Author: wamdines

Marillion’s Mark Kelly took a circuitous route to releasing his first solo album, Mark Kelly’s Marathon back in 2020. Prog found out how the keyboardist’s new project came about and learnt the story behind those Wakeman-esque solos.

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Consider, to name but three, Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd. For members of certain bands occupying the upper echelons of progressive rock, it was standard operating procedure to intersperse solo albums with group releases at suitable points. Despite their myriad successes over the last four decades-plus, Marillion may not sit exactly alongside the aforementioned triumvirate, but they don’t fall far short.

Vocalist Steve Hogarth, guitarist Steve Rothery and bassist Pete Trewavas have all pursued extracurricular endeavours beyond Marillion, with Hogarth releasing his Ice Cream Genius album as far back as 1997 and Trewavas arguably having attained greatest acclaim outside Marillion through his membership of prog supergroup Transatlantic since 1999. By contrast, talk of keyboardist Mark Kelly pursuing a solo career has bubbled sporadically for over a quarter of a century but with no significant output.

“It was my own fault really,” Kelly says of expectations that were raised long ago but are only now being met. “I got caught up with the idea of joining the solo album brigade and for years people would ask me about it.”

Back in the last millennium, Kelly did formulate an initial solo album plan. “I thought I’d follow in the footsteps of Rick Wakeman, pick a theme and do an instrumental album.” He alighted on Dante’s Inferno, from Divine Comedy, as said theme before hitting a significant stumbling block.

“I never really got past the early stages; my heart wasn’t in it, to be honest. I remember sending a recording to Steven Wilson in the very early days of Porcupine Tree to see if he was interested in some sort of collaboration or getting involved. I never heard back from him, so he obviously wasn’t impressed! I spoke to him recently and mentioned the solo album and he said, ‘Is that the same solo album you were talking about doing 25 years ago?’ So he hadn’t forgotten!”

In the intervening period, Kelly has made a handful of guest appearances with DeeExpus and Trewavas’ Edison’s Children as well as producing an album for Jump (1995’s The Myth Of Independence) and “moonlighting for Travis for some festivals one year”. But Marillion has clearly remained his core focus. “There was always something more demanding on my time than a solo album which there was no deadline for,” he readily admits.

There the solo album topic rested, until Kelly’s friend Guy Vickers revealed himself to be a lyricist. In 2012 Kelly recorded some jams with bassist Steve Lawson and former Fairground Attraction drummer Roy Dodds. But this ultimately proved to be another false start. “I gave the jams to Guy to see if he could come up with some lyrics, which he did. But the music wasn’t really doing it for me.”

With Dante’s Inferno consigned to ancient history and the 2012 jams having led nowhere, Kelly concluded that he needed to focus on a song-based solo album. With Vickers’ continuing cajoling, Kelly eventually gave his friend some more music, including some ideas originally conceived by the keyboardist under the auspices of Marillion.

“In Marillion we jam a lot and have over 1,000 ideas that have never been used. Some are short, some are longish, but there’s lots that I know that Marillion wouldn’t use. Some of those ideas were my starting point, which I gave to Guy and he started working on lyrics.”

This resulted in the writing of Amelia and Twenty Fifty One, the two longer tracks that bookend Mark Kelly’s Marathon, at which point Kelly recruited his now 23-year-old guitarist/bassist nephew Conal Kelly to work alongside him. The nascent band still lacked a key component however, namely a vocalist.

“A year or two went by with me looking for a singer, but not really having enough time to devote to it. Then I mentioned in a Marillion fan club interview that I was looking for someone and that a Peter Gabriel-type voice would work.” Another friend of Kelly’s promptly recommended Oliver M Smith.

“I contacted Ollie, sent him the music and lyrics for Amelia and didn’t hear back from him for about a month. Because he was used to working in a three-minute pop song format apparently he was looking at it thinking, ‘What the hell am I going to do with this?!’”

But when Kelly eventually received Smith’s ideas for Amelia he knew he’d found his singer. “He had done a load of vocal melodies with harmonies that were really good and very professional considering it was done at home.”

With a vocalist secured, Kelly could now see his solo album finally taking shape. But the small matter of actually recording it properly was still unresolved. In the summer of 2019, Kelly and his cohorts spent a couple of days in Marillion’s Buckinghamshire studio recording demos but proceeded no further. However, with coronavirus temporarily suspending work on the next Marillion studio album, lockdown presented Kelly with a window of opportunity to progress the album.

Fortuitously, drummer Henry Rogers, with whom Kelly had crossed paths during his brief stint with DeeExpus, had built a home studio shortly prior to lockdown. “So I said that everybody should just record their parts at home, send them to me and that I would put it all together and see what I could do in the next two or three months. I literally did the album on a Mac mini with one or two keyboards and everyone else worked pretty much the same way. Drums would have been probably the main hurdle around doing it at home; you can’t really record drums in a bedroom.”

The collective efforts of Kelly and his band – completed by guitarists Pete Wood and John Cordy – have yielded a supremely melodic album. Musically, perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s frequently not far removed from Hogarth-era Marillion. But it’s also a highly accessible album. Indeed for those who may have found Marillion’s last studio album, FEAR, heavy going and overlong, Kelly’s solo effort provides a panacea. But is Mark Kelly’s Marathon a solo album or not?

“The album is called Mark Kelly’s Marathon but the band is called Marathon. I wanted the band to have its own identity,” he states. “I haven’t got that much profile as the keyboard player in Marillion, but it’s better than none. People call these albums ‘solo albums’, but this is a very creative collaboration. I wouldn’t call myself the benign dictator, but I am the one that has the final say and decides the direction in which songs should go.”

Not unreasonably, Kelly’s own keyboards feature prominently but not overwhelmingly. “I wanted it to be a real band album rather than a keyboard album. There’s quite a lot of guitar on there.”

That said, Kelly does have more keyboard moments in the spotlight than is sometimes the case in Marillion. “With encouragement from the others, I had the attitude that I’d do the odd little Wakeman-esque solo here and there, which I wouldn’t do with Marillion – I’d feel that was being a bit self-indulgent.”

As well as selecting from the parts that his bandmates had recorded and deciding on the arrangements, Kelly set a few key rules, with album duration foremost in his mind. “It’s hard to get people’s attention these days to sit down to listen to a whole record. I set a limit of 45 minutes; I wanted to go back to what I grew up listening to and have an old-style vinyl album with a gatefold sleeve. So I was really happy that the record company was willing to do the vinyl, even though I may not sell much vinyl!

“I also wanted the album to be songs, but not just a bunch of three-minute songs,” he continues. “I wanted a balance between one or two longer tracks and a few short, more accessible tracks. I really like interesting chord progressions and good melodies.”

Kelly credits his vocalist for much of the album’s accessibility. “Ollie’s vocal melodies are quite instant. I thought he might struggle with some of the quite wordy lyrics and musical changes that aren’t straightforward. But he just came up with great melodies again and again.”

Indeed, Smith is a revelation on the album, possessing an almost uncanny chameleonic vocal ability. For example, while on Amelia his voice channels Peter Gabriel at his best and by turns on Twenty Fifty One holds echoes of Fish, in contrast the lovely, bittersweet ballad When I Fell features a much more soulful vocal.

“When I Fell didn’t happen until we were well into the album,” Kelly explains. “I had this bit of music and asked if Ollie could do anything with it. We didn’t have any lyrics, so he improvised some very soulful singing, which then pointed to the direction the song should take. So I then sent it to Guy to write some proper words. Amelia and Twenty Fifty One were written before the band came together. But now because of lockdown we’ve now got this way of working which is like pass the parcel in reverse – everybody adds a bit of wrapping to a song and it takes a different shape.”

Despite being recorded exclusively at home and prior to some of the bandmembers actually having met each other in person (since rectified by a filmed session at Real World Studios in July), the album sounds
very cohesive.

Kelly reveals that if recording together had been possible, his Marillion bandmates might have featured to a greater extent. “Had we been in a situation where we could have been in a studio together, I can certainly imagine asking Ian [Mosley] and Pete [Trewavas] to play on a track. It was really the fact that we were recording at home which prevented that from happening.”

Instead, further Marillion involvement is confined to Steve Rothery adding his signature guitar sound to Puppets, a song that originated from a Marillion jam.

While Kelly’s next immediate priority is the completion of Marillion’s forthcoming studio album, he anticipates recording a Marathon follow-up within the next 18 months and possibly sooner. “Everybody enjoyed making the album. Hopefully once it’s out, enough people [will] want to hear a second album.”

Encouraged by the success of their Real World experience in the summer, Kelly is considering taking Marathon on the road. “Originally doing Marathon gigs wasn’t a burning desire for me. But once the six of us actually got together at Real World, I realised how good it sounded and now I’m certainly
up for the idea. Maybe we can open for Marillion on the next tour!”

Blue Oyster Cult‘s Buck Dharma reflected again on the immortal Saturday Night Live “More Cowbell” sketch that lampooned their hit song “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” saying the results were ultimately positive — even if it forced the band to take preventative measures in concert.

The sketch, which aired on April 8, 2000, starred Will Ferrell as fictional band member Gene Frenkle and Christopher Walken as producer Bruce Dickinson. Ferrell, dressed in a ridiculously tight and low-cut shirt, plays the cowbell so aggressively while recording “Reaper” that he distracts and infuriates his bandmates. Walken, however, is obsessed with capturing more of the “dynamite sound,” famously declaring, “I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!”

“More Cowbell” has become one of the most popular sketches in SNL history, and it’s changed the lives of those involved, for better or worse. But as Dharma told Vulture, the good has outweighed the bad.

READ MORE: Top 25 ‘Saturday Night Live’ Cast Members of All Time

Why Blue Oyster Cult Had to Ban Cowbells at Their Shows

“It’s funny to think about,” Dharma said. “I feel bonded to Will and Christopher in a way, because we’re all at the mercy of the cowbell sketch in different ways. I feel a little bit of kinship and sympathy with them. Will’s character, Gene Frenkle, was made up. We dedicate the song to him sometimes. But I would tell Christopher: It’s all bearable, I suppose. Blue Oyster Cult got through it and we persevered. When we play ‘Reaper,’ people still mimic playing the cowbell, and we had to ban people from bringing actual cowbells to the concerts. But, again, it’s a tiny cross to bear.”

The “More Cowbell” sketch was so popular that it even forced Blue Oyster Cult to retroactively add cowbell to live performances of their hit song. “For 20-odd years, we didn’t use a live cowbell for our shows and never considered it,” Dharma explained. “We had to play the cowbell because there was just no getting away from it. I’m grateful that as significant as the sketch is — because after 25 years, it still is — it didn’t kill the song, its original intent, or its original mood. It’s still used as a cue in horror movies when you want that mysterious and metaphysically uneasy vibe. So I’m glad the sketch didn’t kill the song and didn’t make it one big joke.”

As for whether Walken’s prescription for more of the signature instrument was correct, Dharma said: “I think the cowbell was just as loud as it should be.”

Rock’s 60 Biggest ‘Saturday Night Live’ Performances

Gallery Credit: Corey Irwin

More From Ultimate Classic Rock

Swedish melodic hard rockers, Art Nation, are thrilled to share their new single, “Thunderball”, out now via Frontiers Music Srl. The track is accompanied by a new music video.

Singer Alexander Strandell comments on the new single: “With ‘Thunderball’, we’re stepping boldly into a new era. We’ve worked hard to innovate while staying true to the core of our identity. Join us and be part of the Nation.”

Stream/download the single here, watch the video below:

Gothenburg-based band Art Nation is a rising force in modern melodic hard rock. Founded in 2014 by Alexander Strandell and Christoffer Borg the band has quickly gained acclaim for their captivating sound and dynamic live performances.

With his powerful and emotive vocals, Alexander Strandell has captivated audiences on Sweden’s National TV and radio. A nominee for “Rock Voice of the Year”, his commanding stage presence and vocal mastery set him apart as one of the most dynamic performers in rock today.

A producer and guitarist celebrated for his precision and creativity, Christoffer Borg has worked with iconic names like Amaranthe, Anthrax, and Evergrey. His exceptional skills bring a polished and melodic edge to Art Nation’s signature sound.

Known for his incredible technical prowess and musicality, Richard Svärd has played with many musicians and toured with thrash legends Death Riders. His deep grooves and intricate bass lines lay the foundation for Art Nation’s unstoppable momentum.

Their debut album Revolution in 2015 received great reviews, earning them nominations at the esteemed Gaffa Awards in Sweden. In 2016, they penned the official anthem for the Gothia Cup soccer tournament, performed live on national TV, and in sold-out stadiums.

Sharing stages with iconic bands like Twisted Sister, Europe, Hammerfall, and Nightwish, Art Nation continues to make waves. They have performed at the biggest festivals in Sweden such as Sweden Rock and their last tour took them to Germany and Belgium.

Art Nation are:

Alexander Strandell – Vocals
Christoffer Borg – Guitar
Richard Svärd – Bass

(Photo – Johannes Malm)

Brazilian rock band, Malvada, are pleased to share their new single and video, “Fear”, out today via Frontiers Music Srl. Stream/download the single here, and watch the video below.

Describing the new track, the band say: “‘Fear’ is the song that will surprise everyone who listen, with a different aura and new elements, a very good fusion of classic and new rock’n’roll.”

Malvada was initially formed in March 2020, during the beginning of the pandemic. With a rock n’ roll style full of personality, the band quickly attracted attention as one of the most promising acts in the Brazilian rock scene.

In January 2021, Malvada released their first single entitled “Mais Um Gole”, which gained greater prominence in the scene. Shortly afterwards, in May of the same year, it was time to release the second single “Cada Escolha uma Renúncia”, which preceded the launch of the band’s debut album, A Noite Vai Ferver.

In the years 2022 and 2023, Malvada solidified its presence on the national rock panorama, performing more than a hundred shows in several cities in Brazil. The band had the privilege of participating in huge festivals, such as Rock in Rio, Best of Blues and Rock, Angra Fest and Chama Rock, sharing the stage with renowned national and international rock names, like Pitty, Ira!, Angra, Viper, Edu Falaschi, Matanza, Golpe de Estado, Extreme and Tom Morello.

In November 2023, Malvada, composed of Indira Castillo, Bruna Tsuruda, Rafaela Reoli and Juliana Salgado surprised with a big announcement: the band has become the newest signee of the prestigious Italian label Frontiers Records, which has renowned bands in its catalog such as Mr. Big, Asia, Whitesnake, Jeff Scott Soto, among others, promising to take them to a new level, with opportunities to expand their reach and conquer the global market.

The band is eager to share this new chapter of their musical journey with their fans and hopes that the new album reaches bigger horizons and opens doors to international success. The band’s vibrant passion and support from Frontiers Records promise a bright future for Malvada on the music scene.

Lineup:

Indira Castillo – Vocals
Bruna Tsuruda – Guitar
Juliana Salgado – Drums
Rafaela Reoli – Bass

(Photo – Caike Scheffer)

November 26, 2024, an hour ago

news hard rock classic rock freddy curci sheriff alias

Professor Of Rock has released the video below, along with the following introduction:

“Today’s episode is a bottled lightning two-for-one. Singer Freddy Curci had two chart-topping tracks though his bands vanished into thin air shortly after. One with the band Sheriff called ‘When I’m With You’ went to #1 in 1989, and one with Alias called ‘More Than Words Can Say’ that hit #2 the very next year in 1990. So two massive hits with the same singer but two completely different bands. He also set a Guinness World Record when he held the last note out for nearly 20 seconds. He had a #1 hit in 1989 and then another million seller the very next year. It’s a lot to unravel, but it’s really cool. We’re bringing you the rare story of two bands, one singer, and two 1-hit wonders, coming up next on the Professor Of Rock.

Never Obey Again has released a video for “Trust”, the third single taken from the eponymous new album, released back on October 18 via Scarlet Records.

“Trust” is a soul relieving track. Strong and emotional lyrics alongside with a powerful chorus make this track easy to be remembered and played loud whenever is needed to let it all out. Adulthood brings consciousness and awareness of who we are and what we are capable of. On the other hand, dealing with our limits and accepting them it’s a struggle for many of us. Many rely on faith, others on trust in themselves and live life at its fullest.

Watch the video below:

Never Obey Again is a female fronted alternative unit that blends heavy sounds and modern electronic elements to create captivating, emotional sound scenarios. They did it effortlessly on the 2023 debut album The End Of An Era; they did it better and with an even stronger personal touch on their brand new record, where extraordinary singer Carol shines throughout the entire work.

On one hand, Trust has been conceived as ‘music for everyone’ regardless of gender or age as its lyrics and vocals could resonate with anyone; words and melodies that allow the listener to feel like home, protected and safe in sharing feelings.

On the other hand, it represents the band’s decision to go heavier and dress those lyrics with their own sound avoiding any compromise; it sounds deeper, rough and straight to the point. It sounds like Never Obey Again and nothing else.

Tracklisting:

“Animal By Choice”
“G.O.D. (Given Or Denied)”
“Never Feel, Never Fear”
“Give Me A Fuckin’ Break”
“Under My Skin, Before Your Eyes”
“Lost…”
“Control”
“I Wish”
“Conquer And Divide”
“Waterfall”
“Trust”

“G.O.D. (Given Or Denied)” video:

“Never Feel, Never Fear” video:

Never Obey Again:
Carolina Bertelegni – vocals
Alessandro Tuvo – guitar
Alex Pedrotti – guitar
Cristiano Trappoli – bass
Marco Binda – drums

(Photo – Oleksandr Kmit)

Heart helped to break important ground for the wave of female artists and bands who followed in the wake of their success. But at the core of the Seattle-bred group’s beginnings, it was all about the music.

“When we started out, [it] was not a gender-specific story,” Nancy Wilson shares in the latest episode of the UCR Podcast, which you can listen to below. “The interesting thing about how Heart started was that we were in democracies with guys in bands, you know. So we were never, you know, female-specific about anything. We just were just one of the guys, in many ways, just slogging away side by side with some great players.”

As the band began to build a name, tensions would develop between the Wilson sisters and the other members, but their perceived dominance happened organically, she says now. “We grew up in a super-musical family, with all levels of music and styles,” she explains. “We [had[ the advantage as two girls and sisters in the Heart context, to be the songwriters. Then, after that, we got the attention, being at the center focus of it all.”

READ MORE: Top 10 Heart Songs

All of this created an interesting dynamic, “being singled out as women,” she adds. “We weren’t feminists, we were just strong military brats with a really big work ethic that wanted to be like the Beatles….and by the time we came out in the mid-’70s, everything was possible in music. There was Janis Joplin and Grace Slick and then here comes Fleetwood Mac. Heart was just a natural progression in the family of music at the time.”

Listen to Nancy Wilson on the ‘UCR Podcast’

Flashing forward, Wilson will share the things that she’s learned at the third annual Women’s Rock Camp, happening Dec. 5 through Dec. 8 in Los Angeles. She sees that there’s been a lot of progress in the time since she first began making music. “It’s an interesting time right now in music,” the songwriter admits. “Because, you know, it’s not so wildly crazy to see women out there doing it — you’ve got boygenius now and [so many] cool [artists like] Courtney Barnett and also, the Last Dinner Party opening up for the [Rolling] Stones and stuff like that. It’s not so such a rarefied, unusual thing anymore for women to step forward and be counted as rockers and and a force in music.”

Heart will resume its Royal Flush tour starting in February with a rotating cast of special guests including Cheap Trick, Squeeze and Lucinda Williams.

Heart Albums Ranked

This list of Heart Albums, Ranked Worst To Best, wasn’t an easy one to compile, because unlike many long-running groups, the band has never made a bad record.

Gallery Credit: Annie Zaleski

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How would you like to win an exclusive U2 How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb vinyl? Well, here’s your chance!

In celebration of 20th anniversary of U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, U2 have released How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb, which is a collection of 10 unearthed songs from the original recording sessions.

This special vinyl release is exclusive to Record Store Day’s Black Friday promotion, but we’ve got our own exclusive version of this black and red marble vinyl that can be yours.

The Edge said of How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb, “The sessions for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb were such a creative period for the band, we were exploring so many song ideas in the studio. We were inspired to revisit our early music influences, and it was a time of deep personal introspection for Bono who was attempting to process – dismantle – the death of his father.

“For this anniversary edition I went into my personal archive to see if there were any unreleased gems and I hit the jackpot. We chose ten that really spoke to us. Although at the time we left these songs to one side, with the benefit of hindsight we recognize that our initial instincts about them being contenders for the album were right, we were onto something.

“What you’re getting on this shadow album is that raw energy of discovery, the visceral impact of the music, a sonic narrative, a moment in time, the exploration and interaction of four musicians playing together in a room… this is the pure U2 drop.”

This shadow album includes new, never-before-heard or previously released songs – “Treason,” “Evidence of Life,” “Country Mile” and “Happiness”; plus a song called “Luckiest Man In The World” – familiar to fans under its working title “Mercy.” An early demo of the song was leaked online almost 20 years ago and now it’s getting its official release.

The set also comes with five newly remastered songs – “Picture of You (X+W),” “I Don’t Wanna See You Smile,” “Are We Gonna Wait Forever?,” “Theme From The Batman” and “All Because Of You 2” – all collected together for the first time.

The track listing for How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb is:

1. Picture of You (X+W)
2. Evidence of Life
3. Luckiest Man in the World
4. Treason
5. I Don’t Wanna See You Smile
6. Country Mile
7. Happiness
8. Are We Gonna Wait Forever?
9. Theme From The Batman
10. All Because of You 2

You can also purchase the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb 20th anniversary edition and its How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb shadow album at https://atomicbomb.u2.com.

READ MORE: The Most Played Songs Live by 35 Big Alt-Rock Bands

But wait, there’s more! In addition to the How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb exclusive vinyl, there’s a 4-LP Songs of Surrender box set that we’re including as well. That collection featured 40 new acoustic & re-imagined recordings from the U2 catalogue. It’s a limited edition, numbered box set.that includes four individual band member vinyl sleeves, new lyrics from Bono, liner notes from The Edge and exclusive photos from acclaimed photographer and video director Anton Corbijn.

That’s quite the U2 package and you can win it by entering your contact details in the entry box provided below. Should your name be chosen as a winner, we’ll reach out to make sure you’ve got this incredible U2 vinyl package featuring both the How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb exclusive vinyl and the Songs of Surrender vinyl box set.

Be sure to enter before the Dec. 4, 2024 deadline.

More than ten years ago, Gene Simmons famously stated that rock had died. And while there’s been scant evidence to support the Kiss man’s claims in the years since, it appears as though Disney are attempting to hasten its demise.

The company has announced that the Aerosmith-themed Rock‘n’Roller Coaster – a high-speed indoor ride at Hollywood Studios, part of the Walt Disney World complex in Orlando, FL – is to rebrand as a Muppets-themed attraction. The popular puppets are currently to be found at the park in the shape of a “Muppet*Vision 3D” movie attraction.

“We know so many of you share our love for The Muppets and know their energy will be a perfect fit for this coaster,” say Disney. “Plus, as the first Disney ride ever to feature The Muppets, there’s sure to be laughter, screams and new tunes for this attraction for fans to enjoy throughout the adventure and plenty of Muppets-themed merchandise on Sunset Boulevard!

“In the meantime, there’s still enough time to catch a super-stretch limo to the Forum to enjoy Rock‘n’Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith and catch Muppet*Vision 3D again before their final curtain calls.”

The Aerosmith Rock’n’Roller Coaster was launched in 1999, and features several classic songs including Love In An Elevator (with the final line re-worked as “Love In A Roller Coaster”), Back In The Saddle, Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion.

In 2016, the ride made the news when Disney altered the film that plays to riders as they wait to board, editing it so that Steven Tyler no longer appeared to me making the extremely un-Disney-like “shocker” gesture with his fingers.

Aerosmith retired from touring earlier this year.