A Palace of Rock update

Busy times, I´m doing a gig with my AOR cover band Blue Cow Kent on friday here in my hometown of Orebro, Sweden. It´s going to be a blast!
We´re gonna play songs with Bad English, Loverboy, FM, Journey, Richard Marx, Talisman, Giant, Gary Moore, Heart, Rick Springfield, Pat Benatar, Kenny Loggins, Van Halen.

And right now, the most anticipated release of 2012 must be the new album from my childhood favorite band KISS! Can´t wait.
Read more about the upcoming album in the latest issue of Classic Rock Magazine.

Expect new interviews with Allele and Cervello real soon on melodic.net, I´m working on them right now.
I´m also working on reviews of Cervello-Cervello, Man Overboard-Man Overboard, Librah-Inside the black balloon, Man made machine-Become, Grand Luxe-Time measured in bitter chapters, Necrodeath-Idiosyncracy

My favorite songs at the moment are:
Halloween Alaska-Dance by accident (New single off their new album All the night the calls came in, it sounds like Toy Matinee meets The Police)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QZUgZpcNWg
Destine-Stay (New single off the upcoming album from the Dutch pop punksters)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWXlSebdnzM&ob=av2e
Midnight Hour-Modern love (Catchy The Killers-like song, Free download at
www.midnighthourmusic.com
Sister Sin-Rock and roll (New single of a Motorhead cover)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRCOPD4W2W4
Hinder - The fights about to begin (New song off the NFL Soundtrack)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSKDPysf9lU

James Durbin - Stand up

Is this modern rock or what? James Durbin´s new album is produced by Howard Benson and will be released in November.

Final Thought - This party

Hold your horses what a great song. Thanks for the tip Mag! Taken from the upcoming debut album "What we need", out on Nov 8th.

Exit State - Check out the crazy

Track from the new album "Black veins", out on Oct 3rd.

Chthonic - Takao

Metal from Taiwan, awesome! Track from their new album "Takasago army"

Lights Resolve - Happens every day

Lights Resolve - Happens Every Day from Lights Resolve on Vimeo.

From their upcoming album "Feel youre different", out on Oct 25th

Rock and roll heroes - Greg Giuffria

Greg Giuffria is one of my all time favorite keyboard players, he formed bands like Angel, Giuffria and House of Lords which unfortunately became his last musical creation.
But geez, what classic albums the man has been a part of with the first 3 Angel albums as well as the first Giuffria album that is a pomprock/AOR masterpiece plus the 2 House of Lords albums "Demons down" and the self titled debut.

Even though the band Giuffria only released 2 albums, they started working on a 3rd album that never was finished but the 6 completed songs from 1988 ended up on Giuffria singer David Glen Eisley´s "The lost tapes" from 2011. This is a truly underrated album and much better than the disappointing "Silk and steel" which was Giuffria´s last album.

3 good albums worth having in your Giuffria collection, House of Lords 2nd album Sahara (1990) plus the last two albums with Angel, "White hot" (1977) and "Sinful" (1979) that both showed a more pop-sound compared to the pomprock on the first ones.

The weakest album of them all from Mr.Giuffria, "Silk and steel" from 1986 didn´t make anyone happy that loved their debut I´m afraid.

A few years ago, it was announced that Giuffria would make a new solo album. Only time will tell if there will ever be such a thing. We can always live on hope.

Under the radar : CrashScene

CrashScene finds alt-rock, distinctive vocalist, Jacen Ekstrom, joining forces with former Neurosonic band mates, Troy Healy and Shane Smith, to take on stages and airwaves with songs that will leave listeners humming along, and wanting more. CrashScene is edgy, seductive, and impossible to get out of your head! With the final additions of Ean “E” Elliott (from “Pipedown”) and Kai Huppunen (from “Econoline Crush”, and Tommy Lee’s “Methods of Mayhem”), CrashScene is complete and ready to takeoff.

Their debut album will be released on March 13th, 2012. The first single "I fall apart" will be launched to radio in December. Check out the song "Suit for killing" at
http://crashscenemusic.com
www.reverbnation.com/crashscene

Polar For The Masses - Rust

Cool Swedish post rock!

Tobi - Brighten up my day

groovy song!

Under the radar : Camera Cant Lie

Camera Cant Lie signed to Atlantic Records in the spring of 2008 and spent that summer touring and writing for their debut album. In January 2009 they left the ice-cold-freezer-box they call home and headed to the warmth of Ron Aniello’s (Lifehouse, Guster)studio in Los Angeles.
The rock group from the Twin Cities shares love for more than their musical influences – which range from Third-Eye Blind to the Goo Goo Dolls.
The band is comprised of high school friends Eric Arjes (Vocals/Guitar), Kyle Lindsay (Bass).
Camera Cant Lie tracked almost twenty songs for this record, 11 tracks ended up on the debut album.
Tracks: 1.Call me crazy 2.Casualty 3.Dakota 4.Last dance 5.Losing you 6.Over and over 7.Shut up 8.Standing still 9.The one that got away 10.Whats on my mind 11.I´ll wait for you

Previous releases:
Love the noise (2007)
Camera Cant Lie EP (2007)
Days and days EP (2009)
Not everyone leaves EP (2010)

For fans of Augustana and This World Fair
www.facebook.com/cameracantlie

Rock and roll heroes - Yes

Another band of those prog rock giants are Yes, their early era plus the 1983 album "90125" are all classics. This band has gone through several line up´s but bassist Chris Squire has always been with the band from the beginning.

Yes hardly ever play any songs live from the underrated albums "Drama", "Union" and "Talk" but in my opinion, they are just as good as the classic albums. These are what you can call lost and forgotten.

The first album along with "The ladder", "Big generator", "Magnification" and the latest album "Fly from here" are all quite good and worthy listening to if you´re new to this band. How that could happen is a bit of a mystery since Yes are progrock legends. But what if......

The only album I dont care much for is the 1997 album "Open your eyes" which dont move me at all, it sounds just tiresome.

t.A.T.u - Nye ver Nye boysa

t.A.T.u´s live performance from 2003 on Eurovision Song Contest

t.A.T.u - Sparks

The last promotion video from Katina and Volkova together as t.A.T.u!

t.A.T.u - White robe

Another great hit single from their last album!

t.A.T.u - Snowfalls

The first hit single from t.A.T.u´s last album "Waste management" (2009)

t.A.T.u - Friend or foe

The 2nd hit single from t.A.T.u´s 2nd album "Dangerous and moving".

t.A.T.u - Gomenesai

Another beautiful song from their 2nd album (2005).

t.A.T.u - All about us

One of their best songs, the hit single from the 2nd album "Dangerous and moving" from 2005

t.A.T.u - How soon is now

Another amazing hit single from t.A.T.u´s first album.

t.A.T.u - Not gonna get us

The 2nd hit single from t.A.T.u from their debut album 200 km/h in the wrong lane from 2002.

t.A.T.u - All the things she said

The first hit single from t.A.T.u! I love this!

Lena Katina - Never forget

One half of t.A.T.u with her debut single "Never forget", Lena Katina is the best!
If you log into youtube, you can watch the uncensored version of this video.

Guido Mineo - Roses and 400,000 hits on my blog.

Sometime during the night between Sunday and Monday, my blog reached 400,000 hits. That is amazing. Thank you all. I thought of giving up my writing in May but found more inspiration to bring it back so I give you all plenty of roses with the stunning 1990 track "Roses" from Guido Mineo. Enjoy!

Madison Rose - Teenage runaway

New single taken from the upcoming album "Aftershock", out in Jan 2012.

Under the radar : Violet

VIOLET is a band built around the 21-year old singer Lina Hansson. The band is based in Stockholm but comes from different corners of the land Sweden. Lina started writing music for a bigger cause, she wanted to create something special. This vision of melodies, thoughts and dreams formed the band Violet!
Come join the world of Pop/rock in a Violet way!

Recommendable tracks : Your ego, Serenade
www.reverbnation.com/violetmusic

Airbag - Voragine

I dont have much info about this band but I think they´re from Argentina, great song though.

The Siren Tower - Floods

New single from Aussie rockers The Siren Tower.

Rock and roll heroes - Europe

Europe has influenced the majority of all Swedish hard rock bands, I have only seen them twice in concert and that was in 1984 on the Wings of tomorrow tour.
The albums between 84-91 are all classics, some of the best work ever from Scandinavia.

Their latest album Last look at Eden might not be considered as one of their classics but it´s truly just as good, this is Europe at their peak. Both melodic and heavy with huge choruses.

Now I just cant wait to hear their next album.

The return of the band in 2004 with the albums Start from the dark and Secret society were a bit different but still really good, even though they can´t be compared to their early sound - the songs on these albums do fit in very well in their setlists.

I remember in 1982 when our band Riga entered the Swedish Rock SM competition, our music was just too difficult to understand so it´s not so strange that a professional and tight band like Europe won the whole thing. Their first album from 1983 sound a bit dated today but the track "In the future to come" is a bit charming today.

The Safety Fire - Huge hammers

Taken from their upcoming album out in 2012.

Run Kid Run - Back to the basics

From the upcoming album "Patterns"

Family Force 5 - Not alone

From the upcoming album "III"

D Vines - Drawing in electromud

From the album "Kill me Martina"

Rock and roll heroes - Dave Grohl

Its been a while since I did a Rock and roll heroes feature but here it is, and this time around it´s with rock god Dave Grohl. The man´s got attitude, he´s not only a great songwriter, he can play guitar and drums equally good. Good? I mean great!
Foo Fighters is one of the best live acts around today, these guys are better live than in studio but some of their albums are classic of course, not to mention Nirvana´s first album "Nevermind".

Grohl´s heavy metal side project Probot from 2004 is a lost and forgotten album, hardly ever mentioned these days but it was an interesting album featuring plenty of strong vocalists.

If you got the time over, listen to it at Spotify (if it´s on there).

And to use, ClassicRock Magazine´s phrase "To help cement Grohl´s reputation" as a great artist, these albums will do just fine on any day of the week.

The only album I never really understood is the supergroup with John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and Josh Homme (Queens of the stone age). Grohl pull off some serious great drumming but where are the songs? This sounds like Cream but without the songs.

Medina - For altid

The Danish superstar Medina and her new single.

New singles, mazeOne and new movies

This weekend I´m listening a lot to the following new singles:
The Birthday Massacre - Forever (new track off the new EP "Imaginary monsters", this is such a beautiful synth rock tune)
KeyWest - Feels so cruel (2nd single from the promising alternative rock band, the debut will be out in early 2012)
SafetySuit - Get around this (radio friendly modern rock single, taken from the upcoming new album "Times like these", out on Oct 18th)
Shannon Noll - Switch me on (AOR/pop from Australia, this one is really catchy and I can´t wait to hear his new album "A million suns", out on Oct 14th)
Melanie C - Think about it (the 37 year old Sporty Spice gal is still kicking out great dance pop songs, she is the only one who actually could sing in the Spice Girls)

I´m halfway through the autobiography from Eric Clapton and I like the book a lot, I also got some books waiting to be read after this one such as Genesis - Chapter and Verse, Journey - The untold story, Steven Tyler - Does the noise in my head bother you plus I am thinking of ordering Nina Hagen´s Confessions.

Even though I´m not singing in Human Cometh anylonger, my good friend and Human Cometh guitarist invited me to sing on a few parts on Anders Plassgård´s project mazeOne.
http://mazeone.com
It´s a heavy rock EP that will be out later in 2011, I will keep you posted on further updates regarding the process of the recordings.

I´ve seen a few movies lately like Submarine (a decent British drama/comedy), Friends with benefits (a romantic comedy starring Justin Timberlake, quite good), Rise of the planet of the apes (a nice thriller with great special effects), Crazy stupid love (a great comedy with lots of amazing actors, highly recommended)

The Undeserving - Something to hope for

Their 2010 single but they´ve got a new album coming out on Sept 5th called "Almost alive".

Patrick Ryan Clark - You shine

A warm and nice song from Patrick Ryan Clark.

Eskimo Joe - Love is a drug

You can always count on good music from those Aussie rock bands.

The Fairchilds - Our Revolution

From the album "Our revolution" coming on Sept 27th.