Another week and, like a truck with failed brakes, rock keeps on rolling. We've got all sorts of exciting new music for you to enjoy over the next seven days, but it would be remiss of us to go any further without mentioning last week's competition, so we won't.
Congratulations to Florence Black, whose Can You Feel It (not a Jackson 5 cover) waltzed away with the top prize, while Buckcherry's Hellhound and Lee Aaron's C'mon filled out the podium. Can it really be 38 years since Aaron stole our hearts at the Reading Festival? Yes, it can.
So well done to them all. And here, before we start anew, is the prize-winning Florence Black video once more (disclaimer: there is no prize).
Fozzy - Sane
Looking and sounding deliciously insane in this great big chunkasaurus of a single, Chris Jericho channels every ounce of his rocking and wrestling superpowers, flanked by four powerhouse bandmates. “As the world is slowly getting better, Fozzy is here to vaccinate you with a proverbial phonograph needle and make you wanna rock again,” Jericho says. We wouldn’t dare argue with him. (Health N’ Safety Editor: it might look badass when Fozzy do it, but for the love of god don't throw your guitar off a rollercoaster).
Rich Ragany And The Digressions - Heartbreakers Don’t Try
The former Role Models frontman returns with a new band, the Digressions, and a buoyant Petty-meets-Costello cocktail of toe-tapping keys, bittersweet undertones and wide-eyed harmonies. Lyrically it’s inspired by “the fight you can have with depression…” Ragany explains, “and that great feeling of just standing up and taking on the day, week or challenge. Just taking that cloud and giving it stiff little fingers and going out and gettin' some joy!”
Witch Fever - Reincarnation
The raw, breathless energy of early Nirvana gets coated in doom cobwebs (think Candlemass, early Black Sabbath etc) on the Manchester quartet’s standout new single. Billed as “an anthem of post-breakup independence, set to Sabbath-esque graveyard noise, alongside a seductive video that explores womxn’s desires and fetishes”, it’s a compelling mixture of classic heaviness, outre tastes and punk-sharpened edges.
Yngwie Malmsteen - Relentless Fury
For a track called ‘Relentless Fury’, from a man for whom shredding isn’t so much a style choice as a religious calling, this first taste of Yngwie’s new album starts out remarkably deliberate and groovy. Kinda Whitesnake-y, even. Then about half-way through there’s a solo and all the neoclassical speed freakery he’s revered for comes spilling out. Exactly what you want from a bloke who spends his days plotting world domination and driving Ferraris around Miami.
The Daybreakers - I Hate Rock'n'Roll ft. Alice Milburn
Vocally, Daybreakers singer/guitarist Aidan Connell is a dead-ringer for All Them Witches man Parks. And that’s no bad thing, in our eyes, much like the louche, freaknik blues rock sensibilities that run through bands – coming together here in a boot-stomping, head-shaking dose of rock’n’roll (despite what the title may tell you). Tasty stuff.
NWOCR - Tokyo
In anticipation of the forthcoming New Wave Of Classic Rock Volume One (on sale July 23) Massive Wagons teamed up with a bunch of names, from that compilation, for a hearty singalong through Wagons’ featured track. Filling your screen with faces from band after band, all of them singing their hearts out like it’s Live Aid or Red Rocks or Wembley (or, like, any enormous gig) it’s a feelgood reflection of the community spirit at the heart of grassroots rock’n’roll, among fans and musicians alike.
Crashing Wayward - Disco Kills
With a great big dirty blues riff doing much of the heavy lifting, the new single from Les Vegas rockers Crashing Wayward Disco Kills is "a modern-day Marie Antoinette 'Let them eat cake' story that takes on a duel meaning open for interpretation," says frontman Peter Summit. To be honest, we haven't yet interpreted it ourselves, but we are impressed by the sonics, for Disco Kills has something of the Stone Temple Pilots about it, combining thump and melody to maximum effect.
Bros - Never Gonna Stop
As The Sheepdogs release a new EP, we're delighted to bring news that Bros (not, not that one), the band formed of Sheepdog brothers Ewan and Shamus, are about to release a second full-length collection. Leading the way is single Never Gonna Stop, which matches the duo's ultra-smooth sound with funky horns and a chorus that leaks sun-dappled melody all over the floor. It's like Hall And Oates, but with added 1976 Cadillac Eldorado. Glorious stuff.
