Orianthi’s 2020 album ‘O’ marked an overdue return for the Australian guitarist. Her first album in seven years and her first for the Frontiers Records label, it appeared during the pandemic lockdown, adding to an ever growing pile of welcome distractions for rock fans the world over. You’d be hard pressed to call it forward looking in any way – the bulk of the music ploughed a furrow where classic 80s melodic rock was very much at the forefront of her semi-bluesy sound, and the video for its second single ‘Impusive’ seemed to want to set the feminist movement back by decades – but, as melodic rock long players go, it was enjoyable enough.
SWEATPANTS PARTY – Sweatpants Party
A new band for 2022, the terribly named Sweatpants Party marks a long overdue return for the almost legendary Kevin Aper. Marketed as sounding “just like The Apers”, fans are automatically given a heads up as to what they can expect, and indeed, the new band’s core sound recycles many elements of Kevin’s past works brilliantly. Although working from a solid pop punk stock, there’s a little more to the Sweatpants, though, since this musical vehicle – teaming Kev with members of Jagger Holly and Stockkampf – takes in bubblegum punk and a little power pop along the way. The focus is on unashamed pop punk and trashy lyrics, of course, and that’s enough to win over The Apers’ entire fan base in a heartbeat.
Watch the new video from The Venemous Pinks
In the summer of 2022, following a string of singles and EPs, US punks The Venemous Pinks finally released their full length debut. The ten cuts on ‘Vita Mors’ captured a really punchy style that took the no-nonsense guts of the much missed Soviettes and blended it with a more contemporary sound. Loaded with riffs, its twenty seven minutes left no room for filler.
Watch the new video from Davey Lane’s band, The Pictures
At the end of September ’22, Davey Lane’s band The Pictures made a long overdue return. The release of the ‘I Can’t Hold Back’ single marked the end of a fifteen year silence for the band, but in many ways, the track played as if it’d been a mere heartbeat since their previous release.
EDWARD O’CONNELL – Feel Some Love
Edward O’Connell’s third album ‘Feel Some Love’ comes eight years after the excellent ‘Vanishing Act’, but for fans, no matter how much time has passed, it’s the kind of record that’ll hit the spot pretty much instantly. Within a few seconds of the opening track ‘Golden Light’ emerging from the speakers, it almost feels as if O’Connell has never been away. That number’s heavy use of chiming guitars, leading a melody that occasionally sounds as if it could slip into an old Tom Petty tune at the drop of a hat, is typical of the singer-songwriter in that has a sort of timeless quality, especially in the way he’s able to apply a rootsy and friendly vocal to a very bright guitar sound. Some understated harmonies, a hard struck piano, a swirling organ and a Jim Keltner-esque drum part are all on hand to layer a great tune, but everything escalates via a lead guitar break that tips the hat to Roger McGuinn styled melodies. As the final notes fade, there’s a feeling that – at just two minutes and forty two seconds into this album – you’re in more than safe hands.