Long before Matt Cahill became vocalist/guitarist with Evoletah, he was a member of Aussie rock band The Violets. The Violets received critical acclaim in Australia, but like so many other bands from the southern hemisphere, they didn’t really achieve any commercial success overseas. They were always a band Matt looked upon favourably, but the more the years passed and the more Evoletah covered new musical ground – since 2012, they’ve evolved from being an alternative rock band, into an almost proggy affair, taking in elements of pop, jazz and electronica along the way – the more it seemed as if The Violets would be forever associated with the past.
Tag Archives: rock
JEFF SCOTT SOTO – Complicated
Over thirty years after his breakthrough with Yngwie Malmsteen, Jeff Scott Soto released one of the greatest albums of his career. At the point where most veteran vocalists could be accused of going through the motions, 2020’s ‘Wide Awake In My Dreamland’ was a rich, melodic treat; the kind of album that reminded audiences why they still loved AOR and melodic rock – despite many of the scene’s releases being so workmanlike. It also provided solid evidence that Soto still was still in possession of a fantastic set of vocal pipes. The global pandemic meant the album couldn’t be toured in the usual way, but Jeff filled the time with a surprise release, ‘The Duets Collection, Vol. 1’ a few months later, delighting the fans and cementing his place as one of AOR’s most beloved talents.
JATK – Shut Up And Be The Light
Since the release of their 2019 EP, JATK – a band featuring Matt Jatkola and a revolving cast of friends – has slowly built a solid online following. A series of digital singles released throughout the lockdowns of 2020 and ’21 showcased some great and fuzzy, retro rock music, but also seemed unafraid to throw a few pop influences into the mix. This showed a band who were keen to avoid easy labelling; a band starting out on an adventurous path, and a band who had the potential to deliver a rich and varied full length release somewhere down the track. Simply put, JATK quickly marked themselves out as a very cool collective.
GENTLEMEN ROGUES – Francy / I’ve Got A Match
As a particularly troubled 2020 began to draw to a close, US retro rockers Gentlemen Rogues released ‘Do The Resurrection!’, a brilliant single that blended various 90s rock influences with a few Thin Lizzy-esque guitar parts, creating an almost timeless number that was massive on both riffs and hooks. Having reeled in various listeners, its flip side was arguably even better. By mixing elements of Lemonheads, Superdrag and My Bloody Valentine tracks, ‘Bloody Rudderless In Ursa Major’ raised the bar in terms of how to construct a brilliant and inventive medley. It was definitely the kind of release that left listeners wanting more…but the band appeared to go into hiding, and 2021 came and went without even a whisper from the Rogues’ camp.
RONNIE ROMERO – Raised On Radio
Ronnie Romero is one of those vocalists who never seems to stop working. Between the beginning of 2016 and the end of 2021, he released three albums with his own prog metal band Lords of Black, two as frontman with power metal collaborative The Ferrymen (featuring the multi-talented Magnus Karlsson), an album apiece with Sunstorm and Vandenberg, embarked on major tours with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow and even guested with Michael Schenker.