Back in 1978 Steve Perry sang about a wheel in the sky and, as such, it’s pretty much impossible to encounter this Swedish band’s choice of name without hearing his high tenor as part of the old internal jukebox. The band may or may not be aware of that… There are far more irritating earworms to be stuck with than early Journey hits, of course; even now, half of you will be humming that track to yourselves and potentially cuing up your copies of ‘Infinity’ for later listening. However, unexpectedly, this particular Wheel In The Sky are not an AOR band at all. Most of this release sounds as if it were recorded around the same time as Journey‘s aforementioned single, but that’s as far as any comparison goes. These guys are more your Steppenwolf and Blue Oyster Cult variety of retro and in principle, their desire to want to make you cut loose with their particular brand of throwbacks to rock’s yesteryear is a very admirable trait.
Tag Archives: retro
PEARL HANDLED REVOLVER – If The Devil Cast His Net
Chances are, you’ve previously read something about Pearl Handled Revolver that likens them to Tom Waits. If you have, just forget it. Their frontman Lee Vernon posses the vocal stylings of a few old souls, but comparisons to Waits are pretty much right out. There’s very little heroin and drink addled shouting in his delivery, nor is the music his voice fronts in any way obtuse enough to be derived from absolutely anything in the Tom Waits catalogue, especially post 1983. There are swathes of music on this – Pearl Handled Revolver’s third album – that culls huge influence from The Doors, explores the darkest corners of Love and even shows allegiance to the more contemporary sounds of Mark Lanegan, but those coming looking for a direct influence from Waits will be disappointed. Waits, too, being ever the contrarian, might even be put out that his name is being banded about in places, simply because an album includes work by a vocalist who has probably had a snifter of whiskey. In short, it’s typical lazy journalism to wheel out the Waits comparisons just because a vocalist has a darker sound in his delivery – and it’s usally almost exclusively the practice by hacks who’ve seemingly never heard a Tom Waits LP.
STRANGE MAJIK – Raised On Rock ‘n’ Roll
In an unexpected move on his 2015 release ‘Lights On’, Strange Majik – aka David Pattillo – cast aside the raw blues of his band The Dead Exs for a deep voyage into funk and soul textures. The results were the very definition of “mixed bag”; while the music was often great, the variety of vocalists – and, rather more specifically, the inclusion of rap elements – meant some tracks worked far better than others, and it didn’t always connect with his existing fans. Taking a musical sidestep on 2016’s ‘Raised On Rock ‘N’ Roll’, it seems Pattillo has taken a long hard look at his musical past and crafted a record from the best of his findings. In many ways, it is the missing link between The Dead Exs and the first Strange Majik project. The funky edge and some soul aspects from ‘Lights On’ are firmly present, but the rap is cast aside. The end results firmly grasp the Santana-ish and Funkadelic grooves from that LP, but fuse them with a little blues and rock along the way…and with Pattillo handling all vocal duties, everything sounds like the funked up cousin of The Dead Exs, with some hard grooves delivered by a crack selection of back-up musicians.
MY CRUEL GORO – Stuff EP
My Cruel Goro’s debut EP bought back memories of the 90s, recycling the most energetic parts of bands like Ash and S*M*A*S*H with a touch of the multi-national trio’s own charm and a genuine gusto. DIY blogs gave the release some very positive notices and there was a definite feeling the band would be back with new material pretty quickly. Just five months down the line, the band teased with a new track ‘Lost E’, which proved early fan enthusiasm was not misplaced and also suggested that the upcoming release would be better than their first.
TOM BAKER & THE SNAKES – 4 Stars EP
“Ah. What’s that, K-9? A huge sound coming from that far off nebula? Things might get rocky, so you’d better stay and guard the TARDIS.” It’s hard not to hear the name Tom Baker and not visualise a curly-haired, long-scarfed eccentric and his camp robot dog, isn’t it? Well, joking aside, here’s a different Tom Baker for you: a Boston native primed and ready to crack your skulls with a semi-raucous three guitar assault. To kick off 2016, Baker, sometime member of The Dirty Truckers, has teamed up with various other Boston alumni – fellow Trucker John Brookhouse (g/v); Gymnasium’s Charles Hansen (g), John Sheeran of Family Township (bass) and Watts’ tub thumper John Blout, all of whom are on hand to bring more than a touch of their own Stones obsessed style on three very sweaty and shamelessly retro numbers.