The word supergroup can sometimes be overused, even applied to bands whom seem nothing of the sort, but Frontiers signings Phantom 5 fall squarely into that category, with every member having already made a name for themselves as part of a German melodic rock band. Vocalist Claus Lessmann will be best known to most as a founder member of Bonfire; Michael Voss recorded as a member of Demon Drive before joining Bonfire and touring with Michael Schenker; drummer Axel Kruse scored previous accolades with the much loved Jaded Heart and guitarist Robby Boebel first found fame as a member of the brilliant Frontline. That line-up alone would stand Phantom 5 in good stead with regard to past experience and future potential, but the addition of ex-Scorpions bassist Francis Buchholz is the icing on the Euro cake. In terms of German melodic rock line ups – short of including of Matthias Jabs – you’d be hard pressed to find a better band of brüders.
Monthly Archives: May 2016
MAMMOTH SPIRIT – Mammoth Spirit EP
Throughout 2014, Brooklyn based garage rockers Greasy Hearts were phenomenally busy. Between May and December that year, they issued three cassettes and played a number of live shows. There was talk of another release in 2015, but nothing materialised and then at the very end of the year, three Greasy Hearts members resurfaced as part of Mammoth Spirit, a more complex band trading in the much of their straight up garage stance for an unpolished hybrid of blues, funk and retro psych sounds with an old soul.
TOMMY AND THE ROCKETS – Beer And Fun And Rock ‘n’ Roll
Although a new band for 2016, Tommy And The Rockets is a collaboration between two familiar faces – multi-instrumentalist and sometime Hitchcocks member Thomas Stubgaard and New Trocaderos songwriter Michael Chaney. Between them and their love for good old fashioned power pop and garage rock tunage, their debut release ‘Beer And Fun And Rock ‘n’ Roll’ results in some lean, mean and no-frills nuggets. The album’s ten tunes, each clocking in at three and a half minutes or less, are the kind that John Felice would have killed to have had the foresight to have written in ’77.
SAD BLOOD – Legion Of Gloom EP
London-based emo outfit Sad Blood knew they had to follow their ‘Ultimate Warrior’ release with something special; a release that improved on their core sound and didn’t just feel like a retread of previous work. The resulting five tracks are somewhat special – hearing ‘Legion of Gloom’ (especially for the first time) is akin to taking a trip back two decades. A couple of chords is all that’s required before opening track ‘Heavy Petting Zoo’ – a tune absolutely drenched in a feeling of revivalism – is set to impress listeners who once found themselves enamoured with nineties emo.
THE BLOAKES – Kanye Westboro Baptist Church EP
It’s hard to resist a release with a title like ‘Kanye Westboro Baptist Church’. Swedish combo The Bloakes clearly have a sense of humour, but take their music very seriously. Here are five men who are committed to taking their listeners back to a great musical past, while simultaneously keeping the sounds of psychedelia in the present, whenever that may be. Their music is unashamedly retro with some very obvious touchstones, but never ever lazy in its construction. The result is five songs that sound like a jam between The Beatles, Traffic, Primal Scream and The Charlatans, with a little Swedish prog chucked in the pot for good measure – and it’s bloody fabulous.