SIX DEGREES OF KISS: CRASS

Fistful of Dave I accept your challenge and will connect CRASS to KISS in six steps or less.

Crass were a politically active DIY peace-loving feminist environmentalist anarchist punk band. How on earth can I connect them to KISS in six steps or less? Like this:

1. Crass was a tough nut to crack! They didn't use producers or outside songwriters and they didn't do covers, but luckily for me NYC "antifolk" artist Jeffrey Lewis released an album in 2007 entitled 12 Crass Songs on which he covered, uh...yeah, duh: twelve Crass songs.

2. In 2005 Jeffrey Lewis recorded an album with his brother Jack entitled City and Eastern Songs which was produced by Kramer, full name Mark Kramer, founder of Shimmy Disc Records (he released the first Gwar album, Hell-O, along with albums by Daniel Johnston, Ween, and others). 

3. In addition to running Shimmy Disc and producing other artists Kramer was a founding member of underground indie psych band Bongwater.

4. Another founding member of Bongwater was actress and performance artist Ann Magnuson. She was in Desperately Seeking Susan.

5. The 1990 album Third Eye by California punks turned rockers Redd Kross featured a song called "Annie's Gone" which was written about Ann Magnuson and Ann Magnuson appeared in the video for the song.

6. Redd Kross opened their 1984 album (or is it an EP?) Teen Babes From Monsanto with a raucous cover of the song "Deuce" which originally appeared on the self-titled 1974 debut album by a band called KISS.

And there you have it.

Top 10 KISS Guitar Solos - Ep146

While Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons are the 2 constant mainstays in KISS, the lead guitar position has faced the most changes of their 40 year history.

This week Aaron and Chris dissect and spin their Top 10 favorite KISS guitar solos. Aaron takes the Ace Frehley route for his list and Chris pulls his 10 favorite from the combined tenure of Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John, Bruce Kulick, and Tommy Thayer. There's some very interesting and unexpected picks. Let us know what YOUR top 10 KISS guitar solos are by commenting below or on the facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/decibelgeek).

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SIX DEGREES OF KISS: CROWDED HOUSE

Matthew Joseph I accept your challenge and will connect Crowded House to KISS in six steps or less.

Crowded House are a wonderful Australian band fronted by a brilliant Kiwi songwriter named Neil Finn. How am I going to connect them to KISS in six steps or less? Like this:

1. "Locked Out" by Crowded House is on the Reality Bites soundtrack alongside a song called "Going Going Gone" by Seattle power poppers The Posies.

2. The Posies' 1993 album Frosting on the Beater was produced by Don Fleming.

3. Don Fleming was a member of indie rock supergroup Dim Stars with punk rock pioneer Richard Hell.

4. The drummer in Richard Hell's seminal punk rock band the Voidoids was a guy named Marc Bell (far left).

5. Marc Bell had previously been a member of early seventies NYC heavy rock band Dust with Richie Wise (so there's one link) and he would eventually replace late drummer Tommy Ramone and become Marky Ramone in the Ramones.

6. KISS recorded a version of the Ramones song "Do You Remember Rock n' Roll Radio" for the 2003 tribute album We're a Happy Family.

And there you have it.

Thundermother is Anything But a Rock 'n' Roll Disaster

        
                          Photo Gallery of Thundermother at Sweden Rock Festival 2014

 Rock 'n' Roll Disaster, the debut release from Sweden's Thundermother is anything but a disaster!  You may not be familiar with this band, and neither was I until one day I was watching a 

Filippa Nassil-photo by The Meister

concert recording of another awesome Swedish band, Sister Sin that they had posted on their Facebook page.  The next band on stage at the event was Thundermother.  With AC/DC comparisons abound they were captivating, exuding a stage presence and energy that drew me in right away with their original compositions.  I eagerly awaited the release of their debut album that my internet scouring had informed me was in the works and

Giorgia Carteri-by Meister

was stoked when their name appeared among the 80 plus groups that would be performing at 2014's Sweden Rock Festival.  Excellent, I would get to witness the actual live act as I voyage from Toronto, Canada to Solvesborg, Sweden for my second year of the festival event.  The ladies were absolutely incredible on stage that day fueled by periodic shots of "Fireball" and I was forced to skip another act that I been waiting to see since 1990 as I couldn't pull myself away from Thundermother! Day #3 at Sweden Rock 2014.  I had planned

Clare Cunningham-Meister

 to purchase the CD and also a t-shirt at the festival, but somehow failed to complete this mission.  I've now acquired the CD, but the t-shirt I have yet to secure.  The band consists of a quintet of ladies, guitarists Filippa Nassil and Giorgia Carteri being the original founders and after a long search involving several players are now joined by Tilda Stenqvist on drums, Linda Strom on bass and Irishwoman Clare Cunningham commanding the vocal position.  Their particular flavor of rock 'n' roll could probably best be described as what things might sound like if Australia's AC/DC underwent a sex change operation with a little Sex Pistols attitude thrown in for good measure.

Thundermother performing at Sweden Rock Festival on Friday June 6, 2014-photo by The Meister

Rock 'n' Roll Disaster album cover

The album opens up, as did the Sweden Rock show, with "Man With Blues", the longest running song contained on Rock 'n' Roll Disaster.  "Deranged" follows and both these first two tracks are solid straight forward hard rock songs featuring plenty of classic riffage.  From there things really ramp up with "The Dangerous Kind", a track that I was familiar with through my you-tube adventures prior to heading over to Sweden and likewise with the next in line title track.  The three punch to the gut combo of the best songs on Rock 'n' Roll Disaster come now in succession with the well named "Thunderous", the way too short "Please Me" and the lead single from the album "Shoot to Kill".  "One For the Road" could be my least favorite and while "Cheers" may be rather campy, it's insanely catching and comes off really well in a live setting with, of course, a guest appearance from the "Fireball".  "Saturday" closes the album on a high note with another fast paced in your face rocker.

The ladies haven't re-invented the wheel here, but the album is filled with good solid hard rock songs all possessing a heavy helping of cohones.  Check out what I mean through the official video for "Shoot to Kill" below.

Cheers,
The Meister

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SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL PHOTOS BY: The MEISTER 2014

SIX DEGREES OF KISS: D-A-D

Matt Ashcraft I accept your challenge and will connect D*A*D to KISS in six steps or less.

D-A-D (which is an acronym for the band's original name: Disneyland After Dark) are a very cool Danish hard rock band. They have been quite successful in their homeland but are minimally known in the US even though they did have a brush with fame in the early nineties when MTV gave their videos for "Sleeping My Day Away" and "Girl Nation" a few spins. 

If you haven't figured it out by now there are usually a variety of routes I could take to connect these various artists to KISS but I have been trying to pick some of the more entertaining and/or enlightening ways to get where I need to go, and I've tried not to repeat links. So let's see where D-A-D might take us.

Luckily for me D-A-D's second album Draws a Circle contains a cover version of America's annoying number one hit from 1972 "A Horse With No Name."

So yeah, I could be done right here because Russ Ballard wrote a bunch of songs for America, including the band's big eighties hit "You Can Do Magic," but I've already used Russ Ballard as a link so that's no fun.

A little research and I discover that America's 1984 album Perspective includes a song called "Special Girl" which was written by Canadian singer-songwriter Eddie Schwarz. I know the song and I know that the same song also appeared on Meat Loaf's 1986 album Blind Before I Stop.

Again I could be done right here if I use the Meat Loaf connection since I know that brothers Bob and Bruce Kulick were both members of the Neverland Express, Meat Loaf's touring band after his Bat Out of Hell success. 

But let's see where else this Eddie Schwarz link can take us because I happen to know that Eddie Schwarz wrote the song "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" which was a big hit for Pat Benatar in 1980.

Pat Benatar came up in the very first installment of Six Degrees of KISS (ABBA) because I used her to connect Mike Chapman to Holly Knight since the pair co-wrote "Love Is a Battlefield." But let's see where else this Pat Benatar connection might lead.

Hmm, she did a John Cougar song, she did a Sweet song, she did a Kate Bush song. "We Belong" was written by Lowen and Navarro. Dave Navarro is Dan Navarro's cousin.

Wait a minute, I know that Pat's first album In the Heat of the Night includes her version of the song "Rated X" which originally appeared on Nick Gilder's killer 1977 solo debut You Know Who You Are. I know that Nick Gilder links back to Holly Knight since Gilder and Knight co-wrote the song "The Warrior" which was a top ten hit for Patty Smyth and Scandal in 1984, but I also know that Nick Gilder can be used as a link to Bryan Adams since I know that Bryan Adams replaced Nick Gilder as the singer in the Canadian seventies glam rock band Sweeney Todd.

So as you can see there are several routes I could have taken using America as the first link to D-A-D and going from there but I think this is the most fun and circuitous route:

1. D-A-D to America via "A Horse With No Name."

2. America to Eddie Schwarz via "Special Girl."

3. Eddie Schwarz to Pat Benatar via "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."

4. Pat Benatar to Nick Gilder via "Rated X."

5. Nick Gilder to Bryan Adams via Sweeney Todd.

6. Bryan Adams to KISS via "Rock and Roll Hell" and "War Machine," two songs he co-wrote with Jim Vallance and Gene Simmons for the 1982 KISS album Creatures of the Night.

And there you have it.

SIX DEGREES OF KISS: SHEENA EASTON

Jimmy Clifford I accept your challenge and will connect Sheena Easton to KISS in six steps or less.

Sheena Easton is a Scottish pop singer who helped tens of women get physically fit in the eighties with her 30 Minute Workout and 7 Minute Stomach.

I think her 1983 single "Telefone" is awesome.

But how will I connect a Scottish pop singer to KISS in six steps or less? Like this:

1. Sheena Easton's 1982 album Madness, Money & Music included a song called "Wind Beneath My Wings."

2. "Wind Beneath My Wings" became a number one hit for Bette Midler when she recorded it for the Beaches soundtrack in 1988.

3. Bette Midler's 1980 album The Rose (the soundtrack to the film) includes a song called "Camellia" which was written by Stephen Hunter.

4. Stephen Hunter played guitar in Mitch Ryder's post-Detroit Wheels band which was simply called Detroit.

5. Detroit's one and only album from 1971 was produced by Bob Ezrin.

6. Bob Ezrin produced the albums Destroyer, Music From "The Elder" and Revenge by KISS.

And there you have it.

SIX DEGREES OF KISS: JETHRO TULL

Chris Leatherman I accept your challenge and will connect Jethro Tull to KISS in six steps or less.

Jethro Tull were a British progressive rock band whose album Crest of a Knave infamously beat out Metallica's ...And Justice For All to win the 1987 Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Performance. They are responsible for one of the worst songs ever, "Bungle In The Jungle," but the band's 1972 album Thick as a Brick, which is just one long song, is actually pretty good. I for one am especially fond of their 1978 album Heavy Horses. 

So how am I going to connect these illustrious Grammy winners to KISS in six steps or less? Like this:

1. Jethro Tull's original bass player was a dude named Glenn Cornick. Just look at the dirty hippy!

2. After leaving Jethro Tull Glenn Cornick formed a band called Paris with guitar player Bob Welch, who had left Fleetwood Mac only to be replaced by Lindsey Buckingham.

3. After two albums Paris broke up and Bob Welch embarked on a successful solo career, including scoring a top twenty hit with "Sentimental Lady" in 1977. On his eponymous 1981 album Bob Welch covered the song "Bend Me, Shape Me" which had been a top ten hit in US for The American Breed in 1967 and in the UK for Amen Corner in 1968.

4. "Bend Me, Shape Me" was also recorded by the awesome UK glam rock band Hello for a 1975 single.

5. Hello had a top ten hit in the UK that same year (1975) with a song called "New York Groove."

Just for shits and giggles here are a couple of my favorite Hello songs:

6. "New York Groove" reached number 13 on the US charts when it was released by Ace Frehley of KISS on his solo album in 1978.

And there you have it.

Judas Priest Returns to Redeem Souls...or Do They?

 Judas f***ing Priest!!   The British genre defining heavy metal band has been around in some form or another since before I was brought onto this earth!  From their humble beginnings in the early 70's the band has been recording and producing some of the music that helped develop and define

the heavy metal genre for over 40 years, truly "Metal Gods".  Recent years have seen the speculations that these Godfathers of heavy metal were nearing the end of their tenure and hanging up the guitars.  Things like half of the axe slinging duo of the signature Priest sound, founding member K.K. Downing announcing his departure from the group.  Followed by a huge world tour entitled Epitaph showcasing a set list that included something from every album (aside from the Tim "Ripper" Owens fronted issues) including "Never Satisfied" from Rocka Rolla an album that has largely been dismissed by the band and ignored in concert since 1976!  You can't always believe what you hear, how many bands have had farewell tours now and are back on the road the very next year?  The current Judas Priest roster sees vocals handled by Rob Halford, bass by Ian Hill, the drumming skills of Scott Travis and Richie Faulkner joining Glen Tipton in the axe-slinging duo.  My anticipation for the new album was high to say the least, heightened once I heard the single "Redeemer of Souls" which became available prior to the album's release. 

The cover for the newest album, Redeemer of Souls, the seventeenth and first since 2008's Nostradamus is an amazing piece of artwork.  The album cover is an area that seems to be lacking in today's marketplace, but was once an integral piece of the puzzle in times of my youth.  Perhaps the lack is due to the rise of digital and single only purchases.

When I cued it up and the lead track, "Dragonaut" starts off with its grinding riff I was right along with it!  Halford's voice seems to have, understandably, mellowed with age and there's a decided lack of the telltale high notes and signature wailing, but he still sounds great!  That aside, "Dragonaut" embodies what makes a truly great Priest song harkening back to the Screaming for Vengeance days (my first Priest album).  My first reaction was total love for this long awaited (let's face it Nostradamus was abysmal and Angel of Retribution had it's weak spots) Priest album.  The title track, "Redeemer of Souls", keeps the momentum going until the screams of Halford return with "Halls of Valhalla" clocking in at just over six minutes for the longest of the assemblage.  The slower sludgy pace of "Sword of Damocles" features a catchy chorus and only mildly gives the neck a rest from the headbanging before the best track of the album, "March of the Damned".  This song has everything I want and expect from Priest and is my favorite on the release.  From there it's the assault of "Down in Flames" taking us to "Hell & Back", featuring a slower ballad beginning with another catchy chorus.  "Hell & Back" is track #7, just over halfway through the 13 song collection and it's after this that I begin to lose faith in the record.  Even at that, the first seven are pure classic Judas Priest style heavy metal and worth the price of admission twice over.  While there's nothing bad about the remaining compositions I, personally and maybe I'm
crazy, just find that after awhile everything here starts to sound the same.  All three of "Cold Blooded", "Metalizer" and "Crossfire" just seem to blend into the background and don't stand out to me at all, but I tried specifically listening to those tracks separately on different days, just them without the rest and they're quite good in themselves. "Secrets of the Dead" however is another completely different story and could have easily been omitted.  By the time "Battle Cry" hit the speakers my mind has wandered away and "The Beginning of the End", a full on ballad, is something that I can certainly do without.

I really want to absolutely love Redeemer of Souls, but can't fully bring myself to do it!  I'm close, maybe with more listens it'll grow on me.  Redeemer of Souls runs at just over 60 minutes (without five song bonus CD), but I feel if there had been two or three tracks dropped that it would play much better and keep my interest throughout the whole listen.  Overall there doesn't seem to be that "jump out and grab you", stand alone, "must hear" track that at least one of appears on every other Priest album.  They're all thunderous anthems here, but are very similar and I'm not sure
if that's a good thing or not.  I've listened fully through now seven times and Redeemer of Souls is definitely growing on me, it's miles above the last two issues, but still isn't the Priest of old.  On one hand I'm just happy to have the Priest at all considering three of these guys are over 60!  I'm a Priest fan and anyone who listens to metal has to acknowledge them as some of the founders of the genre whether you support their sound or not.  I'll be in the arena when the Redeemer of Souls Tour rolls into Casino Rama, the closest stop to Toronto about 1.5 hours away, and I look forward to "Living After Midnight" with one of my all time favorite bands no matter what material they choose to grace the list with.  Who can believe any farewell or we're not touring anymore statements these days, but you never know when that may just be the case, so get out and support these "Metal Gods" on tour!

Cheers,
The Meister

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