LIVE! | Firefest Festival Day 3

by Marcel Groeneveld
Staff Writer –

October 21, 2011 at Rock City in Nottingham, U.K.

Sunday and round three for the Firefest, rockers started out bright and early with Newman breaking ground. As Firefest veterans, they know how to get ready to rumble with their easy sing-along songs “Endless” and “Stay With Me.” Although the mix was not perfect, to say the least, it threw Newman off a little, which resulting in him sometimes singing out of key. The always very sympathetic singer brought good friend and guitarist Pete Fry of Farcry on stage to join in on the song “Over and Over Again,” a cool gesture that was well received by the audience.

There is always a first for everything, White Widdow was the first Australian band scheduled to play the Firefest festival. Last year’s self titled debut release White Widdow, which received raving reviews worldwide, opened a lot of doors for the band. But don’t expect AC/DC-ish kind of music from White Widow like most Australian acts. Singer Jules Millis is all over the stage and works the crowd very enthusiastically. In doing so, he almost slipped on stage but continued while Enzo Almanzi just smoked on guitar. The keyboards, played by Xavier Millis, were a little too much in the mix, but, overall, they left a good impression. They also played some songs from their just-released second effort, Serenade.

After seeing the young guys perform, it was time for Swedish veterans Alien to rock the house. With classic tracks, such as “Tears Don’t Put Out The Fire,” “Go Easy” and “Touch My Fire” coming at you, if you just closed your eyes, you could hear 1989 calling you. With eyes open, reality sinks in, seeing Jim Jidhed on stage singing, looking more like a dart-player than a rocker. But, man, that guy can still sing. Alien, with Tony Borg acing the guitar, played their No. 1 hit single (six weeks in Sweden, MG), the Bee Gees cover “Only One Woman,” and, once again, the “Rock City” went crazy while the Firefest Quire took this song threw the roof. Playing for the first time together with the original line-up after 18 years didn’t diminish the chemistry of the band; it is as if they never stopped playing together at all. Hopefully, they will continue on with this line-up in the future.

Overall, the high-quality standard of each band was matched evenly until Kane Roberts took the stage. Backing up Kane up was the band Talon. Again, it was another lifeless performance. Roberts, who wore sunglasses throughout the set, did not help him connect with the crowd. The set was mostly from of his Saints and Sinners album and included “Twister,” “Doesn’t Anybody Really Fall In Love” and “Sweet Little Sister.” The songs went OK, but during the Alice Cooper song “Freedom,” he looked insecure with the lyrics and often got lost vocally in the mix. He did not look comfortable on stage and stood, with his guitar strapped on, like a shield, and half of the time, didn’t use it. He should have done better. Highlights of his performance included the two girls coming on stage with school uniforms (but that is a total different website). Luckily, the guys from Talon came through and got the job done, especially Eric Ragno on keyboards and Kory Voxen on guitar.

The return of Mitch Malloy, who performed at the 2008 Firefest, was requested by festival fans. In ’08, Malloy was included in the Firefest DVD, which continues to be a highly sought after item. With his new live band; the amazing Alessandro Del Vecchio on keyboards and backing vocals, Mario Percudani on guitar, Anna Portalupi on bass and Alessandro Mori on drums, Mitch has an all-European backing band, which makes it easier to tour Europe. The Firefest also was an opportunity for Malloy to play some new songsoff his recent release II. “Falling To Pieces” and “I’m The One” were well received. Bbut, of course, the cranking of “Everything At All,” “Mission Of Love” and the beautiful “Our Love will Never Die” performed only by Malloy on guitar may have been yet another highlight of this year’s Firefest. Malloy and the Firefest crowd seemed to be made for each other because fans sang along to every song.

Canadian rockers Coney Hatch was somewhat of a surprise on the Firefest bill simply because they are not well known in Europe. They were well received by the older fans. The festival’s organizers were very excited to add them to the bill. Playing their first show in the U.K., the reformed original line-up of Carl Dixon on guitar, Andy Curran on bass, both sharing vocal duties, Steve Shelski on lead guitar and Dave “Thumper” Ketchum on drums played a long-overdue set that was taken from their three albums, Coney Hatch, Outa Hand and Friction. It now seems the band will continue, and there are rumor of a new recording, but only time will tell if the rumors come to fruition. Hatch was a welcome surprise.

Everybody knows about the story of Marcie Free. As Jeff Scott Soto is considered one of the voices of rock, there is no doubt that Free is the voice of AOR. Unruly Child was and still is a super group in that genre and is one of the many reasons to visit Firefest. The classic U.S. Band, featuring Bruce Gowdy on guitars, Guy Allison on keys, Larry Antonino on bass, Jay Schellen on drums and legendary vocalist Marcie Free, performed an ultra-rare show. It was their first gig since 1992, and it certainly was their first live performance outside of the U.S.

Opening with the strong “Show Me The Money” from the new album World Collides, the audience jumped on a full-frontal collision course as all the new songs of that release, such as “Very First Time,” have real potential to become classic songs. The band’s formula for success is to create melodic rock songs with powerful lead vocals, harmony vocals, bombastic drums, mean bass lines, big keyboards and razor-sharp guitar work. Other classics from the debut album Unruly Child were on the set list, including “On The Rise,” “Who Cries Now,” “You are My Everything,” “Rock Me Down Nasty” and a crowd favorite “Lay Down Your Arms.” Unfortunately, there was a slight technical mishap, and Antonino and Schellen took the spotlight, jamming, to fill in the silence on stage until the problem was solved. Free was in top shape, looked like a million bucks and rocked the planet. The only thing they needed was more rehearsal time together to get that live feeling again. Overall, it was a great show, with a great response and a lot of happy Firefest fans.

2011 Firefest Festival Day 3 Photo Gallery

Photos appear courtesy of RMD Entertainment

LIVE! | Firefest Festival Day 2

by Marcel Groeneveld
Staff Writer –

October 21, 2011 at Rock City in Nottingham, U.K.

Saturday, the early risers could catch Los Angeles Rockers Talon opening up the first full day Firefest. Talon is the brainchild of guitarist Kory Voxen (Voxen) and singer Shawn Pelata. Pelata was not able to do this show due to other commitments, so former Talon singer Michael O’Mara agreed to do the show to help out the band, alongside keyboard extraordinaire Eric Ragno. Unfortunately, it was obvious that the band isn’t used to playing a lot of live shows. Their performance was very static, although the songs weren’t bad. Highlights from their performance included Michael losing his microphone stand in the audience and joking around by saying, “This is probably going to be my last show with the band.” and Other highlights included their performance of older songs, “Mother Mary May I” and “Wrecking Ball,” which finally induced the crowd into motion, and then the party got started again.

Next up was the U.K.‘s own Vega. Talk about energetic; they put on a great show.Singer Nick Workman of Kick fame was everywhere on stage and wasa contrast to the others, with exception of the bass player. It was surprising that a lot of people knew the lyrics and sang along to the songs “Stay With Me” and title song “Kiss Of Life” from their debut album Kiss Of Life. The music featured very cool, strong, melodic songs. It was not surprising because the main songwriters and composers are brothers. Keyboardist James Martin and guitarist Tom Martinhave written songs for recent albums by House Of Lords, Ted Poley, Khymera, From The Inside, First Signal and Issa, AOR off of the top shelf. The band’s performance was very smooth, and the crowd definitely was pleased with the show.

A band worth going to Firefest and seeing has to be the amazing Silent Rage. The band features three band members; Mark Hawkins (guitar) , Jesse Damon (guitar) and (bass) E.J Curse, sharing vocal duties. There was no room for keyboards during this performance. All the classic songs were played, such as “Don’t Touch Me There,” “Rebel With A Cause,” “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” and “Rich Young And Pretty.” There are bands struggling out there to get one decent singer, and Silent Rage has three really amazing guys. They connected with the audience, even with the three handling vocals duties their performance wasn’t stiff and lifeless, they put on a perfect show. Most people agreed that Silent Rage was one of the best bands to see at Firefest this year.

The clownish Jeff Paris was a little insecure at first when he hit the stage. His perfromacne of songs, such as “Cryin,” “Lucky This Time” and “Mystery Girl” were impressive. His tribute to fallen heroes, Ronnie James Dio on “Rainbow in the Dark” and Jani Lane with “I Saw Red,” were truly emotional highlights. Paris stopped playing for a moment as he was overcome by emotions. Everyone felt goosebumps at that moment. The highlight was the ultimate party song, ‘Saturday Nite.” Tommy Denander and the guys from Heat backed up Paris and did an awesome job. Denander played again with great ease; how many songs does this guy know? Paris continued smiling two days later because of the reactions he received from fans and musicians alike, which were awesome.

To top that, you have to be a special act and, yes, W.E.T. (Work Of Art, Eclipse, and Talisman) certainly is just that. The voice of Jeff Scott Soto and his musical brothers in arms, Eric Martenson and Robert Sall, put on a memorable show as this was the first live performance for W.E.T.. A lot was expected from the band, and they delivered. They performed melodic rock anthems, such as, “Brothers in Arms,” “Invincible” and “ One Love,” among others. They also performed an acoustic tribute to more fallen heroes: Gotthard’s Steve Lee “ Need to Believe,” Phil Kennemore of Y&T “Forever,” Gary Moore with “Still got the Blues,” Jani Lane with “Heaven,” which produced a very loud audience response , and “Mysterious” for Talisman’s own Marcel Jacob. The always charismatic performer, Soto led the way and, again, brought tears to many rockers’ eyes with this tribute.

Another act that returned from last year was Strangeways, which performed the their entire Walk In The Fire album along with other songs from Native Sons that they didn’t play last year. The band featured Terry Brock, Ian Stewart and Jim Dummond, who are all very popular in the U.K. Although everything sounded great, they are not there to entertain like Soto does, but they have a solid base of melodic songs with a big Journey feel to them; They performed “Living in the Danger Zone,” “Where Do We Go From Here” and “Walk In The Fire,” which had a small slip-up.It was a treat for AOR lovers, even with the small mistake.

The grand finale of the first day was up to Steve Augeri and his backup band, Valentine, with a female background singer who was on stage. Of course, Augeri, having been a member of Journey, played a couple of songs from his era and some classic songs that were a guaranteed success with the Firefest crowd. He opened the show with the Tyketto song “Jamie.” There weren’t any more voice problems for Augeri as he rocked the house. Performing songs from his back catalogue from his band Tall Stories, “Stone In Love” was on the set list. However, most people know Augeri from the Journey’s 2001 release Arrival, on which he played “Higher Place,” “Anyway You Want It” and “We Will Meet Again.” To everyone’s surprise, Soto brought Augeri’s acoustic guitar out on stage for the song “Kiss Me Softly.” Augeri enjoyed himself so much that they played “Separate Ways” twice as the encore. It was a definite high for Augeri, and if not for the curfew, he would still be on stage.

2011 Firefest Festival Day 2 Photo Gallery

Photos appear courtesy of RMD Entertainment

Talon | III

by Mark Allen
Staff Writer –

Talon want to sink their claws into your cochlea with their crunchy, chock-full-o’-hooks brand of melodic hard rock and this latest album is probably good enough to satisfy the easy-to-please segment of the genre demographic. But fussier fans who foist the opinion that melodic hard rock should be something more than standard issue may find that the average-ness of most of the tracks means they cannot muster more than minimal interest.

Talon continue their pattern of revolving door vocalists; for this outing, Shawn Pelata (Line of Fire) manhandles the microphone and gives a marvelous performance that is all attitude in the lower register and consummate skill on the high notes. His vocal prowess is complemented by the angelic axe-work, the thickly layered guitars sporting a gleaming edge like a polished razor blade, never losing sight of the melody for even a microsecond. Showing that he is not estupido in the studio, producer Ty Sims (Bombay Black, Far Cry) is wise enough to emphasize this serious six-string sizzle. The powerful one-two punch of the guitars and vocals is almost enough to compensate for the album’s shortcomings. Almost.

Adding class and clout to the album is the guest appearance of the legendary Jeff Scott Soto on the song “Take You All the Way,” which is easily one of the standout tracks and sounds strikingly similar to other Soto-fronted projects such as Takara or Talisman. In other words, if you like slick melodic rock structured around a sharp hook, catchy chorus, and big backing vocals, then you may want to stuff a handful of Kleenex down the front of your pants to soak up any visible sign of your sonic satisfaction.

Unfortunately, not all of the songs are of this high quality level and far too often the album threatens to collapse under the weight of mediocrity overload, particularly in the chorus department. Within the parameters of the melodic rock genre, you live and die by the strength of your hooks, and while none of the hooks on this release are terrible, few of them rise above basic boilerplate level. This is hard rock tragedy, because the smoking guitars and powerful vocals of Pelata deserve better than to be hobbled by an over reliance on formula.

Thankfully, this detraction does not apply to all tracks; there are several excellent songs that any true-blooded melodic hard rock enthusiast should have in their collection. First among these would be “Did You Have To Say,” a mid-tempo tune that slides along on subdued guitars and subtle keyboards before building to a catchy, harmony-heaped chorus. Next up is “Everytime,” which cranks along with fiery guitar acrobatics accented by a pounding back beat and punchy chorus that again features the slick harmonies of which the band is so fond. Rounding out the top tier trilogy is “You Got What It Takes,” and this song has got what it takes to get your head banging and your foot tapping thanks to its badass riff and stop-start rhythm.

Talon remain a reliable but mostly unremarkable melodic hard rock band. If you enjoyed past Talon efforts, you’ll enjoy this one as well, but the lopsided filler-to-gem ratio that has plagued them in the past continues to plague them in the present. Even with great talent behind the microphone and guitars, the third time is definitely not the charm for Talon, but neither will you want to curse yourself for having picked it up.

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock

Band:
Shawn Pelata (lead and backing vocals)
Kory Voxen (rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar)
Jim Kee (lead guitar)
Phil Keller (bass guitar)
Eric Ragno (keyboards)
John Parker (drums)

Additional Musicians:
Erik Johnson (backing vocals)
Jeff Scott Soto (lead and backing vocals on “Take You All the Way”)

Track Listing
1. Crying to Me
2. The Last Time
3. Did You Have To Say
4. Everytime
5. Take You All the Way (featuring Jeff Scott Soto)
6. Maybe One Day
7. You Don’t Know Me At All
8. Walk Away
9. Brothers
10. When Will I
11. You Got What It Takes
12. Jane (Starship cover)

Webpage: www.reverbnation.com/talonofficial

Label: Escape Music

Hardrock Haven rating: 7/10

Outloud Outloud

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

One of the biggest surprises of the year is the new band collectively known as Outloud. Featuring virtuoso Bob Katsionis and drummer Mark Cross from Firewind, and the vocal prowess of Chandler Mogel (ex-Talon), Outloud is a shout out to the ‘80s. You’ll hear bits of Van Halen, TNT and Hurricane, especially with the overriding melodies and Mogel’s polished delivery, quite reminiscent of Kelly Hansen.

The fracas begins with “What I Need,” one of the fastest tracks on the release. The technical skills of the band are on full display, from the searing guitar solos to Cross’ manic drum fills and blasts. Mogel sings with melodic ferocity and some playfulness in sections, and it’s a full speed ahead burner.

Their first single/video is “We Run,” and if you haven’t watched it yet, do so. It’s probably the best song on the release, although, there are no weak tracks. “We Run” is a bass-heavy rocker, with Jason Mercury leading the charge on the opening verse. The chorus soars, and sort of reminds of you when Bon Jovi was a lot heavier and way hungrier. And less sober. Again, Mogel’s vocals will remind you of Kelly Hansen, and that’s a clear compliment, since Hansen’s pipes are nearly untouchable. Outloud clearly made the right choice by bringing Mogel into the mix.

The first slower song is “This Broken Heart,” and it is an acoustic composition at the start. You can think of it as a “power ballad,” and while it’s a love song, it’s not really sappy, probably because the musicianship is such high quality it can’t be cheesy. They’ll score a lot of points with the ladies on this one.

You’ll hear plenty of times when they nearly go into Progressive Metal land, like on “Breathing Fire.” It begins with a deft riff and galloping lead, with intricate drum rhythms, but then they sort of rein in the chaos and simplify things. Like “What I Need,” it’s one of the heavier songs on the self-titled debut.

“Lovesigh” is the other ballad, and it’s a step up from “Search for Truth.” You’ll get near Classical acoustic guitars and a haunting falsetto two-part harmony opening “oooh.” Mogel sings the lowest he has on the release during the verses, and his lower registry is just as powerful as his higher passages. It would be quite an experience to see them pull this off in an arena filled with 10,000 lighter-wielding fans.

In a curious move, the album ends with a song about themselves, “Out Loud.” “Frantic” doesn’t nearly define the track, but it’s a good start. This is probably where the Van Halen comparisons raise there head, as this is as breakneck as “Hot for Teacher,” but faster and heavier. Cross’ drumming is freakishly feverish throughout, as are the riffs and the notable wicked guitar solo, either from Katsionis or the other guitarist, Tony Kash. Or both.

Outloud owns the ability to sound familiar without sounding like any other band in the genre. It is ‘80s Hard Rock, but it is uber-polished thanks to the production of Katsionis and mixing of the damn near legendary Tommy Hansen. There is simply nothing to complain about, from the vocals, to the production, to the musicianship, to the songwriting. Everything clicks. Plus, on the CD cover it says “We’ll rock you to Hell and back again!” Now, you won’t up in Hades just by listening to Outloud—you’ll have to do a little more than that—but it’s still a damn cool Metal sentiment.

Label: Frontiers Records

Track listing:
1. What I Need
2. We Run
3. Tonight
4. Search For Truth
5. This Broken Heart
6. Breathing Fire
7. Wild Life
8. Broken Sleep
9. Out In The Night
10. Lovesigh
11. Out Loud

HRH Rating: 8.7/10

Dakota Rock Fest 2009 Live!

July 24 & 25, 2009 W.H. Lyon Fairgorunds, Sioux Falls, SD.

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Friday’s Lineup
4:00 pm JUKEBOX ZEROES
5:00 pm GOODBYE THRILL
6:00 pm TALON
7:00 pm ESCAPE
8:00 pm FAR CRY
9:00 pm DRAW THE LINE
10:00 pm HEAD EAST
11:15 pm APRIL WINE

Saturday’s Lineup
10:00 am PAISTY JENNY
11:00 am APPETITE FOR DECEPTION
12:00 pm ESCAPE
1:00 pm TANGO DOWN
2:00 pm ENUFF Z’ NUFF
3:05 pm BOMBAY BLACK
4:10 pm L.A. GUNS
5:25 pm DRAW THE LINE
6:30 pm FIREHOUSE
7:45 pm DOKKEN
9:00 pm SKID ROW
10:15 pm BRET MICHAELS

The second annual Dakota Rock Fest—aka Eastern South Dakota’s Biggest Rock Formation—stepped up its draw this year by bringing one of the hottest musicians/TV stars on the planet to Sioux Falls, S.D. Bret Michaels closed the festival on Saturday night, and his star power brought tens of thousands of spectators—those who love him for his numerous hits as Poison’s frontman, and then, those who want to do more than love him for his cable TV smash hit “Rock of Love.”

Like last year, Dakota Rock Fest 2009 featured area acts (Jukebox Zeroes and Nebraska’s Paisty Jenny), new Hard Rock bands carrying on in the tradition of Poison, Motley Crue, Ratt, etc. (like Tango Down, Bombay Black, Far Cry) and then multi-platinum ‘80s giants like Dokken, Firehouse, Skid Row, and Bret Michaels.

The promoters also signed on tribute bands for Aerosmith, Journey, and Guns and Roses. By far, the GNR tribute band Appetite for Deception lived up to their namesake, with the other two struggling to mirror their heroes.

Dakota Rock Fest went even farther back than the ‘80s, closing out Friday night with Head East and April Wine. It was obvious that Saturday’s/Bret Michaels’ crowd was a bit more spritely than those who stayed to see April Wine on Friday.

The organizers (Leisinger Entertainment) welcome feedback and actually listen to their customers, so this year’s VIP access was even better than last year. For $150, it’s all you can drink and eat, while having access to mingle with the bands in the VIP area. It’s by far one of the better priced festivals in the nation.

For some reason, the bands that truly seemed hungry and happy to be playing this year were the lesser-knowns, like Far Cry, who blew the crowd away with their songwriting, musicianship and live energy. Tango Down did the same, offering up a mix of Firehouse and Ratt-like compositions that pulled the crowd in even if they didn’t know the songs. As always, Bombay Black owned the masses with their blend of infectious, snarky, heavy and fun Hard Rock.  Paisty Jenny one-upped them all, bringing on three gorgeous bikini-clad women (see pictures below) to dance around and wake up the crowd as they sang “Jack/Coke a little bit of Bud Light!” on the track “Take It Like a Shot,” while their somber “Better Man” showed another facet to this talented foursome.  

Unfortunately, maybe because of a tech glitch at the start of their set, the band who seemed the most uninterested was Dokken. They opened with “Breaking the Chains,” and lead singer Don Dokken stopped the set and said, “Trust me, this song sounds a lot better when you can hear the guitar.” While he tried to slough it off, professionals have short fuses, and by the time the guitar was back in the mix, Dokken was forced to nix a song or two from their set. After that, Dokken seemed comfortable singing an entire octave below the original melody line on some of the songs, making them sound droning. Without Jeff Pilson in the band to match the harmonies and backing vocals the great Dokken hits mesmerized with, and with Don himself comfortable sleepwalking through the harder vocals spots, Dokken as a band struggled mightily, and the crowd echoed the lack of energy accordingly.

The biggest surprise was L.A. Guns, who now have Jizzy Pearl on lead vocals. Just thinking about it, Pearl makes sense. Forget his hired-gun status in Ratt; Pearl sang the best drinking song of all time, “Black Out in the Red Room” with his band Love/Hate, and he’s the perfect mix of sleaze, grit and melody to replace Phil Lewis. They played a new original song, and it may have been the highlight of the set, although “Ballad of Jane,” “Sex Action,” “Show No Mercy,” etc. were all highlights. Traci Guns is a talent, and with Pearl able to once again record new music, look out for the newly invigorated L.A. Guns.

Bands like Skid Row and Firehouse are incapable of playing a bad live set, no matter the circumstances, and the crowd ate up their stage time. Enuff Z’Nuff, while excessively talented and armed with some of the most melodic Hard Rock you’ll ever hear, followed the combustible Bombay Black, so their set lacked a bit of energy in comparison.

By Saturday eve, the crowd seemingly doubled in size from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., and a large number of those attendees were female. If you needed proof that Michaels’ name alone can fill up a festival, well, should have been there. Regardless of how you feel about Michaels, he is a performer first and foremost. He mixed his set with hits from his new solo album and of course the Poison mainstays. He always lays it out for the crowd, he’s a consummate showman, and his set capped off Dakota Rock Fest to perfection.

Dakota Rock Fest 2009 Photo Gallery

Photos by John Kindred/Derric Miller.

Dakota Rock Fest 2009 Video Gallery

(Congratulations to Leisinger Entertainment for another successful Dakota Rock Fest and thanks for bringing quality Hard Rock outdoor entertainment to Sioux Falls.)