Lindsey Buckingham’s
wife Kristen has
revealed that her
husband’s vocal cords
were affected during
the former Fleetwood
Mac guitarist’s recent
open heart surgery.
“While it is unclear
whether this damage
is permanent, we
are hopeful it is not,”
she says.Twisted Sister are
embroiled in a legal
battle with Australian
politician Clive Palmer,
who adapted the
words to their hit
We’re Not Gonna Take
It without permission
and against their
wishes. The affair
caused frontman Dee
Snider to dismiss
Palmer as “a lowlife,
piece of kangaroo
dung, criminal without
an ounce of dignity”.Black Stone Cherry
have added some
intimate indoor shows
to complement their
festival appearances
at Caerphilly Castle
and Ramblin’ Man Fair.
They can be seen at:
Aberdeen Music Hall
July 14, Glasgow
Barrowland 16, Dublin
Academy 17 and
Belfast Ulster Hall 18.
The concert at
Caerphilly Castle is
now sold out.Jon Anderson
(pictured) issues
a solo album called
1000 Hands on March- Since the vocalist
began working on the
project 30 years ago
under the title Uzlot,
along with Alan White
and the late Chris
Squire, he’s enlisted
many guests including
Steve Howe, Jethro
Tull’s Ian Anderson,
Journey’s Jonathan
Cain, Steve Morse of
Deep Purple, Chick
Corea, Pat Travers and
the jazz fusion violinist
Jean-Luc Ponty, to
help him complete it.
OUT OF FOCUS
Wake Up!, Kuckuck, Germany, 1971.
£275+
Out Of Focus
(named after a Blue
Cheer track) were
a hard-working
band, building up
a strong local
following before
signing to cult label
Kuckuck (‘cuckoo’
in English). Formed in Munich in 1968,
they were amongst the most genuinely
progressive bands to evolve from the
krautrock era, combining rock, folk, jazz
and blues with a strong psychedelic
presence. Their lyrical content was often
satirical and anarchic, yet always
entertaining. Releasing three studio
albums during the 70s, their style
became steadily more improvisational.
For underground hard rock fans, debut,
Wake Up! is OOF’s most appealing
release. Recorded over two long
weekends and housed in a suitably
surreal sleeve design, it contains their
heaviest songs. Main songwriter Moran
Neumüller’s abstract storytelling has anintriguing charm – though his vocal style
is an acquired taste. Undoubtedly
a talented musician, he also contributed
flute and sax to the Out Of Focus sound.
God Save The Queen, Cried Jesus is
a particular highlight, with its
bulldozingly heavy lead riff, psychotic
flute melodies, spaced out soloing and
whacked out subject matter, topped off
with Neumüller’s theatrical vocal delivery.
Wake Up! is undoubtedly a product of
its time, reflective of free-thinking
hippies creating heavy sounds under the
influence of mind expanding substances- with ten-minute plus mini-epics such
as World’s End and the discordant blues
rock of Dark, Darker. LD
Riches from the
rock underground‘One of the most
genuinely progressive
krautrock-era bands.’
The former White Lion singer on his new solo record,
tour plans, and why Kiss is ‘the biggest circus out there’.Mike Tramp
During the 1980s, singer Mike Tramp
fronted the platinum-selling US-based
hard rockers White Lion, followed by the
grunge-defying Freak Of Nature. His
latest UK tour promotes his new solo
album Stray From The Flock.Why did you title the new album Stray
From The Flock?
I’m removing myself even further from
the past. I don’t add ‘The voice of White
Lion’ to the gig posters, the promoters do
that and it’s so stupid. Rock fans don’t
need to be told that
somebody was in
[American glam-
metallers] Britny
Fox or Angel, but
I guess that’s a sign
of the times.These songs are
acoustic-based,
certainly compared
to the bombast of White Lion.
I’m only doing what comes naturally.
There’s continuity across the eleven Mike
Tramp solo albums but I want to represent
where I am now as a 58-year-old. That’s
why there won’t be a White Lion reunion.You sing about the things that matter
to you – the futility of war,
relationships and their fragility and
inner strength.
They were important to me even when I
had massive hair and some great-looking
pants, but I was wearing a uniform and
still looking for myself. When I showed
up in the studio with Cr y For Freedom
[from White Lion’s Big Game, 1989] the
others didn’t get it. Even John Kalodner
[celebrated A& R guru] said: ‘Saving
whales just doesn’t sell rock records.’The song Homesick mourns ‘A n o t h e r
covers band pretending to be Kiss/There’s
just no running from Gene and Paul.’
If I was on the top of the music scene, I
believe I would represent it a much betterway. The more powerful the band the
shitter they are at respecting the fans.
Kiss is the biggest circus out there. With
all their power and money, why try to sell
a guitar for $20,000 after the show? It
ruined all of my memories from the
Destroyer tour in 1976.Best Days Of My Life balances nostalgia
with pragmatism: ‘Close the book, face
the fact, it ain’t coming back’ and ‘I can’t
say for sure I miss those days’.
It’s about the three incredible years
I spent with Freak Of
Nature. Jerry Best
[bass] and Marcus
Nand [guitar] are both
on it, which felt
important to me.This tour is another
one-man excursion.
Few acts play 18
dates across the UK
anymore and fewer still do all of the
graft – sometimes even selling CDs after
the show.
It’s a very down-to-scale thing. I’ve
become close friends with the punters. I
cover as much ground as possible but still
I get asked: ‘Why aren’t you playing in my
home town? ’Does the size of venues no longer
matter to you?
Of course there are reasons why I’m at the
Black Heart and not [London’s] O2 Arena,
but I’ve also become friendly with the club
owners who allow me back year after year.
I will die happy regardless that I don’t have
a fortune in the bank, I’m not miserable.The word ‘humble’ isn’t heard too
much in rock‘n’roll?
No, and it should be. I’m just a kid from
Denmark. I was never too good at playing
those Axl Rose or Sebastian Bach roles. DLStray From The Flock is out on March 1
via Target Records.JAK
OB(^) MU
XOL
L
“I was never good
at playing those
Axl and Sebastian
Bach roles.”
20 CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM