Morrison giving us a glimpse once again of what could have been if he was still around today. From a chilled laid back nearly 8 minute intro, we smashed a little Volbeat action and moved through Phil X and The Drills, Skid Row, and something off the new Ghost album Impera.
We made a bit of a fuss about Johnny Depp and celebrated his vindication by the courts this week by playing his band Hollywood Vampires and a track called ‘Who’s Laughing Now‘. We washed that down with some Jeff Beck jamming with ZZ Top on ‘Rough Boy‘. We had Classic Rock came from Black Sabbath, ACDC, and Led Zeppelin, prog type stuff from Threshold and Coheed & Cambria, and Metal from Sepultura, Death Angel, and Opeth.
The SA music was well represented by The Devil’s Party Band, The Diamond Dogs, and Hellcats. Tom Petty and John Mellencamp mellowed the show out a bit, I tried to revive it with some UK Punk, courtesy of The Stranglers and Stiff Little Fingers but ultimately the show moved back to a chilled ending with a fantastic love song about a guitar off the brand new Def Leppard album Diamond Star Halos. Anyone who has played a guitar their whole life will fully understand the sentiment and the mini solos. The show was dedicated to Athol’s son Phoenix who turned 25 and celebrated by listening to The Story of Rock and Roll as one should.
Artists featured: The Doors, Volbeat, Phil X and The Drills, Ghost, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Coverdale / Page, Zakk Wylde, Tesla, Threshold, Coheed & Cambria, Mötley Crüe, Black Sabbath, ACDC, Dangerous Toys, Hollywood Vampires, ZZ Top, The Rolling Stones, Suicidal Tendencies, Doom Squad, Opeth, Sepultura, Death Angel, Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, The Diamond Dogs, Hellcats, The Devil’s Party Band, The Pretty Reckless, Lita Ford, L7, Seether, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, The Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers, Def Leppard, U2.
Episode 21 of Season 5 kicked off TSORR at 19h00 on Thursday 26 May 2022 with Chickenfoot’s upbeat ‘Oh Yeah‘. From there it was Kiss and The Answer out of Ireland with a track called ‘Feel the Fear‘. This was one of the most enjoyable episodes I have ever done. It felt a bit different but I am not sure why. It had all the usual fare; Punk from The Stranglers and the Clash, classic metal from Iron Maiden and Metallica, Grunge from Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. With Soundgarden, we went ‘Full On Kevin’s Mom‘.
The South African music bit was great thanks to Rebel Rocks’ own Tinus Nel who had old recordings that I only had on cassette of The Diamond Dogs. The Dogs were SA’s finest live band back in the late ‘80s / early ’90s and they would have been huge if they were in the US. The energy from these recordings is palpable, We checked out a new track from The Black Cat Bones off the new album Book of Miriam which is being released slowly. We also checked up Odyssey and Sacrifist.
My favorite bit was the last hour where we had some rocking heavy stuff from The Lazys and Billy F. Gibbons before having a mellow-ish Jethro Tull into Van Morrison, into Bowie bit. Moving the show through to a seriously heavy ending took skill and worked like a charm, going via the weirdness of Electric Six and Beastie Boys and using the Kerry King solo as the bridge into Slayer with ‘Americon‘ and then Arch Enemy with their new track ‘Sunset Over Empire‘ and show closer ‘Arrows In Words From The Sky‘ by Machine Head
Artists featured:Â Chickenfoot, Kiss, The Answer, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Annihilator, Iron Maiden, Texas Hippie Coalition, Hell Yeah, Danko Jones, Buckcherry, Led Zeppelin, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Dream Theatre, Edguy, The Stranglers, The Clash, Transvision Vamp, The Diamond Dogs, Odyssey, Sacrifist, Grave Digger, Metallica, The Lazys, Billy F. Gibbons, Asking Alexandria, Tyler Bryant, Jethro Tull, Van Morrison, David Bowie, Conil, John Mellencamp, Electric Six, Beastie Boys, Slayer, Arch Enemy, Machine Head
Episode 20 of Season 5 aired on Rebel Rock Radio on Thursday 19 May at 19h00. It was great to be back behind the mic after two hectic weeks in Clarens and then Cape Town.  The show kicked off with hair metal heavyweights Slaughter and a track called ‘Shake This Place‘. That was the general intention from the start. From there we checked out the two Mot’s, Mötley Crüe and Mott the Hoople, with ‘Angela‘ and ‘One of the Boys‘ respectively.
We went to Australia with The Screaming Jets and James Reyne and then to Germany with Accept and a delightful love song called ‘Bucket Full of Hate‘. The show had a great mix and even featured a track from prog heavyweights Dream Theatre. We had metal from Satan with ‘My Own God‘, as well as more from Cancer Bats off their latest release Psychic Jailbreak. The South African stuff came from Jasper Dan, Prime Circle, and Durban’s very own Roland Suttie with his latest Theo Crous release titled ‘There Was a Boy‘. By request, we slipped in The Uninvited and a track called ‘Fixman’ making a long overdue appearance. It’s a track of great relevance today with the immortal line “When the bullies go to war”.
There was a bit of Gary Numan and Transvision Vamp and another track from Roger Kaye with Blue Scream titled ‘Weak at the Knees. We also checked out 12th Avenue and gave a big shout-out to frontman Mark Haze who I saw in Tableview last weekend. the good news is that Mark is rocking and sounding better than ever. He has without a doubt one of the best voices in the world and it’s wonderful to see a guy so talented. As we said at the gig, he plays guitar as easily as breathing. We finished off with the Adams Family, Ryan, and Big brother Bryan, lol, just a little joke.
Artists featured: Slaughter, Mötley Crüe, Mott the Hoople, Def Leppard, Bad Company, The Screaming Jets, James Reyne, Metallica, Satan, Accept, Dream Theatre, Fate Warning, Dark Tranquility, The Rolling Stones, Gov’t Mule, Jasper Dan, Roland Suttie, Prime Circle, Gary Numan & Tubeway Army, Transvision Vamp, Halestorm, Cancer Bats, Motörhead, Avenged Sevenfold, The Gaslight Anthem, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, 12th Avenue, Blue Scream, The Uninvited, AMH, Green Day, UK Subs, Pride & Glory, Slayer, Trivium, Megadeth, Kid Rock, Ryan Adams, Bryan Adams
Episode 19 was a ton of fun. It aired on 12 May 2022 on Rebel Rock Radio and we kicked off with Mel Gibson’s son in law Kenny Wayne Shepherd and a track called ‘Any Way the Wind Blows‘, that sentiment pretty much guided the show as we moved through Southern Rock with Jimmy Van Zant and Kid Rock all the way through to show closer Cradle of Filth with ‘Death Magick For Adepts‘.
We took a listen to another two tracks off what I have been referring to as the Phil Wright tapes, this week it was Deep Purple with ‘King of Dreams‘ and Vixen with ‘Cryin‘.  We checked out some vintage Iron Maiden and Judas Priest off Killers and Stained Class respectively. The story behind ‘Better By You Better Than Me‘ which caused Priest so much trouble after they were accused of being implicated in the suicide of two US kids back in 1985 was briefly discussed. For newish stuff i.e. 2019 we had Phil X and the Drills and for brand new stuff we had Rammstein and Kreator.
South African music was covered by The Devil’s Party Band and a track called ‘Headstone‘ and Jonathan Martin with “Wayward Road‘. We also checked an SA metal classic called ‘Ozone‘ by Odyssey and a track called ‘Here I Am‘ from East Rand rockers The Burning, apologies to the lads I am pretty sure I referred to their album as Highway to Hell instead of Headed to Hell. No doubt they would love the royalties for the former. Other than that there was punk, alternative, metal, blues and even Rabbitt with a super refreshing instrumental called ‘Take It Easy‘. The track goes back to 1971 and its clear that Trevor Rabin was as good as the best on the planet which is why he has been so wonderfully successful. Lets leave it here, the playlist is below, catch you next week.
Artists featured: Kenny Wayne Shepherd, ACDC, Quiet Riot, Deep Purple, Vixen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Buckcherry, Phil X and the Drill, Odyssey, The Burning, Thin Lizzy, David Bowie, Kiss, Megadeth, ZZ Top, Slash, The Devil’s Party Band, Johnathan Martin, Rammstein, Kreator, My Chemical Romance, Shinedown, Lit, Matthew Good Band, The Stranglers, Sex Pistols, Hollywood Vampires, Marilyn Manson, Kid Rock, Jimmy Van Zant, Dream Widow, Exodus, Clutch, Rabbitt, Dave Hause, Sixx A.M., Cradle of Filth, The Gaslight Anthem
S5E18 went out on Rebel Rock Radio on 5 May 2022. I was in Clarens on a Guitar Clinic with SA Blues Maestro Dan Patlansky.
The show featured a fair amount of blues as you would expect, ‘Hounds Loose‘ from Dan Patlansky and Rude Mood‘ from Stevie Ray Vaughan.  I haven’t got a gap to write this one up so I will post it and fix it later…..or not, if anyone cares about these write ups let me know.
Artists featured: Dire Straits, John Mellencamp, Jimmy Barnes, Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Megadeth, Tokyo Blade. Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Bad Company, Walking Papers, Dan Patlansky, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Leslie West, Def Leppard, Girl, Dream Widow, Foo Fighters, Running Wild, Onslaught, Pantera, Rammstein, George Thorogood & The Destroyers, Mötley Crüe, L.A. Cobra, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cult, ACDC, Saxon, Scorpions, Doro, Sitkovsky, System of a Down, Five Finger Death Punch, Cancer Bats, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Roan Van As, Halestorm.
Episode 17 of season 5 aired on 28 April 2022. It seemed to fly by. We started with the one song that is most responsible for The Story of Rock and Roll, ‘Detroit Rock City‘ by Kiss. This song changed my life, once I heard it on an old black and gold Pye cassette tape in about 1978, I was never the same. Next up was another band that had a huge influence on me Led Zeppelin with ‘What Is And What Should Never Be‘.
We had a bit of commercial rock in the form of Loverboy and Bon Jovi, two excellent bands that have left us a lot of good memories. We gave the ladies a turn in the form of Thundermother out of Sweden and Burning Witches from Switzerland. The South African music phase of the show went into overtime, we had The Black Cat Bones, 12th Avenue, Blue Scream, Dan Patlansky, and my current favorite The Devil’s Party Band. This EP titled The Best Album Ever was released last week and it’s everything I love, high voltage energetic rock and roll with lots of guitar solos. The whole concept of the Devil’s Party Band is wonderful, I wish I had thought of it myself. Well done Anthonie & Chris Van Der Walt, Jason Oosthuizen and Werner Bosman!
For the rest of it, we got heavy with Hellyeah, Machine Head, Mercyful Fate, and Metallica. I made amends to everyone who experienced the brutal cut-over between my Stone Sour Rock Review and the next program on Rebel Rock Radio by playing ‘ZZYXY Road‘ in its entirety. As usual, I ran out of time and the show closed out with My Chemical Romance paying tribute to heavy metal legend Cronos with their track off Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge titled ‘Thank You For The Venom. And as always, there were drums. Â
Artists featured: Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Danzig, Sammy Hagar, Iron Maiden, Loverboy, Bon Jovi, Thundermother, Burning Witches, Bush, Matthew Good Band, Accept, Counting Crowes, The Black Cat Bones, The Devil’s Party Band, 12th Avenue, Blue Scream, Dan Patlansky, Hellyeah, Machine Head, Joe Bonamassa, Staind, Rush, Mercyful Fate, Metallica, Phil Rudd, Taylor Hawkins, L.A. Rats, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stiff Little Fingers, Steel Panther, Saxon, Halestorm, The Distillers, Stone Sour, The Horrible Crowes, My Chemical Romance Â
S5E16 aired on 21 Apr 2022 on Rebel Rock Radio. Load shedding had been suspended so the amount of distraction and chaos was reduced significantly from last week. We kicked off with a track titled ‘Washed Away’ by Craig Goldie, and Vinnie Appice of Dio fame’s outfit Resurrection Kings. Sadly we are currently experiencing a lot of Natal being washed away so it’s relevant to our troubled times. Next up, some Deep Purple, a track called Spanish Archers off their 1987 effort titled House of Blue Light. This features the classic Mark II line-up and the album has been overlooked by many. Â
The next hour was full of typical TSORR rock and metal, we got fluffy with The Eagles, sleazy with Mötley Crüe, heavy with Pantera, and energized by Chickenfoot. As mentioned before Joe Satriani in Chickenfoot is simply amazing. We checked out ‘My Name is Allen‘ off Stone Sour’s House of Gold & Bones to mark the fact that Stone Sour will be featured on the next Rock Review and then we had a track off Troublegum, that magnificent ball of venom released in 1994.  Â
We did a little feature based on the Phil Wright tapes, I am working through old cassettes of Phil’s shows and featured two of the tracks I dug up, ‘Love is a Killer‘ by Vixen, and A cover of The Small Faces classic ‘All Or Nothing‘ by Tygers of Pan Tang. We checked out the new Red Hot Chili Peppers and gave thanks for the return of John Frusciante. No disrespect to Josh Klinghoffer, it’s just that John is part of the genetic structure of all the things I do like about RHCP. Â
As usual in the last hour, we get a bit more off the beaten track and check out rare and amazing stuff Like Roger Kaye‘s home recording of ‘Lucifer Lives in the Whitehouse’ and a track off Deangersmith’s latest EP Vocabular Vacation. the track was called ‘Escape From Johannesburg‘ and that is indeed a worthy goal. For the rest, we had some classic Iron Maiden, Avenged Sevenfold, and Sepultura. We took a quick look at Rick Rubin‘s work with ZZ Top and Johnny Cash, check out his podcast with Lex Fridman for context. Hope you enjoy it and spread it the TSORR word. Cheers m/ Â
Artists featured: Resurrection Kings, Deep Purple, Jetboy, The Eagles, Mötley Crüe, Hell Yeah, Pantera, Megadeth, The Dust Coda, Beastie Boys, Chickenfoot, Stone Sour, Therapy?, Avenged Sevenfold, Iron Maiden, My Chemical Romance, Nickelback, Richard Thompson, Anti-Flag, Scorpions, Tygers of Pan Tang, Vixen, Sham 69, Stiff Little Fingers, Roger Kaye, Deangersmith, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sepultura, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, Thin Lizzy, Manowar, Man As Machine, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, The Uninvited, The Doors, ZZ Top, Johnny Cash, Francois Van Coke, Kid Rock, Volbeat.Â
S5E15 went out live on Rebel Rock Radio on 14 April 2022. It had an unusual start which may have lost a few listeners. Being a long weekend there was a bit of a party element in the air so we started with about 10 seconds of Pink ‘Get This Party Started and then mercifully blasted into ‘The Art of Partying‘ by Municipal Waste. With that little joke out the way, we settled into some Mötley Crüe, Hanoi Rocks, Slash, and ACDC.
There was a nice little grunge bit where we revisited Alice in Chain’s masterpiece ‘Rooster‘. The story behind it is interesting and led to ‘Blow UP The Outside World‘ by Soundgarden. We bridged the grunge new metal vibe while keeping to the party theme with Deftones ‘Knife Party. Going from there into Tool made a huge amount of sense and it was here that the wheels came off. Load shedding was scheduled for 20h00, for those who don’t know what that it is it’s a particular South African manifestation of mass corruption and incompetence. It means we have no power for a few hours a couple of times every 24 hours. I had turned the generator on before the power went off but switching it over in the dark took a bit longer than anticipated so there may be a slight gap between Deftones and Tool. Do not adjust your set, it will come back.
There was another gap after Bobby Gaylor’s interesting bit of satire titled’ Suicide‘ let’s pretend that was to allow you to reflect on what he sang about rather than a load-shedding induced gap between the broadcast time and the playback time. The joys of shitty wifi I tell you. This episode has a solidly embedded metal infrastructure built out of Kreator, Machine Head, Parkway Drive, Hypocrisy & Arch Enemy. We checked out the new Rammstein track ‘Zick Zack‘ a fairly terrifying look at plastic surgery and the dangers of the human ego.
A highlight for me was showcasing just how good our very own Dan Patlansky is, I played his ‘Snake Oil City‘ back to back with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Couldn’t Stand The Weather‘ and the main discernable difference is that Dan has a better guitar tone. Yes, he is that good. A bit of Samantha Fish got us out of the blues and into the metal as we closed with some pretty heavy stuff surrounding the aforementioned Bobby Gaylor track. See what you think, it was technically very challenging.
Artists featured: Municipal Waste, Mötley Crüe, Hanoi Rocks, Burning Rain, The Gaslight Anthem, Slash, Sebastian Bach, ACDC. Kissin’ Dynamite, Seether, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Deftones, Tool, Steel Panther, Scorpions, Dead-Line, No Friends of Harry, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rammstein, Kreator, Machine Head, Anti-Flag, The Jam, Chris Rea, Dan Patlansky, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Samantha Fish, System of a Down, Hypocrisy, Coheed & Cambria, Black Veil Brides, Bobby Gaylor, Arch Enemy, Parkway Drive, Warrior Soul
Episode 14 of season 5 went out live on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 7 April 2022. For the first time we clocked in with 39 tracks. The show was light on ‘70’s classic rock, blues and SA content for some reason.  There just seemed not to be enough time. Things just work out that way sometimes, very little of TSORR is planned.Â
The show did showcase a track called ‘South‘ off the new EP Vocabular Vacation from Deangersmith. It made sense to feature his work in Odyssey while we were at it. We also took in a bit of Agro and a new band out of Manchester called Heavy Sentence. These guys are flying the flag for what may well become the NWOBHM II. Lets hope. Â
The variation you have come to expect on the show was in evidence: UK punk from Anti-Nowhere League, The Stranglers and The Jam, heavy stuff from Arch Enemy, Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, and In Flames. Southern Rock from Kid Rock and Black Stone Cherry, and then lesser-known metal from Tygers of Pan Tang, and Tokyo Blade. There’s plenty to get your teeth into, softer ballads from Lita Ford and The Pretty Reckless and then once again some rap / metal in a track called ‘Gaddaar‘ by a band from India called Bloodywood. Â
Artists featured: The Answer, The Quireboys, Great White, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Avenged Sevenfold, Massive Wagons, Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch, Heavy Sentence, Agro, Queensrÿche, Tesla, The Stranglers, The Jam, Anti-Nowhere League, Transvision Vamp, The Donna’s, Arch Enemy, In Flames, Kid Rock, Black Stone Cherry, Greta Van Fleet, Jimmy Barnes, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Tygers of Pan Tang, Tokyo Blade, The Offspring, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Deangersmith, Odyssey, Accept, Avenged Sevenfold, Megadeth, Metallica, Halford, Lita Ford, The Pretty Reckless, Bloodywood, Slayer
Season 5 Episode 13 went out live on Rebel Rock Radio on 31 Mar 2022. We kicked off with some ACDC, the title track of their 2016 release Black Ice. From arguably the biggest rock band in the world we took in 3 lesser-known outfits i.e. Left Lane Cruiser, Monster Truck, and Motor Sister before spending some time with a couple of ‘70s classics from Rush and Nazareth. ‘Zeit’, the new release from Rammstein, made its TSORR debut and it’s a great track. Zeit means time, so it was fitting to also take a listen to Pink Floyd’s wonderful track ‘Time‘ off dark Side of The Moon.Â
The sad passing of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins deserved some TSORR recognition. We took a listen to Taylor with the Foo’s in ‘All My Life‘ then a track off his solo EP Kota. The track is wonderfully titled’ I’ve Got Some Not Being Around You To Do Today‘. Taylor was way more than just the drummer for the band he was a part of the creative whole, a unique multi-talented character who breathed energy and charisma into the band. From there we took a listen to Dream Widow which is an album Dave Grohl put together as a soundtrack to the Foos 2022 movie Studio 666. Apparently, Dave played drums, guitar, bass and did all the vocals but it’s a bit unclear in the literature how much the rest of the band were involved. Â
We took a listen to Bollywood out of India and a track called ‘Aaj‘ off their album Rakshak. It made sense to follow it with ‘Ratamahatta‘ off Roots. Two other tracks that make sense together were Halestorm’s ‘Break-In‘ featuring Amy Lee and In This Moment with ‘The Fighter‘. To restore balance and get the show out of slow, dark, emotional albeit excellent stuff we played out with an energetic couple of tracks from Kiss with ‘Rocket Ride‘, The Distillers with ‘Sick of It All‘ and My Chemical Romance closed the set with ‘Welcome To The Black Parade‘. Â
P.S. After over 4 years of hoping it was fantastic to announce and celebrate the return of The Gaslight Anthem. They are doing a reunion tour and are expected to record a new album. Happy days. Â
Artists featured: ACDC, Left Lane Cruiser, Motor Sister, Monster Truck, The Screaming Jets, Rush, Nazareth, Quiet Riot, Rammstein, Motörhead, Sanctuary, The Stooges, Pink Floyd, Queensrÿche, Gary Moore, The Dead Daisies, Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, Dream Widow, Coal Chamber, Bloodywood, Sepultura, The Clash, Gary Numan., Dead Kennedy’s, The Black Cat Bones, Jack Hammer, Dan Patlansky, L.A. Cobra, Kid Rock, Dino Jelusic with Mendoza, Halestorm feat Amy Lee, In This Moment, The Gas Light Anthem, Kiss, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, The Distillers, My Chemical Romance
Episode 12 of Season 5 aired on 24 Mar 2022 on Rebel Rock Radio.  The show kicked off with Saxon and a track off their latest album Carpe Diem called ‘All For One‘. Next up Tyler Bryant and The Shakedown with a most excellent track called ‘Without You‘. Tyler was widely hailed pre-Covid as the next big thing and there is no doubt he’s got a lot to offer, awesome guitarist, great voice, and rock star looks. We took another track off the new Tony Martin album Thorns. It is a great album, well worth checking out. We spent some time with the classics, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns ‘n’ Roses, and then checked out a Southern Rock band out of Bristol UK called Sons of Liberty.  I thought they were new kids on the block but Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth fame is in the band so I need to find out what, what before the next show.
Punk from Sex Pistols and Ramones with ‘Pretty Vacant‘ and ‘I Can’t Give You Anything‘, we followed up with a bit of Oasis and then got back into the metal with Megadeth and Metallica. New stuff came from Eddie Vedder and a track called ‘The Dark‘ off Earthling and ‘Kick‘ a new track from Def Leppard. This led to a brief discussion about Vivian Campbell and an example played from his side project Last In Line.  I had the new Rammstein and didn’t get a chance to play it. I think I need a bit more time on it. The New Kid Rock ‘Still Somethin‘ off Bad Reputation is wonderful and a highlight of the show.
SA music came from The Black Cat Bones, Springbok Nude Girls and Falling Mirror with a track called ‘(Time) Is a Thief. I played ‘Smoke On The Water‘! I shy away from these super rock classics like Stairway and Bohemian Rhapsody because they have just been so overdone but the classic Made In Japan album version bought back some good memories. We got heavy with Mastodon, Killswitch Engage, Slipknot, and Sepultura before wrapping it up in a mellow way with Tom Keifer, Neil Young and Tom Waits with ‘Jesus Gonna Be Hear Soon‘. Â
Artists featured: Saxon, Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown, Tony Martin, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Volbeat, Helloween, Pop Evil, Marilyn Manson, In Flames, Sons of Liberty, Kid Rock, The Pretty Reckless, Joan Jett, Bewitcher, Eddie Vedder, Def Leppard, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Oasis, Megadeth, Metallica, The Black Cat Bones, Springbok Nude Girls, Falling Mirror, Last In Line, Mastodon, Killswitch Engage, Manowar, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Scorpions, Sepultura, Slipknot, Tom Keifer, Neil Young, Tom Waits
Season 5 Episode 11 went out live on Rebel Rock Radio on 17 Mar at 19h17. Yep, you read that right, 17 min late because the laptop did an upgrade and reset all the broadcast codes. We started off with Guns ‘n’ Roses version of The Rolling Stones classic ‘Sympathy For The Devil‘. Next up a bit of Airbourne out of Australia. and a band called Dirty Honey with ‘It’s All For Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and ‘Scars’ respectively. Next up was a fantastic track called ‘Winters Call’ off the Badlands debut album with Jake E. Lee and Ray Gillan on guitar and vocals. This album is one you really should have in your collection.
For new stuff, we took another track of Tony Martin, ex of Black Sabbath’s new album Thorns. It made sense to follow up with Dio on vocals with Sabbath and a track called ‘Computer God’. The new album from Scorpions and Saxon also got some airtime. It was St Patrick’s day today and some people take this really seriously so I let Thin Lizzy and Bob Geldof have a bit of airtime on behalf of Ireland ( I know, I know Bob Geldof?, I dig him OK ).
For SA music I played some more from Hardy Mills’ outfit Diverted Disorder. Hardy does all the guitar work and male vocals and Miss Rachel does the female vocals with Jared Gunston producing. The good news is my mate Prawn has joined and that should be excellent for future live gigs. We also heard a track from Prime Circle Keyboard player Neil side gig Cantrel, Devo of Devo Entertainment who promotes both bands sent me a cool little promo clip for Rebel Rock which introduced the track nicely.
Other than that Sex Pistols and The Clash did the Punk, Metallica, Maiden, ACDC and Aerosmith did the classic rock and Hellyeah, and Killswitch Engage brought the heavy. We had a double ending because I had to say cheers to the live listeners and then other cheers to the podcast guys. It probably sounds a little weird. All in all a show done under a ton of pressure but it is what it is. Hope you enjoy it.
Artists featured: Guns ‘n’ Roses, Airbourne, Dirty Honey, Badlands, Sixx A.M. Mötley Crüe, W.A.S.P., Tony Martin, Black Sabbath, Hellyeah, Killswitch Engage, Smashing Pumpkins, Seether, Megadeth, Metallica, Cantrel, Diverted Disorder, Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Distillers, The Boomtown Rats, Thin Lizzy, Kiss, Arch Enemy, Scorpions, My Darkest Days, Buckcherry, Dan Patlansky, Tokyo Blade, Heaven Shall Burn, Danko Jones, Savage, Demon, ACDC, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Dire Straits, Steel Panther.
Episode 10, so we are 20% of the way through Season 5 and 2022. The show aired on 10 Mar 2022 on Rebel Rock Radio. It kicked off with what could possibly be one of the greatest show starting songs ever written, a track called ‘Invincible‘, brand new from Eddie Vedder off his Earthling album. It has an incredibly uplifting feel. If I were a movie director I would be pulling it into my movie damn quick. Anyway, that was the start and we followed up with an ode to the post-covid economy in the wake of the Ukrainian disaster called ‘All Revved Up With No Place to Go‘ courtesy of Meatloaf.Â
From there we meandered through some early Queen to two great albums, Sixteen Stone. and Throwing Copper, both released in 1994, by Bush and Live respectively. A highlight was taking in a 60 min blast of energy from Arch Enemy. The track is titled ‘The Leader’ (Of the Fucking Assholes) and was originally written by a band called Shitlickers out of Gothenburg in the ’82 – ‘84 era. I dedicated it to those who send troops into neighboring countries to kill civilians to fulfill their own worldview. Â
Rory Gallagher and Joe Bonamassa took care of the blues. The Stranglers and Stiff Little Fingers did the same for UK Punk. The SA stuff was handled by Blue Scream and The Burning and towards the end of the show Piet Botha with ‘Van Tonder‘. The Blue Scream track is special as it features Roger Kaye who passed away in 2013 and was one of the finest musicians I ever met. Roger was at school with me and had a huge influence on my musical journey. You can find out more about him in my book The Story of Rock and Roll which is available on Amazon Kindle and in hard copy. In order to build Roger’s legacy, I post any episode of TSORR featuring him to the Roger Kaye Facebook community.
We went heavy with Parkway Drive and Arch Enemy and then had a lekker mellow ending which was a bit different and pretty cool. Hope you enjoy it, catch you next episode. Â
Artists featured: Eddie Vedder, Meatloaf, Queen, Bush, Live, Kane Roberts, Disturbed, Mastodon, In This Moment, Sons of Liberty, L.A. Guns, Massive Wagons, Arch Enemy, Rammstein, Scorpions, Stone Sour, Rory Gallagher, Joe Bonamassa, Motörhead, Led Zeppelin, The Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers, Billy Bragg, Josh Todd & The Conflict, Sammy Hagar & The Wabo’s, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Blue Scream, The Burning, Van Halen, Parkway Drive, Arch Enemy, Neil Young, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Piet Botha. The Edgar Broughton Band, The Killers
Episode 9 of the 2022 season kicked off at 19h00 on 3 March on Rebel Rock Radio. We started with ACDC to get the blood pumping and then followed with a fairly laid-back Wolfmother track called ‘Mind’s Eye‘. The whole show was pretty diverse, and included some heavy moments with Testament and Killswitch Engage then all the way back to the early 1969 ad 1976 for MC5 and UFO respectively. We took a listen to ‘Motor City is Burning‘ which was actually a John Lee Hooker song before Wayne Kramer fixed it up.Â
There was a nice little bit showcasing the talents of Alissa White-Gluz, starting with a track off Me and That Man’s latest album New Man, New Songs, Same Shit Vol II. The track was called ‘Goodbye‘ and featured Alissa with Devin Townsend. She sings it beautifully with clean vocals and it’s an amazing contrast to the next track where she does her trademark death vocals in Arch Enemy. That track was called ‘Deceiver, Deceiver’ off the soon-to-be-released Deceiver album. Sounds like something out of Black Adder, Your Highness, Your Highness, Your Highness, Your Highness. It made sense to round out this bit of the show with my current favorite female-fronted band In This Moment with Maria Brink on vox. Â
We had a short section where we went into C&W territory and played Buckcherry and Kid Rock both featuring Gretchen Wilson. The big disappointment was messing up the transition between Jethro Tull’s ‘Moths‘ and Metallica’s ‘Moth Into Flame‘, do not adjust your set there was a technical problem which, in the interests of keeping it real, I haven’t edited out. Dan Patlansky’s new album Shelter of Bones is excellent and we took a listen to ‘Soul Parasite‘. The new Scorpions ‘Rock Believer‘ went down very well as did listening to two of my favorite solos ever, one from KK Downing on ‘Before the Dawn‘ and the other from the amazing C.C. de Ville on Poisons’ track ‘Life Goes On‘. Putting Pantera and Nickelback together was good fun, I thought it worked very well and we closed out with two heartfelt South African tracks, ‘Sien Jou Weer‘ and Komma from Piet Botha & Jack Hammer and Francois Van Coke respectively.  Â
Artists featured: ACDC, Wolfmother, Sixx A.M., Rush, Slash feat Myles Kennedy, Testament, Killswitch Engage, MC5, UFO, Stone Sour, Def Leppard, Megadeth, Me and That Man, Arch Enemy, In This Moment, Black Label Society, Buckcherry, Kid Rock feat Gretchen Wilson, Jethro Tull, Metallica, Motörhead, Scorpions, Dan Patlansky, Samantha Fish, Diverted Disorder, Type O Negative, The Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers, Sham 69, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Parkway Drive, Pantera, Nickelback, Rob Zombie, Piet Botha & Jack Hammer, Francois Van Coke.
Episode 8 aired on 24 February 2022 on Rebel Rock Radio, earlier that day Vladimir Putins troops marched into Ukraine. The Doomsday clock is set at 100 seconds to midnight, 20 seconds worse than Iron Maidens apocalyptic 2 Minutes to Midnight. It was difficult to put it to the back of mind. We kicked off with Run Like Hell, off Pink Floyd‘s masterpiece the Wall. From there we hit Metallica’s Devils Dance. It was impossible not to see the links to the world situation and song played, most of these songs were on the playlist days before this situation happened.
The episode ended up a bit different, overall probably a heavier show than normal. No UK Punk!, that’s a first, no Aussie, no Judas Priest. In its place we checked out heavier fare like Bullet for my Valentine, Gojira, In This Moment, Megadeth and Helloween. The highlight was two tracks for new SA bands, Code 106 with Eradicate and Diverted Disorder with Destroyed by Fate. Both tracks are great and its clear SA rock / metal is in a good place. Both bands are on iTunes, check it out. I finally figured out a way to overcome technical difficulties and bring you more from the latest Iron Maiden album Senjutsu. Â
The end of the show is pretty special, I played out with Kreator ‘World War Now‘ not because I think there is one coming but because its a great anti-war song and deserves to be played. The live show fades to black at exactly 22h00 for the next show on Rebel Rock, the song however finishes on the podcast and there is a perfect little end to the whole situation tacked on to finish things off. May the force be with us. Â
Artists featured: Pink Floyd, Metallica, Accept, Black Sabbath, Billy Talent, Seether, Bullet For My Valentine, In This Moment, The Burning, Hell Fire, Slash’s Snakepit, Megadeth, Grand Funk Railroad, Kiss, Kane Roberts, Halestorm, King Kobra, Van Coke Kartel, Therapy?, Serj Tankian, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Code 106, Diverted Disorder, Scorpions, Saxon, Volbeat, Sixx A.M., Mastodon, Iron Maiden, Helloween, Gary Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Gojira, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Kreator, Pink Floyd.
Episode 7 of Season 5 aired on 17 February 2022. We kicked off with a track called ‘Bulletproof‘ of Paul Stanley‘s second solo album titled Live To Win. It was topical given the difficult times we are living in, it seems like everyone is going through some serious shit.  We added a bit more inspiration to the airwaves with Billy Squiers’ track ‘Stronger‘ off Here and Now. It was a fairly quiet night by TSORR standards not a lot of people calling in so the show sort of had a life of its own.Â
Cold Chisel’s cover of ‘Knocking on Heavens Door‘ showed once again just what a great live band they were. Ian Moss‘s guitar work as always just shines. Speaking of guitar work, there was plenty of it, Black Label Society, Exodus, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden all showcasing some of the greatest guitarists around. For a bit of UK Punk, we called on Sex Pistols with ‘Did U No Wrong‘ and Stiff Little Fingers with ‘Wait and See‘. The latter perfectly demonstrates the wonderful ability of Jake Burns to shift quickly into ‘really aggressive now’ mode.
Local music was ably handled by Roland Suttie, Johnathan Martin, and a seriously powerful track from Code 106 of a new EP called Alium. Code 106 are sounded really good on this, I was suitably impressed. From there we went on a Southern Rock jag for a few tracks, Kid Rock, Lynryd Skynyrd, and Whisky Myers all delivering the goods. ‘Fill My World‘ the sad tale of Myles Kennedy’s little dog Mozart alone in a storm and Sixx A.M. with ‘Maybe It’s Time‘ gave us a good 10 min of emotional stuff and it was tempting to mine that vein further, instead I opted for a mood-lifting end of show blitz of high octane 3 min tracks from The Offspring, The Distillers and Joan Jett (with her Blackhearts of course). We closed out with UK Metal stalwarts Desolation Angels and a sublime track from Piet Botha. Hope you enjoy it.   Â
Artists featured: Paul Stanley, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Billy Squier, Anthrax, Manowar, Black label Society, Rose Tattoo, Cold Chisel, Powderfinger, MC5, Megadeth, Children of Bodom, Exodus, Rage Against the Machine, Code 106, Johnathan Martin, Roland Suttie, Kid Rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Whiskey Myers, The Black Crowes, Sex Pistols, Stiff Little Fingers, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Motörhead, Slash (feat Myles Kennedy), Sixx A.M., Kreator, Warrior Soul, The Offspring, The Distillers, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Desolation Angels, Piet Botha.
Episode 6 of season 5 aired on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 10 Feb 2022. It started off in an uncharacteristically chilled way with Cinderella and a track called ‘One For Rock and Roll‘ off Heartbreak Station. From there it got a bit heavier and a lot more uptempo with Adrenaline Mob, featuring the phenomenal fretwork of Mike Orlando and then a track called ‘Premonition‘ by Running Wild.  The track was released in 2013 and makes a passing reference to the end of days and “unknown virus“. Rocking Rolf probably feels pretty smug about that.Â
From there we bounced around between poppy-type Night Ranger tracks and way more metallic stuff from Bewitcher off Cursed be thy Kingdom. I was told that it was once again time for the SONA, where the President takes a huge hit on the crack pipe and takes those who are interested on a fantastical journey of lies, fabrications, and pipe dreams. Once I became aware of this a theme of sarcastic chirps permeated the show. Cheap shots aplenty were taken when we listened to Keel – ‘Die Fighting‘, The Clash – ‘Police and Thieves, Stiff Little Finger – Fly the Flag, and We Are Augustines – Headlong Into the Abyss. Â
Evanescence made their TSORR debut with ‘Call Me When You’re Sober and we added to that with some Halestorm and a track called ‘I Am the Fire‘. My favorite stretch of the show was Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden & Judas Priest. It went down well proving once again why the world’s biggest bands are the world’s biggest bands. We wound down with David Bowie, Iggy & the Stooges, and The Rolling Stones before we checked out with Parkway Drive and Venom. I played Skid Row’s ‘This is Killing Me‘ just to mark the South African situation and express my feelings about it, the song is truly amazing and gets me every time. We closed out with Kobus! and ‘Volk Van Main‘ dedicated to all of you amazing people who support TSORR, I am deeply grateful to you all. Â
Artists featured:Â Cinderella, Adrenaline Mob, Running Wild, Night Ranger, Biters, Bewitcher, Keel, Gluecifer, Papa Roach, W.A.S.P., ACDC, Billy F. Gibbons, Exciter, Airbourne, Rory Gallagher, In Flames, Seether, Audioslave, Evanescence, Halestorm, The Clash, The Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers, Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, The Rolling Stones, Iggy & The Stooges, David Bowie, We Are Augustines, Parkway Drive, Venom, Skid Row, The Pretty Reckless, Kobus!
Episode 5 of Season 5 took to the airwaves on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 3 Feb 2022. It was thoroughly enjoyable and flowed really nicely. I felt like I didn’t have enough time right from the very start which is unusual and a good sign.  We kicked off with an instrumental track from In Flames called ‘Man Made God‘. That early ‘2000s period was where I fell in love with In Flames and this track off the deluxe edition of Colony shows exactly why. From there it was a bit of Audioslave and some Godsmack and we hit stride with L.A. Guns off their new album Checkered Past.Â
The death of Meatloaf a few weeks ago highlighted to me how much Bat Out of Hell had meant to me growing up and it took his death for me to fall in love with it all over again. That led to me thinking there are a lot of excellent bands that were so ubiquitous at a period in time that do not get a lot of love on TSORR. Journey is one of those bands so we checked out ‘Feeling That Way‘ off Infinity. There was a great little bit where we checked out Metallica and then directly after two of their influences in the form of King Diamond and the totally underrated British NWOBHM band Demon. We had Southern Rock from John Cougar and Kid Rock and then two young SA bands, Drumfish and Future Radio. The latter has done a very powerful and interesting version of Dylan’s ‘Master of War‘. Check it out, very cool.Â
A highlight of the show was the Punk section, Stiff Little Fingers‘ debut album Inflammable Material was released 43 years ago this week so we took a listen to ‘Law & Order‘, then The Clash, and finally a song that I can’t believe hasn’t been I haven’t played before on TSORR; ‘Down in the Tube Station at Midnight by The Jam. Tony Martin’s new album Thorns went down very well and we closed out with a focus on Bruce Kulick’s acoustic solo on Kiss‘ track ‘Forever‘ and one of the greatest songs ever, a track called ‘Learning to Fall by Chickenfoot. Check it out, hope you enjoy it. Â
Artists featured: In Flames, Audioslave, Godsmack, L.A. Guns, Those Damn Crows, Journey, Thin Lizzy, Slash feat Iggy Pop, Saxon, W.A.S.P., HIM, Live, Greta Van Fleet, The Doors, Jimmy Barnes, Metallica, King Diamond, Demon, John Cougar, Kid Rock, Drumfish, Future Radio, Johnathan Martin, Joe Bonamassa, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Stiff Little Fingers, The Clash, The Jam, Ryan Adams, Tony Martin, Helloween, Junkyard, The Rolling Stones, Kiss, Chickenfoot, Van Halen.Â
Episode 4 of Season 5 aired on 27 Jan 2022. I think I will always consider this the episode I lost control of. Doing these shows is a bit like doing a gig, you have the songs and the sequence in our head and you play them in a way that seems to fit and sometimes everything flows and one thing leads to a better thing and that to a better thing, and other times everything doesn’t seem to fit. The biggest problem is when you get technical shit and lose your rhythm. I lost wifi on one laptop but the show stayed up which is all that matters. We started with Backyard Babies and Chickenfoot and then made our way through some early Halestorm and a track called ‘I Get Off‘. Faith No More and Tool got a look in for the first time in a while and I give top marks to Tool for the lyrics to ‘Aenema’. They were just what the doctor ordered.  I suggest pulling them up while you listen to the track.Â
We said cheers to Meatloaf who sadly passed away last Friday. Meat had a huge impact on everyone growing up in the ’70s, Bat Out of Hell was one of those freakish, outsize albums, selling north of 35 million copies that just took the world by storm. We took a listen to ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams Come True‘ of Bat Out of Hell II.Â
SA music got 4 in a row with 12th Avenue, Sugar Drive, The Burning, and Fokofpolisiekar. We had nothing from Aussie, zero, nada, zip, that has to be a first, and was quite a shock when I realised it. Apologies to my Australian friends, amends will be made next week.Â
The Punk section was also unusual with nothing from the UK, we checked out Ramones and then a track called ‘Bad Habit‘ off Smash, The Offspring’s breakthrough album. Are Offspring considered Punk? No idea, these labels can be a bit tedious at times. A highlight for me was Don Babylon with ‘Ow, My Tiny Heart‘. I think it’s one of the greatest choruses ever written. It must be impossible to finish that song live, it will just loop on forever. Â
Artists featured: Backyard Babies, Chickenfoot, Halestorm, Ozzy Osbourne, Dokken, Def Leppard, U.D.O., Faith No More, Tool, Thin Lizzy, Black Star Riders, Therapy?, Ramones, The Offspring, Walking Papers, Meatloaf, Arch Enemy, Judas Priest, 12th Avenue, Sugar Drive, The Burning, Fokofpolisiekar, Savage, The Pretty Reckless, Sheryl Crow, Ryan Adams, The Rolling Stones, Audience, Billy Gibbons & Vivien Campbell, Don Babylon, Eluveitie, Scorpions, Metallica, Junkyard, Slaughter, Mötley Crüe, Sepultura
Episode 3 of Season 5 aired at 19h00 on 20 Jan 2022 on Rebel Rock Radio. We started with a nice little instrumental before diving into the strange waters of Legend of the Seagullmen and their song ‘ Rise of the Giant‘. Following that we went back to 1989 and took a track off Badlands, a fantastic album released in 1987 by the band of the same name.  That album was the first CD I ever bought, it is a seriously good album and belongs in every rock fans collection.
This episode contained a higher percentage of the lesser-known bands than normal, I think it worked out pretty well. We took a heavy dose of what I would call Classic UK Punk; The Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers, and Sex Pistols. It is interesting to reflect on just how things have changed. In the sanitised world of 2022 these songs are even more incendiary than they were in 1977. Or, am I just getting old?
The early stuff was covered by Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull, The newer stuff by Ayron Jones and Me and That Man. The heavy came from Venom and Architects. We raised the issue of Valiant Swart’s fundraiser and efforts to raise some cash so that his wife Lanelle can get treatment for a seriously debilitating condition that will need some support to sort out. TSORR wishes Valiant well in this effort and supports the initiative.  As usual, we ran out of time just as we really got going and Neil Young closed the show with a track called ‘Canerican‘ of his new album Barn.
Artists featured: Bewitcher, Legend of the Seagullmen, Badlands, Devil’s Train, Buckcherry, Alter Bridge, Glenn Hughes, Rhino Bucket, Seether, Nirvana, Volbeat, Thin Lizzy, Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Architects, Motörhead, Skid Row, Guns ‘n’ Roses, W.A.S.P. Coheed & Cambria, The Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers, Sex Pistols, John Mellencamp, Kid Rock, Adrenaline Mob, Five Finger Death Punch, Pirates of Radio, Drowning pool, Ayron Jones. Great White, ACDC, Queensrÿche, Valiant Swart, Me & That Man, Kadavar, Venom, Warrant, Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Episode 2 of season 5 aired at 19h00 on Rebel Rock radio on Thursday 13 Jan 2022. It started off disastrously. Apart from being stung by a wasp minutes before the show, the entire playlist I had planned did not copy across to the database so as George Costanza once said ” I got nothing”. I had to do this as a sort of best of TSORR fly by the seat of the pants jol. Having said all that it was one of the most fun shows in ages.Â
After misplaced jingles and dead ait it kicked off fittingly with W.A.S.P. and L.O.V.E. Machine,  From there it was a smorgasbord of the greatest artists in the world, UFO, Ozzy, Judas Priest, Megadeth, & Iron Maiden. Thin Lizzy with Cowboy Song was especially good to hear again and so was Led Zeppelin all the way back to 1971 with ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll.
We pigged out on Punk with Stiff Little Fingers, The Stranglers, The Clash, and Ramones and it was good to be reminded of how cool these bands were. the Stranglers in particular at their magnificent malevolent best with ‘Sometimes‘ off Rattus Norvegicus. Anyway, check it out, you should find something here. It’s a bit light on SA stuff with only Piet Botha and The Uninvited representing but I will sort that out next week. Â
Artists featured: W.A.S.P., Volbeat, UFO, Ozzy Osbourne, Joe Bonamassa, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, The Rolling Stones, Kid Rock, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Rammstein, Oasis, Mötley Crüe, Led Zeppelin, Skid Row, Scorpions, Tom Waits, Rory Gallagher, Stiff Little Fingers, The Clash, Ramones, The Stranglers, The Pretty Reckless, Avenged Sevenfold, Badlands, Neil Young, Rose Tattoo, Cold Chisel, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Grand Funk Railroad, Metallica, Seether, ACDC, L.A. Rats, Van Halen, Piet Botha, Motörhead, Buckcherry, The Uninvited. Â
Welcome to 2022 and Season 5 of The Story of Rock and Roll Radio Show. Episode 1 kicked off the season live on Rebel Rock Radio at 19h00 on 6 Jan 2022. We launched with Prince and the Revolution and ‘Let’s Go Crazy‘ off the multi-platinum era defining Purple Rain album. Then it was time for a bit of positivity with Lit and ‘Lovely Day‘ and we rocked on from there.
I corrected the omission of Dee Sniders 2021 release Leave a Scar on last week’s Best of 2021 show. We hit the ‘70s with Deep Purple and Nazareth and then got heavy with Bewitcher. They released another album I missed last year called Cursed Be Your Kingdom and it’s excellent, we checked out ‘Valley of the Ravens‘.  There was some slower bluesy stuff from Billy F. Gibbons and Gov’t Mule and an opportunity to slip in some Slipknot which went down really well. It was a pretty mixed up show going from Joe Jackson and The Jesus & Mary Chain to In This Moment and Rammstein and then Hinder and Nickelback. TSORR once again going where angels fear to tread.
The highlight for me was getting to play all 7 min of the title track of the Deangersmith Album Lead us to your Taker (Disable the Corrupt). This album was released by Dean Smith, ex- Ragnarok, and Mouthful of Flies last year. Dean played every instrument, did all the vocals and all the programming. It deals with societal issues and it’s a seriously good album. So all in all a bit of a mongrel of a show and you will hopefully find something to get your teeth into.
Artists featured: Prince, Lit, ACDC, Dee Snider, W.A.S.P., Deep Purple, Nazareth, Bewitcher, Dio, Pearl Jam, Clutch, Bullets & Octane, Airbourne, Gov’t Mule, Billy F. Gibbons, Billy Idol, Ted Nugent, Accept, Slipknot, John Mellencamp, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, The Jesus & Mary Chain, 999, Joe Jackson, Megadeth, Metallica, Deangersmith, Rammstein, In this Moment, Hinder, Nickelback, Motörhead, 12th Avenue, Tom Morello, My Chemical Romance