Self-proclaimed “sweaty, sexy dance punk” band Kill Matilda will be spreading their punky sounds all across Canada and the US from now right through ’til the middle of February on a mammoth run of tour dates which began a few nights ago.
A full list of confirmed Kill Matilda live shows can be seen in the poster below (click to enlarge).
Prior to its release in the last quarter of 2014, Portland’s Witch Mountain proclaimed ‘Mobile of Angels’ to be their “most complete album yet”. At that time, the band had already survived seventeen years of changing musical fashions alongside shifting personnel; the core of their sound now resembling an uncompromising, crushing slowness inflected with a bluesy tone. ‘Mobile’ certainly shows a hugely broad confidence and its material, for the most part, represents top class doom metal. Granted, the bulk of the songs do not necessarily represent anything that anyone bar the more committed doom fan would reach for on a regular basis, but then, it’s unlikely that Witch Mountain were ever looking for mass acceptance with this album – but in terms of becoming one of the strongest acts within their field, it’s a resounding success. It also acts as an epitaph for another phase of the band’s journey, being the last in a trilogy of discs to feature lead vocalist Uta Plotkin.
To coincide with the release of their new album, punk stalwarts Lagwagon head out for a US/Canadian tour in November, with support from Swingin’ Utters and This Legend.
All confirmed dates are listed below. Lagwagon release ‘Hang On’ via Fat Wreck Chords on October 28th.
Following the promo clip for ‘Hope Street’ with Billy Bragg, the Levellers present another new video in the run up to the release of their expansive ‘Greatest Hits’ anthology.
Taking one of their best known hits, the band give ‘What a Beautiful Day’ a makeover with Imelda May. The official promo clip can be seen in full below.
On August 31st 2014 AOR vocalist Jimi Jamison died following a heart attack. He was 63 years old.
Best known as vocalist for Survivor, Jamison possessed one of the finest voices within the melodic rock scene. His range, although similar to previous Survivor vocalist Dave Bickler (singer of the band’s biggest hit ‘Eye of the Tiger’) was superior; his soaring tones second only to Journey’s Steve Perry for a pure AOR sound. Jamison recorded vocals for the band’s second biggest hit ‘Burning Heart’ (from Rocky IV) and for three Survivor albums in the 1980s: ‘Vital Signs’, ‘When Seconds Count’ and the harder sounding ‘Too Hot To Sleep’ – each one vital for any respectable melodic rock album collection. A further Survivor album, ‘Reach’, was released eight years later to critical praise but lesser commercial success.