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Was it written in the starlight? Mark Knopfler’s Newcastle pub-turned-arena rockers Dire Straits had certainly built a formidable following by 1985, thanks to his brimstone-and-ambrosia guitar playing on debut single Sultans Of Swing and beyond, the breathless melodic beauties of 1980’s Making Movies album and the immersive tonal song-films of 1982’s Love Over Gold. But 30 million sales? The first CD to shift a million? Somehow, above the cramped Caribbean studio of its making, the planets aligned.
Revisiting their behemoth fifth album Brothers In Arms on this five-LP/three-CD reissue four decades on, its era-defining charms still exude the assured, enfolding warmth that first made it such a massive hit with estate agents testing the limits of their Mazdas on the M11.
Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms (Official Music Video) – YouTube
So Far Away slips down like honeyed malt whisky, subtle and undemanding yet fundamentally satisfying, like the 80s drifting by in fragrant, gaseous form. Walk Of Life still bristles with fairground honky-tonk vivacity; tranquil ballad Why Worry? is rendered even more affecting with the 2022 Dolby Atmos mix enhancing its Mediterranean stillness.
Some tracks are museum-ready now: the shoulder-pad blues of One World, and Money For Nothing, presented in its full eight-minute version and dated by its casual gay slurs and sense of Bruce Springsteen’s Glory Days.
Dire Straits – Walk Of Life (San Antonio Live In 85) – YouTube
But much has grown rewardingly evocative. Jazz-bar torch song Your Latest Trick, recalling Sade, Arthur’s Theme and Moonlighting. Ride Across The River, their take on Peter Gabriel’s electro-fied world music, telling of Latin American mercenaries, swathed in pan flutes, reggae brass and mariachi trumpet. And the war-themed second half, including the lustrous title track and the dramatic impacts of bluegrass confessional The Man’s Too Strong, recalling a time when arena rock aspired to be a force for global political good.
Key to the reissue’s appeal, however, is the inclusion of a two-hour 1985 live show from San Antonio, pure manna for a fan base denied any whiff of a reunion. Here the likes of Ride and Sultans are energised for the stage, Tunnel Of Love stretches out over 20 dense and driving minutes, and we can revel once more in Knopfler’s acoustic refrain rising balletically from the back end of Romeo And Juliet’s chorus, still one of the most wonderful moments in recorded music. It ends with a euphoric Going Home, but this package feels more like the ultimate arrival.
Mark Beaumont is a music journalist with almost three decades’ experience writing for publications including Classic Rock, NME, The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Times, Uncut and Melody Maker. He has written major biographies on Muse, Jay-Z, The Killers, Kanye West and Bon Iver and his debut novel [6666666666] is available on Kindle.
“Driving in the middle of the night in North Ontario, someone flags us down. At that same moment, I smell smoke”: Six things you didn’t know about The Damn Truth
(Image credit: Natali Ortiz)
One minute you’re doing a session backing a pop-princess hopeful in the studio, the next you’ve got a kickass rock band. Well, that’s what kind of happened to Lee-La Baum (frontwoman/ guitarist), her partner Tom Schemer (lead guitarist) and drummer Dave Traina.
Rooted in Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Jefferson Airplane, Montreal quartet The Damn Truth (now completed by bassist PY Letellier) have just released their fourth album, a self-titled banger, with production legend Bob Rock at the controls. Baum and Schemer tell Classic Rock some lesser-known things about the band.
They started by playing together naked at a hippie festival
“That worked for us, man,” Baum says with a laugh, remembering the event where everyone was naked. Schemer heard someone playing CSN&Y’s Almost Cut My Hair on an acoustic guitar and was compelled to investigate.
“I loved that song, and I’d never heard it played in the open, by a bonfire. I sat down, we started jamming, and it turned out we knew a bunch of the same songs. At the end of the night Lee-La said: ‘Maybe we should start a band?’”
It was the first Damn Truth tour for new bassist Letellier, and Baum and Schemer had brought their young son Ben. The van and trailer were packed with merchandise, music gear, nappies…
“Driving in the middle of the night in North Ontario, someone flags us down,” Baum recalls. “At that same moment, I smell smoke.”
The van was already in flames as the band leapt from it, and another passer-by helped to hoist the trailer from the van, which eventually burned out. Before exhaustedly hitting the sack in a nearby motel, Baum reached out to family and friends online for help, hoping to make enough money to get home. By morning “the whole rock ’n’roll community had come together,” she says. “We had enough money for another van! We finished the tour, and this support made it extra special.”
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Love Outta Luck – THE DAMN TRUTH (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Bob Rock produced 2021’s Now Or Nowhere, and was back on board for The Damn Truth.
“After the first album with him we went to dinner and bonded like family,” says Baum. When she sent Rock some new songs while on tour in the UK, he rang her to say these could be the best songs they’d written so far.
“Even though Bob did all those metal albums in the eighties and nineties that people know him for, he comes from the same place as us,” says Schemer. “He loves the late-sixties, early-seventies stuff, and you can’t hide any reference from him. ‘I know where you’re going with that,’ he’ll say, and he’ll help direct us.”
They hung out with Billy Gibbons – with him in his pyjamas
In 2018 the band were chosen to open for ZZ Top in the US and Europe. For The Damn Truth it was a huge – and scary – deal. “We were shitting our pants,” says Baum. “We were so in awe.”
After going down well on the first night, the band were having a drink in their dressing room when Gibbons popped his head in. “He was in a onesie pyjama with his leather jacket over it, and his fuzzy hat and glasses. He said: ‘Guys! Good job!’ and our jaws dropped.”
I Just Gotta Let You Know – THE DAMN TRUTH (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Thanks to their rhythm section, The Damn Truth have a vodka ’n’ Mexican spice blend aptly called Truth Serum. “That’s PY and Dave’s department,” says Schemer. “They are hot sauce fanatics. They teamed with a maker in Montreal.”
You are what you wear
Baum’s Instagram page is filled with wild, colourful vintage outfits, a visual theme that the whole band embrace.
“I love how it makes me feel. I don’t want to be humdrum,” she says.
“It also connects people to us,” says Schemer. “When we started around ten years ago we were hated in Montreal, we didn’t fit in with the dominant indie scene. So the way we play and dress is timeless, true to ourselves. And that’s the damn truth.”
The Damn Truth is out now via Spectra Musique.
Jo is a journalist, podcaster, event host and music industry lecturer with 23 years in music magazines since joining Kerrang! as office manager in 1999. But before that Jo had 10 years as a London-based gig promoter and DJ, also working in various vintage record shops and for the UK arm of the Sub Pop label as a warehouse and press assistant. Jo’s had tea with Robert Fripp, touched Ian Anderson’s favourite flute (!), asked Suzi Quatro what one wears under a leather catsuit, and invented several ridiculous editorial ideas such as the regular celebrity cooking column for Prog, Supper’s Ready. After being Deputy Editor for Prog for five years and Managing Editor of Classic Rock for three, Jo is now Associate Editor of Prog, where she’s been since its inception in 2009, and a regular contributor to Classic Rock. She continues to spread the experimental and psychedelic music-based word amid unsuspecting students at BIMM Institute London, hoping to inspire the next gen of rock, metal, prog and indie creators and appreciators.
The story of Poison begins in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, where Bret Michaels, Bobby Dall, and Rikki Rockett came together in 1983 under the name Paris. The band’s earliest years were marked by ambition and a raw commitment to the hard rock lifestyle that would define them. After guitarist Matt Smith left the band in 1985, the remaining members relocated to Los Angeles in pursuit of a major record deal and a more vibrant rock scene. It was in California that they completed their classic lineup with the addition of guitarist C.C. DeVille. The group changed their name to Poison, and within a few years, they transformed from small club regulars to MTV mainstays.
Their debut album, Look What the Cat Dragged In, arrived in 1986 and proved to be a surprise commercial success. Initially overlooked by critics, the album’s combination of pop hooks, glam-metal image, and raw energy caught on with a young audience. Songs like “Talk Dirty to Me,” “I Want Action,” and “I Won’t Forget You” helped push the album to triple platinum status. Poison’s image — big hair, makeup, and flamboyant clothes — made them instant icons of the 1980s glam metal movement, whether loved or loathed.
The band followed up their debut with Open Up and Say… Ahh! in 1988, a record that cemented their status as a chart-topping act. The album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and delivered their only number one single, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” Other hits such as “Nothin’ But a Good Time” and “Fallen Angel” reinforced their popularity. Despite protests over the album’s original artwork, the record’s success continued to grow, eventually reaching five-times platinum status in the United States.
Poison’s third studio album, Flesh & Blood, released in 1990, marked a slight shift in their style, incorporating more serious and reflective lyrics alongside their party anthems. The album featured hit singles like “Unskinny Bop” and “Something to Believe In.” It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and sold over three million copies in the U.S., reinforcing their staying power at a time when glam metal was beginning to fall out of mainstream favor. The album showcased a band striving for maturity without abandoning the swagger that made them stars.
By the early 1990s, internal tensions and changing musical trends began to take a toll on the band. C.C. DeVille was fired after a chaotic performance at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards, and he was replaced by Richie Kotzen for the 1993 album Native Tongue. The record, though musically ambitious and featuring more blues-influenced guitar work, did not match the commercial heights of its predecessors. Kotzen’s tenure was cut short when he was fired for personal reasons and was replaced by Blues Saraceno.
In 1996, Poison reunited with C.C. DeVille and released Crack a Smile… and More!, an album that included recordings with Saraceno and previously unreleased material. The band’s next major commercial move came in the form of a greatest hits package — Poison’s Greatest Hits: 1986–1996 — which re-ignited interest in their catalog and went double platinum. This collection became a staple of their live shows and underscored just how many successful singles they had amassed in a relatively short time.
As the late 1990s gave way to the 2000s, Poison capitalized on a wave of nostalgia. Their 1999 reunion tour was a commercial success, and the band became a regular fixture on summer touring circuits. They released Power to the People in 2000, a combination of five new studio tracks and live cuts from their recent tour. Though it did not chart significantly, it demonstrated the band’s resilience and dedication to creating new music while honoring their past.
Their 2002 studio album, Hollyweird, saw the classic lineup return with a more contemporary take on their sound. The album included the single “Squeeze Box,” a cover of the classic by The Who, and while reviews were mixed, it was clear that Poison remained committed to maintaining their presence in rock music. They followed it with The Best of Ballads & Blues and continued to release compilations and live recordings throughout the decade.
In 2006, Poison celebrated their 20th anniversary with a major tour and the release of The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 17 and was certified gold. The album included a new cover of Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band,” further expanding their connection to the classic rock world. Poison’s place as a live act remained strong, and their touring schedule continued into the late 2000s with co-headlining tours alongside acts like Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe.
Their seventh and most recent studio album, Poison’d!, was released in 2007 and featured covers of classic rock songs by artists such as David Bowie, Alice Cooper, and Tom Petty. The album was a commercial modest success and marked the band’s last full-length studio release to date. Poison’s ongoing popularity on the road continued to make up the core of their business, and they maintained a steady fanbase through constant touring and a willingness to embrace their legacy.
Over the course of their career, Poison has sold more than 16 million albums in the United States and over 50 million worldwide. Their ability to endure — through changing lineups, shifting musical climates, and decades of touring — speaks to the strength of their early work and the loyalty of their audience. Songs like “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” have become part of the larger rock canon, often referenced in pop culture and covered by a wide range of artists.
Beyond music, frontman Bret Michaels has kept the band in the public eye through solo projects, reality TV appearances, and his work as a philanthropist. His win on Celebrity Apprentice and continued visibility in media have helped introduce Poison’s music to new generations, even as the band itself has largely focused on live performances rather than studio work in recent years.
Poison’s story is not just one of success but of reinvention and survival. They are a band that embraced their image without apology, delivered hooks that defined an era, and weathered storms both internal and external. More than four decades after forming, they continue to tour with their original lineup, offering fans a chance to relive the energy and excess of the glam metal era — with the same passion they had when it all began.
Complete List Of Poison Songs From A to Z
Ain’t That the Truth – Native Tongue – 1993
Baby Gets Around a Bit – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Back to the Rocking Horse – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
Bad to Be Good – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
Ball and Chain – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Bastard Son of a Thousand Blues – Native Tongue – 1993
Be the One – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Best Thing You Ever Had – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Blame It on You – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
Blind Faith – Native Tongue – 1993
Body Talk – Native Tongue – 1993
Bring It Home – Native Tongue – 1993
Can’t You See – Poison’d! – 2007
Come Hell or High Water – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Cover of the Rolling Stone – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Crack a Smile – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Cry Tough – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
Dead Flowers – Poison’d! – 2007
Devil Woman – Hollyweird – 2002
Doin’ as I Seen on My TV – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Don’t Give Up an Inch – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Emperor’s New Clothes – Hollyweird – 2002
Every Rose Has Its Thorn – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
Every Rose Has Its Thorn – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Face the Hangman – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Fallen Angel – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Get ‘Ya Some – Hollyweird – 2002
God Save the Queen – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Good Love – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
Hollyweird – Hollyweird – 2002
Home – Hollyweird – 2002
Home – Hollyweird – 2002
I Need to Know – Poison’d! – 2007
I Never Cry – Poison’d! – 2007
I Want Action – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
I Won’t Forget You – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
Just What I Needed – Poison’d! – 2007
Lay Your Body Down – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Let It Play – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
Let It Play – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Life Goes On – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Life Loves a Tragedy – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Little Willy – Poison’d! – 2007
Livin’ for the Minute – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
Livin’ in the Now – Hollyweird – 2002
Look But You Can’t Touch – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
Look What the Cat Dragged In – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
Love on the Rocks – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
Mr. Smiley – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Native Tongue – Native Tongue – 1993
No Ring, No Gets – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Nothin’ But a Good Time – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
#1 Bad Boy – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
One More for the Bone – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Play Dirty – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
Poor Boy Blues – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Richie’s Acoustic Thang – Native Tongue – 1993
Ride Child Ride – Native Tongue – 1993
Ride the Wind – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Rock and Roll All Nite – Poison’d! – 2007
Rockstar – Hollyweird – 2002
Set You Free – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
7 Days over You – Native Tongue – 1993
Sexual Thing – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
SexyBack – Poison’d! – 2007
Shooting Star – Hollyweird – 2002
Shut Up, Make Love – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Something to Believe In – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Something to Believe In – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Squeeze Box – Hollyweird – 2002
Squeeze Box – Poison’d! – 2007
Stand – Native Tongue – 1993
Stay Alive – Native Tongue – 1993
Strange Days of Uncle Jack – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Strike Up the Band – Native Tongue – 1993
Stupid, Stoned & Dumb – Hollyweird – 2002
Suffragette City – Poison’d! – 2007
Swampjuice (Soul-O) – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Talk Dirty to Me – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
Talk Dirty to Me – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Tearin’ Down the Walls – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
That’s the Way I Like It – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
The Scream – Native Tongue – 1993
Theatre of the Soul – Native Tongue – 1993
Tragically Unhip – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Unskinny Bop – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Unskinny Bop – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Until You Suffer Some (Fire and Ice) – Native Tongue – 1993
Valley of Lost Souls – Flesh & Blood – 1990
Want Some, Need Some – Look What the Cat Dragged In – 1986
Wasteland – Hollyweird – 2002
We’re an American Band – Poison’d! – 2007
What I Like About You – Poison’d! – 2007
Wishful Thinkin’ – Hollyweird – 2002
You Don’t Mess Around with Jim – Poison’d! – 2007
Your Mama Don’t Dance – Open Up and Say… Ahh! – 1988
Your Mama Don’t Dance – Crack a Smile… and More! – 2000
Your Mama Don’t Dance – Poison’d! – 2007
Albums
Look What the Cat Dragged In (1986): 10 songs
Open Up and Say… Ahh! (1988): 11 songs
Flesh & Blood (1990): 16 songs
Native Tongue (1993): 15 songs
Crack a Smile… and More! (2000): 20 songs
Hollyweird (2002): 13 songs
Poison’d! (2007): 14 songs
Check out our fantastic and entertaining Poison articles, detailing in-depth the band’s albums, songs, band members, and more…all on ClassicRockHistory.com
Turnstile guitarist Meg Mills revealed she was inspired to pick up a guitar by 00s Jamie Lee Curtis/Lindsay Lohan movie Freaky Friday.
Speaking to Knotfest’s Tori Kravitz for She’s With The Band – a series celebrating women and femme people in the music industry – in September 2024, Mills discussed her journey through music, and why she started learning guitar in the first place.
“I genuinely think [Freaky Friday] changed my brain chemistry when I saw it aged ten or eleven,” she says. “I thought it was the coolest thing ever. That scene where they’re practicing in the basement… that’s how I wanted to be.”
Mills officially joined Turnstile earlier this year, after being recruited as a touring member in 2023. Prior to joining Turnstile, Mills played in UK hardcore bands including Big Cheese and Chubby And The Gang.
Speaking to Kravitz, Mills recalls her first show with Turnstile was a baptism by fire – at the 20,000 plus capacity Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota. “We hadn’t had a full practice with lighting and everything yet,” she recalls. “We walk up, it’s dark and the lights come on, they were the brightest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, pointed directly into our faces. I couldn’t see a thing, I was trying to play, doing my best, and it was like, ‘This is insane!’
“I’d catch glimpses of the crowd like, ‘What on earth is going on?’ It was the most overstimulating, overwhelming thing that I’ve ever experienced.”
She goes on to say she felt like she might just have to get used to experiences like that… only for her bandmates to also flag they were blinded by the lights.
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“It turned out the lights were on full, maximum brightness,” she reveals. “Everyone on stage had been struggling, like, ‘What is going on?'”
Mills will make her official recording debut with Turnstile on the band’s forthcoming fourth album Never Enough, due for release on June 6. The following week, the band will perform at the UK’s Outbreak Festival alongside Knocked Loose, before later making their debut at Glastonbury.
Watch the full interview with Mills below.
SHE’S WITH THE BAND Episode 58: Meg Mills (TURNSTILE, BIG CHEESE) – YouTube
Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn’t fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.
Auri, the prog/folk Nightwish offshoot featuring Troy Donockley, Tuomas Holopainen and Holopainen’s wife Johanna Kurkela, will return with their third album III – Candles And Beginnings through Nuclear Blast on August 15.
The trio have also shared a video for the first single to be taken from the upcoming album, Shieldmaiden.
“Our new album Auri lll is waiting to be released, and one of its songs, Shieldmaiden, has already escaped,” laughs multi-instrumentalist Donockley. “It’s a mysterious song, obscured by its own slow rising power. Auri thrives on mystery and ambiguity so all is well…”
At the same time, the band have announced their first ever tour – something of a relief to many Nightwish fans following the band’s decision to take a break from touring following the release of Yesterwynde last year. The band will perform throughout Europe during August, September and October, including dates in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. You can see the full list of dates below.
III – Candles And Beginnings will be available as 2 LP gold, 16-page booklet, 2 LP green/white/dark green splatter, 16-page booklet, a limited edition CD earbook with 36-page booklet and a CD Jjewelcase with 20-page booklet.
Aug 13: FIN Kitee, Kiteesali Aug 14: FIN Kitee, Kiteesali Aug 16: FIN Tampere, Tampere-talo Aug 20: FIN Oulu, Madetojan Sali Aug 22: FIN Vaasa, Ritz Aug 23: FIN Helsinki, Helsinki Festival / Huvilateltta (+ Eye Of Melian) Sep 12: UK Manchester, RNCM Theatre Sep 13: UK Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall Sep 15: UK London, Union Chapel Sep 16: BEL Gent, Theaterzaal Vooruit Sep 17: FRA Paris, La Cigale (+ Eye Of Melian) Sep 18: NED Utrecht, Tivoli Vredenburg (+ Eye Of Melian) Sep 20: SWI Zürich, Volkshaus Sep 21: GER Stuttgart, Liederhalle Sep 22: GER Cologne, Theater am Tanzbrunnen (+ Eye Of Melian) Sep 23: GER Essen, Lichtburg Sep 25: GER Mannheim, Capitol Sep 26: GER Munich, St. Matthäuskirche Sep 27: AUT Vienna, Simm City Sep 29: HUN Budapest, MOM Kult Sep 30: CZE Prague, Hybernia Oct 1: GER Berlin, Passionskirche Oct 2: GER Leipzig, Kupfersaal Oct 4: POL Warsaw, Palladium Oct 6: GER Hamburg, Laeiszhalle Oct 7: DEN Copenhagen, Amager Bio Oct 8: SWE Stockholm, Nya Cirkus Oct 9: NOR Oslo, Sentrum Scene Oct 10: NOR Bergen, Grieghallen
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Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.
In a new, exclusive video for Metal Hammer, UK rising stars Alt Blk Era discuss the bands that have inspired them most, including Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy and Billie Eilish.
The duo – sisters Nyrobi and Chaya Becket-Messam – formed the group in 2020 and have quickly risen in acclaim for their unique fusion of styles and sounds, drawing on everything from metal to pop and electronica, landing them amongst the ranks of the genre-splicing stars of nu gen.
“Our first song in 2022 was like, alternative pop, and our last song in 2022 was metal,” explains Nyrobi. “We’ve really been free and allowed ourselves to experiment with genres. It’s really interesting, especially going through 2022 we dropped like nine songs and you can really hear what musical eras we were in, like when I found trap metal around May time and you can really hear the descent into the heavier stuff.”
Watch the full video of Nyrobi and Chaya discussing their influences below.
Alt Blk Era’s biggest influences: Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, Billie Eilish and more| Metal Hammer – YouTube
Alt Blk Era released their debut album Rave Immortalin January. In her review, Emily Swingle wrote, “There’s a burning lust for life to Rave Immortal, an exhilarating yell of defiance. It’s the sound of celebration, whether it’s in the moshpit or on the dancefloor, or ideally both. The rip-roaring Run Rabbit plugs into the crossover mayhem of The Prodigy and Pendulum, My Drummer’s Girlfriend leans into devilishly cool electro- rock, and Catch Me If You Can is tinged with a haunting, gloomy hint of symphonic metal.”
In an interview with Metal Hammer earlier this year, Nyrobi explained how she struggles with chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition that leaves her in pain and with brain fog.
“It was important to me, as a person, and for thinking about the future of Alt Blk Era, to prove myself,” she explained. “Because people neglect disabled people – it’s hard to be disabled in every single industry.”
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“We’re already Black women and we’re already young, and let’s not add disabled to that pile. People have already got enough to say about us in the alternative scene, so I wanted to show that I could do everything that people thought that my disability wouldn’t allow me to.”
Rave Immortal is out now via Earache.
Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn’t fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.
“That’s legendary status right there.” Watch Zakk Wylde, Trivium, Within Temptation, Ice-T, Lacuna Coil, Jesse Leach, Hanabie and more celebrate 400 issues of Metal Hammer
(Image credit: Future)
Metal Hammer magazine has hit 400 issues with its latest, Sleep Token headlined, edition. To celebrate the fact, Hammer hosted a special birthday party at the iconic Black Heart in London with special guest DJ slots from UK metalcore heroes Employed To Serve and rising doom stars Green Lung.
Hammer has also received a video of well wishes from some of the many metal stars featured in its pages over the years, from Zakk Wylde to Ice-T, Jesse Leach, Sharon Den Adel and more.
Guitar legend Zakk Wylde kicks the video off in a typically playful way, introducing himself as “Zakk Wylde here: Black Label [Society], Ozzy, Pantera Celebration, Zakk Sabbath, Experience Hendrix… Dishes, laundry. I just wanna wish everyone out there at Metal Hammer UK happy 400th issue and here’s to a whole tonne more.”
Watch the full video below.
Zakk Wylde, Trivium, Within Temptation, Ice-T & more celebrate 400 issues of Metal Hammer – YouTube
Metal Hammer issue 400 is on-sale now featuring British metal sensation Sleep Token on the cover to commemorate the release of their latest – and possibly chart-topping – new album Even In Arcadia.
Elsewhere in the mag, we look over some of the cover stars from Hammer‘s history, uncovering what they were like then and how they’ve changed over the years.
There’s also a hometown tour of Oakland from Machine Head‘s Robb Flynn, a deep-dive into the history of symphonic metal giants Within Temptation, the story behind Coheed And Cambria’s The Suffering and Knocked Loose discussing their mission to make pigsqueals mainstream.
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Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn’t fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.
Biocope, the collaboration between Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery and Tangerine Dream‘s Thorsten Quaeschning have shared their first new music, their brand new single Kaleidoscope.
“The project started life in early 2020 and after several five-day trips to Berlin over the years, and a few days in my home studio, it was finally ready to be mixed and mastered! It has taken a little longer than anticipated but it’s really sounding fantastic,” enthuses Rothery.
New single, Kaleidoscope, refers to multiple reflections by two or more reflecting surfaces has been known since the 16th century and was described by Giambattista della Porta in his Magia Naturalis (1558–1589).
Gentō will become available in retail stores as a CD+Blu-ray digipak, including the full album in high-res, Dolby Atmos as well as Dolby 5.1 Surround Mix, and heavyweight black gatefold 2LP gatefold as well as digital audio.
“It’s time to restore a dynamic vision for the future that’s not just about recycling our garbage and all that”: Disillusioned by the 21st century, Jean-Michel Jarre aims to inspire a new hope
(Image credit: Getty Images)
From musique concrète to stadium spectacles, Jean-Michel Jarre pioneered futuristic, yet accessible, electronica for decades. On his 2010 tour – when AI-generated art was still a theory – Prog found him paying tribute to visionary writer Arthur C Clarke, and arguing for a reboot of humanity’s future ambitions.
In the realm of electronic prog, no figure looms larger than Jean Michel Jarre. He’s sold 80 million albums, staged some of the most spectacular live events the world has ever seen and almost single-handedly taken the instrumental synthesizer form academia and avant-garde art centres to the masses. And yet, despite everything he’s achieved, it’s often been tempting to write him off as irrelevant.
In the wake of his meteoric rise to fame via 1977 debut Oxygène and 1978 follow-up Équinoxe, a new breed of innovators entered the electronic field. As early as 1979, former punk upstart Gary Numan started a wave of electro-pop which swept the synth stars of the 70s onto the sidelines. The cutting edge had moved, leaving meandering, album-length suites behind.
Other new such as Depeche Mode and New Order soon followed, dominating the charts while the likes of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Jarre himself began to lose ground. The 1990s were even tougher, with the dominant dance music culture casting Jarre and his ilk as overblown, outdated anachronisms from a bygone age.
All this despite the enormous influence the pioneers of the 70s had on synth pop, dance, trance, techno, glitch, garage, house and just about every other form of electronic music.
Jarre, however, has never wavered in his commitment and his profile has remained high. He continues to record and tour regularly – and to his credit, he’s refused to play it safe. While the albums Oxygène 7-13 and Oxygène: New Master Recording have seen him exploiting the legacy that’s rightfully his, he hasn’t relied heavily on nostalgia.
Works such as 2000’s Métamorphoses – the first JMJ album to feature actual songs with lyrics – and 2007’s dance-orientated Téo & Téa have displayed a willingness to stray outside his comfort zone, take risks and even enter territory dominated by younger generations.
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Whatever the relative merits of his studio output, his live shows have remained popular attractions, and he continues to perform on a scale few can match. Although his ongoing world tour is something of a greatest hits package, it sees Jarre innovating again and setting himself some stiff challenges along the way. Like everything he does, it’s big – but there’s an element of randomness and benign chaos in his current performances that’s very far removed from the choreographed theatrics he’s normally associated with.
“I’ve done my best to make it exciting and visual,” Jarre explains. “I’ve tried very hard to stress the cinematic side of the music for this tour. It’s not respectful to sit behind a laptop for two hours – people are buying tickets, after all. I’m up there on stage with three other guys and it’s totally live.”
What’s particularly striking about Jarre’s 2010 show is just how physical the whole thing is. Making his way to the stage through a gob-smacked audience is just the beginning. He remains animated throughout as his companions twiddle and fiddle with the vast array of vintage synths, jogging about the stage, triggering whooshing and bleeping noises as he passes each instrument, orchestrating bouts of hand-clapping as he goes.
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He straps on an accordion for Chronologie 6 before firing up the legendary laser harp for Rendez-Vous. It’s as full- on as it is hands-on; and with everything happening in real time, they’re flying by the seat of their pants. “If you make a mistake on stage, people like that,” Jarre says. “It’s an element of danger. It’s a unique moment and it makes each concert different. Today so much is pre-programmed. I’m trying to make each concert as a unique moment that I can share on that evening with that audience.”
If the road trip has an unofficial theme, it’s the rediscovery of analogue. Jarre openly embraced digital synthesis and sampling when it first emerged – notably on 1981’s Magnetic Fields and 1984’s Zoolook – but time and time again he’s returned to the technology of the past and the mercurial instruments he popularised all those years ago.
The sound being played is as important as the notes being played… and there are things you just can’t do with digital
“We forgot what the analogue era gave us,” Jarre admits, “and we forgot what we owe to the period. Those instruments disappeared during the 80s and didn’t have a chance to grow up – to mature. Today, a violinist dreams about a Stradivarius, an instrument made in the 17th century. A guitar player dreams about a Gibson Les Paul ’58. For me it’s the same with analogue synthesizers.
“In the early days of digital you could play chords and notes, but with preprogrammed sounds. With analogue technology you can control the whole colour and tone of sounds. The sound being played is as important as the notes being played. People want the warmth – and there are things you just can’t do with digital.”
A perception persists that electronic music is generally cold and impersonal. In the 70s that view was rampant, and fed into wider debates about where technology was taking us. Synthesizers were perceived as inherently unmusical – even a threat to music, especially live music – and brought out latent Luddite tendencies spurred on by vague fears of the unknown.
Jean-Michel Jarre – The Time Machine Live (Laser Harp) – YouTube
“As part of my early work I was asked to do something for the theatre,” Jarre recalls, “and we had some trouble with the Musicians Union trying to unplug the speakers because they thought our machines would replace them!”
The dystopian nightmares of computer-dominated music never materialised. There has been some extremely austere and alien electronic music created over the years but the notion of technology radically undermining the basics of how music is created and performed has never come to pass. Most experiments with pure computer-generated music have proved to be dismal failures from a human perspective.
Since the 60s, when we talk about music we’re talking about songs. But music, historically, is without words
And therein lies one of the secrets of Jarre’s success: the human dimension. His tonal palette may be ethereal and otherworldly, but he himself remains the focal point and he is a star in the old fashioned sense. Where Tangerine Dream all but disappeared in darkened Gothic cathedrals, and Kraftwerk attempted to engineer themselves out of existence with robotic replacements, Jarre was centre stage, swamped by high-tech paraphernalia, lit up like a Christmas tree and with a million quid’s worth of fireworks exploding overhead.
He’s a celebrity who’s been married three times – twice to actresses – and a TV chat show regular who appears in glossy entertainment weeklies like Hello! How much do you know about Edgar Froese or Ralf Hütter’s private life?
Jean-Michel Jarre – Equinoxe, Pt. 5 (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Aside from Jarre presenting a human face, his early compositions had an organic feel which appealed to many who wouldn’t otherwise have considered themselves fans of electronic music. His warm tones, bubbling melodies and subtle French folk music influences created a welcoming, reassuring audio world, even when the mood was melancholy or reflective. Crucially, its instrumental nature meant it could go global, crossing cultural boundaries to become a truly universal language.
“What’s unique in instrumental music is that you’re in the direct narrative process,” says Jarre. “You’re giving a story to someone. Instrumental music is the most interactive way of expression, where you leave the audience free to build their own story, their own scenario or their own movie in their minds.
I always thought it was artificial to call one part Oxygene: Fool On A Hill when I’m not telling the story of a fool on a hill!
“I always felt there was something very special about music without words. Since the 60s, when we talk about music we’re talking about songs. But songs are just a sector of what is music – music, historically, is without words.
“For me, electronic music is like painting: dealing with different textures and colours to create perspectives and soundscapes rather than telling a story. The reason so many of my albums have a part one, part two, three, four, five is I always thought it was artificial to call one part Oxygene: Fool On A Hill when I’m not telling the story of a fool on a hill!”
On first hearing, his music sounded highly futuristic. The clean lines and precise pulse seemed to evoke visions of a wondrous age to come, an era of enlightenment for a united humanity. Jarre’s portrait on the rear of Equinoxe depicts him in a silvery space suit, set against a spacious, spotless cityscape at sunset. It’s an image of man, his urban environment and nature in harmony, a tantalising glimpse into a positive future for humanity set to the soundtrack contained within.
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The sense of joy and wonder found in Oxygène and Èquinoxe has never been lost. Mankind may be farther than ever from the utopian future of past promise, but Jarre maintains his positive outlook.
His latest tour is dubbed 2010 for more than the obvious reason. It’s a tribute to Arthur C Clarke, the towering literary and scientific figure who’s been immensely influential in Jarre’s life and work. One might even call him a mentor. As it turned out, the feelings of admiration were mutual, with Clarke writing in his book 2010: Odyssey Two, “I listened to all of Jean Michel Jarre’s albums obsessively, to the point of knowing every note by heart. His music accompanied me as I wrote.”
Our relationship with the future is full of anxiety and guilt… it’s quite arrogant to think we have the future of the planet in our hands
Jarre says: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that! I’m a fan of 2001, the book and the movie. I was in London in 1982 when the sequel 2010 came out. I got the book and was amazed to see my name in the acknowledgements. So I wrote him a letter and we started a correspondence. He was a very interesting character. So I thought that, starting this really special world tour project in 2010, it would be nice simply calling it 2010 as a tribute to him.”
The pair shared a sense of untapped, unlimited possibility for the future development of the human race. In seeking out new sonic worlds, Jarre continues his lifelong quest to reimagine what music can be, to inspire others to reach beyond their assumed limitations and pursue the impossible.
“We have a dark vision of tomorrow,” he says. “Our relationship with the future is full of anxiety and guilt about pollution, the environment, global warming, how we’re going to survive on the planet and all that. Even if it’s partially true, I think it’s quite arrogant to think we have the future of the planet in our hands.
“There’s a lot of limitation in all this and it’s time to restore a dynamic vision for the future that’s not just linked to recycling our garbage and all those things. People like Arthur C Clarke gave us a very positive vision of the future. It was like after the year 2000 nothing would be the same. We had a lot of hopes and fantasies and dreams about the future.
“In these days, with the year 2000 behind us, it’s a little bit like we’re orphans of our own future. I think we need to recreate a dynamic vision for our future that we’ve lost.”
“I lost a daughter, the only child I ever had and I didn’t want to deal with that.” Randy Blythe explains how his new book is all about making peace with trauma and strife
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Randy Blythe wants to make one thing clear. “I’m not Buddha,” says the Lamb Of God singer. “I get angry all the time. But are you just going to sit here and be angry forever? Or are you going to try and figure out a way to make things better?”
He’s talking the inspiration behind his new book, Just Beyond The Light: Making Peace With The Wars Inside Our Head, a collection of first-hand stories of survival and self-betterment, and the insight they’ve brought him.
“It’s just trying to understand myself and the world,” he says. “It’s just about navigating those thoughts.”
Do you think you could have written this book before you got sober?
“No fucking way. I couldn’t have written any book when I wasn’t sober. I used to write when I was younger. I did a couple of fanzines and stuff, I quite enjoyed it, but that was in my early 20s, and then sometime around then the drinking and drugging just became way more important than writing.
I did write lyrics, but writing a book is much harder than writing a song. It’s a much more sustained creative exertion. I didn’t have that sort of stamina when I was drinking. No way.”
There’s a lot of personal stuff in there: bereavement, mental health issues, fear, anger. Was it cathartic writing all that down and putting it out there?
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“If you stuff something down, it will come back and fuck you up. I know it did with me. I lost a daughter, the only child I ever had [Randy’s newborn daughter died in 2000 of a heart defect], and I didn’t want to deal with that. I just stuffed it down behind alcohol and drugs and shit and just didn’t look at it, and it fucked me up years later. It’s absolutely imperative that you do let things out, it really is.”
And those perspectives are helpful to other people as well…
“I’m doing this book tour right now. There’s a Q&A and I will talk about my [late] grandmother a lot. Then after, when I do the signing, people will come up and it really moves them. It really does, because it makes them think about their grandmother or an elderly family member. If one thing comes out of the book, I hope that if people do have older people left, it encourages them to go visit their family.”
In the book, you make no secret of your disdain for social media and online culture.
“Because it’s fucking bullshit! Punk rock and metal have been warning against this for years. Look at Fear Factory! We’ve been talking about this, but we’ve been in the underground. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, you guys are a bunch of dirtbag fucking idiots!’ Fuck you! The pattern was easy to see, and lo and behold, the idiocracy is upon us.”
There’s a lot in the book about what it means to be an artist. How important is that to you?
“I could go live in a fucking cave somewhere, I’m good with not much, but that is not taking advantage of what I view as my purpose in life: being an artist, which in my case requires expression, and expressing to people. I could write all the wonderful songs in the world, write 15 books, take a bunch of photos and never show them to anyone. They may be great, but what good is it if nobody gets to see them?”
So do punk and metal still have the power to change anything?
“Yes. I don’t think metal or punk or hardcore is ever going to drive a mass societal change, and that’s OK, because I think the only thing I can do in this crazy time is try and be an effective person individually. Punk and metal have the very real power to effect individual change, because they certainly did in my life.”
You talk in the book about the physical struggle of being in Lamb Of God. How long do you think you can continue with doing that?
“I think we can be in Lamb Of God till the day we die. I hope when I fucking croak, I croak as the singer of Lamb Of God, and at a ripe old age. We’re such good friends now, way better than when we were younger, because we shelved the egos and learned how to be a team more.
That being said, physically it is taxing. Man, my back hurts. It hurts bad. I have no idea how long we can keep it up at sort of the manic level that we do. But I don’t think we ever have to completely stop.”
You’re a musician, an author and a photographer. How do you satisfy all of those creative urges?
“It is frustrating for me in a way, because I love shooting photos, I love writing, I love being in a band, I do some acting every now and then… not very well! The frustrating thing is trying to find a balance between all those things, because since I got sober, my creativity is just like a fire hose. I have three or four books outlined that I want to write, then I need to do a photography book. All of these things are swirling around up here [taps head]. I want to do music of different sorts, not just with Lamb Of God.”
What other kinds of music are you talking about?
“Other wild side-projects. I will always do music as long as I can. When I get older, I think it will definitely be something a little more mellow. But I’m a physical performer. I won’t be able to restrain myself. To this day, I’m like, ‘I’m not going to jump off the drum riser, I hurt like shit.’ And then I’ll get onstage and it’s like, ‘Fuck this!’, and I’m flying through the air, because I can’t stop. It’s just too much power.”
It sounds like retirement isn’t on the cards any time soon.
“I’ll be doing it to the day I die. I will never retire. I don’t even understand the concept.”
Randy’s new book Just Beyond The Light: Making Peace With The Wars Inside Our Head is out now via Da Capo on in the UK and Grand Central Publishing in the US.
Lamb of God – Laid to Rest (Official HD Video) – YouTube
Since blagging his way onto the Hammer team a decade ago, Stephen has written countless features and reviews for the magazine, usually specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal, and still holds out the faint hope of one day getting his beloved U2 into the pages of the mag. He also regularly spouts his opinions on the Metal Hammer Podcast.
