For garage rock fans, New Hampshire’s The Connection are a band that needs no introduction. For everybody else, here’s the skinny: they’re much loved by Little Steven Van Zandt and get regular play on his Underground Garage radio show and they count Andrew Loog Oldham among their many fans. That seal of approval should be enough for the curious to take a listen, but more than that, these are musicians with a pedigree. The hardest working gang in the state, The Connection features Brad Marino (also of the New Trocaderos), Geoff Palmer, Craig Sala and Kris “Fingers” Rodgers (all of whom have served time as members of the Kurt Baker Band and Wimpy and the Madallions). Their music is retro, but often much friendlier on the ear than so many garage rock outfits, since they’re often keen to mix in a hefty dose of power pop, and on ‘Labor of Love’ – their second full-length – they’ve got choruses and musical hooks aplenty…
Free Cyndi Lauper ‘Goonies’ cover by Steel Trees
Yorkshire stoner rockers Steel Trees have a free gift for you…and it’s a fuzzy belter!
They’ve recently recorded a cover of the Cyndi Lauper track ‘Goonies R Good Enough’ (featuring Charlie B of Nasty Little Lonely) and its available now for FREE DOWNLOAD in the box below.
PRAYING MANTIS – Legacy
Back in the early eighties when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was in force, there were various bands flying the flag for British rock music. While Iron Maiden and Saxon went on to achieve worldwide acclaim and and Metallica’s constant championing of Diamond Head meant that band’s place in the rock history books was assured, Praying Mantis – at least by direct comparison – have never really been given their full due. Their debut album, 1981’s ‘Time Tells No Lies’, is highly praised among rock fans who purchased it at the time of release and the subsequent albums showed founding members Tino and Chris Troy to be a pair whom liked a strong sense of melody within their metal. For a lot of people, however, Praying Mantis will often (if not always) be a band best associated with vocalists Paul Di’Anno and Bernie Shaw, both of whom served time fronting the band in two distinctly different eras. While Paul’s time with Iron Maiden is well documented, like most of his other works, his time with Mantis barely gets a look in. Shaw – later to become Uriah Heep’s longest serving frontman – was always more sympathetic to the Troy Brothers’ style; in fact, his work with Heep on ‘Wake The Sleeper’ and ‘Into The Wild’ isn’t always so removed from Praying Mantis in 2015.
RUM THIEF – Reach For The Weatherman EP
Although carrying a band name, much like Badly Drawn Boy, Rum Thief represents just one man. It’s the chosen moniker for singer-songwriter Jot Green, a Manchester-based multi-instrumentalist. He served as drummer in many local bands for over a decade, but eventually decided to strike out on his own. The first Rum Thief EP, ‘Clouded Mind’ attracted the attention of a few ears and Green set about forming a band for live shows. A couple of years on, the return of Rum Thief finds the performer sounding much more assured.
THE HOWLING VOID – Runa EP
The earlier releases by Texas-based The Howling Void explore an almost pure doom metal sound – all Sabbathy riffs played at funeral pace, only occasionally lightened by slow piano motifs. For doom fans, each presents interesting listening, but this fifth release ‘Runa’ is epic in almost every sense. The purer doom elements have been tempered by a greater inclusion of keyboard sounds, often lending things a more symphonic style. Yes, it is more symphonic, but nothing here would appeal to fans of those over-hyped, reasonably marketable indenti-kit symphonic metal bands who’ve spread across Europe like a plague. ‘Runa’ isn’t concerned with mixing metal with the embarrassingly twee while some woman wearing a leather corset wails incessantly; fear not – it’s just more a natural progression from previous recordings, blending the doom with a smattering of ambient black metal a la Wolves In The Throne Room. Those who want the huge and the doomy certainly won’t feel like the band has somehow sold out. This isn’t really a band, either, of course. It’s the work of just one man – the mysterious “R.” plays everything on recordings released under the Howling Void name (and he probably doesn’t wear a leather corset). The fact that a one man army could compose and perform a work as complete sounding as ‘Runa’ often does is truly astounding.