The Dirt
As isolation continues, rock bands and artists have taken their wares and ideas online. Here are some highlights you might have missed.
Queen, Metallica, Iron Maiden, The Struts and many more feature in our rundown of highlights from rock’n’roll’s online/ from-home lockdown endeavours; No live concerts til Autumn 2021, according to some experts, and how a new charity is helping endangered British venues… Welcome back Stephen Dale Petit, Vandenberg and The Sword… Say hello to Vambo and Robert Jon & The Wreck… Say goodbye to John Prine, Dave Greenfield, Ronan O’Rahilly …
Ever since Covid-19 took hold, sending people all over the world into lockdown, rock bands and artists have been keeping us entertained with a veritable smorgasbord of online delights, from charitable initiatives to guitar lessons and killer covers.
In the former category, Joe Bonamassa has set up the Fuelling Musicians Programme (KTBA. org) with the aim of keeping starving musicians fed and housed through the crisis, and also giving them pre-paid gas cards for when touring becomes possible again. Devin Townsend has performed live concerts in his home studio, through his Quarantine Project (via his official website), to benefit healthcare workers around the world, the first of which sold 3,420 tickets and raised more than £65,000 for the NHS in the UK.
The Recording Academy Of America has set up the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund (www.grammy.com/musicares) that provides a platform for donations of autographed goodies, with proceeds going to thousands of music creators and professionals without work, and among other things has auctioned Gibson guitars signed by Joan Jett, Lukas Nelson and James Bay.
Pink Floyd were among several major bands to allow free streaming of their music, via the group’s official YouTube channel. The Floyd Film Festival began with Pulse, followed a week later by 1974’s An Hour with Pink Floyd: KQED.
Back in March Royal Republic played their turbocharged debut We Are The Royal in full, live from a venue in their home town of Malmö in Sweden. Check it out on YouTube now.
On a looser note, we really enjoyed Blackberry Smoke’s Pandemic Crib Jam, a laid-back YouTube hour of music and chit-chat, including a premiere of the band’s new video Take The Highway. In LA, meanwhile, The Struts have been filming a punchy, feelgood ‘Sunday Service’ – a weekly YouTube montage of studio cuts, fun covers, previously unseen live and behind-the-scenes footage, and generally pissing around at home. Iron Maiden’s ‘Killer Krew’ (joined by Adrian
Smith) have gamely recreated Aces High from the budget-friendly comfort of their homes. Expect air-guitaring, lip-syncing, and cameos from children and pets. And if you just want to watch a band chewing the fat, Black Stone Cherry have their ‘Cherry Chat’ sessions on YouTube.
If Instagram is your jam, then Brian May is always worth following. He whips out his Red Special to play Queen hits and unlikely covers (which he’ll often overdub with remote guests – Roger Taylor, Adam Lambert, Gary Barlow, Kerry Ellis, Matt Lucas), offers a little lockdown wisdom and occasionally even plays on his roof.
In Nashville, the Larkin Poe girls have been keeping us entertained with their ‘Tip O’ The Hat’ covers series and guitar ‘DIY’ sessions – Megan shows the ropes on slide, while Rebecca plays mostly acoustic six-string. And they’re not the only ones who’ve been sharing musical wisdom. In Guy Pratt’s ‘Lockdown Licks’, the session bassist plays along with some of his greatest hits, demonstrates an amazing technique and tells great stories along the way. Since he’s worked with, among others, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd, there’s never a dull moment.
Also uploading four-string delights to YouTube, Suzi Quatro combines elements of tuition with insights, anecdotage and sheer rock’n’roll exuberance on ‘The Bass Line’, as she plays along with a lifetime of hits (from Can The
Can to The Girl From Detroit City) from enforced rural Essex exile. And Classic Rock’s sister title Guitar World has offered home tuition via its ‘Sick Riffs’ series on their website, which includes how-to-play-it tips from the likes of Tom Keifer from Cinderella, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale, and Dave Pirner from Soul Asylum.
Atonne of cool covers have emerged during lockdown. Some have been stone-cold classics, such as Kris Barras’s slick, faithful cover of Deep Purple’s Highway Star, or Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown’s fiery take on Freddie King’s Tore Down. Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante hooked up with bass-playing pal Ra Díaz from Suicidal Tendencies to deliver an impressive rendition of the Rush instrumental YYZ. The Cadillac Three gave Post Malone’s R&B hit Circles a pretty, rootsified makeover, and The Struts brought some 90s pop sunshine with their take on the Spice Girls’ Stop. And yes, they did ‘the dance’.
Elsewhere we’ve seen rock giants revisiting their own hits. Queen & Adam Lambert took to Instagram for a heartfelt blast through We Are The Champions. Scorpions singer Klaus Meine was part of Kip Winger’s all-star YouTube jam session on the Winger song Better Days Comin’, alongside Alice Cooper, Jeff Scott Soto, Danny Vaughn, Richie Kotzen, Alan Parsons, Tony Harnell, Fiona Flanagan and many others. John Fogerty shared a campfire jam of Green River, while Metallica gave a steely, acoustic-based performance of Blackened. And coming this way is Blue Öyster Cult’s suitably apocalyptic lockdown rendition of Godzilla – complete with shaky camera angles.
Plenty of bands, of course, have released brand new songs. Even during a global pandemic, never underestimate the Rolling Stones. Rock’s ultimate survivors have released their eerily apposite Living In A Ghost Town. The Scorpions tapped into the mood (‘I feel my life turns upside down’) with their brand new Sign Of Hope. Joe Bonamassa’s new single A Conversation With Alice suggests something potent was in the water at Abbey Road when he recorded there earlier this year. Massive Wagons proved their capacity for feelgood, on-the-money bangers with In It Together, The Dust Coda smashed faces with scorching new single Demon, and Dead Daisies premiered their new singer – some Midlands geezer called Glenn Hughes – on newbie Unbroken. On the other side of the pond, pianoboogie rock’n’rollers Low Cut Connie returned with the sweet yet deliciously sleazy Private Lives.
If it’s new music and bands/artists that you’re after, then the Rock The Lockdown page on Facebook is the place to be. Its free-to-view content is updated regularly, and the standard is high. And if you’re just missing the mayhem and sweat of gigs, then check out Orange Goblin’s new live record Rough & Ready, Live & Loud, which compiles highlights from three shows over four years. Available via their website, it goes exceedingly well with your tipple of choice(drink responsibly, okay?).
Bluesy singer/guitarist Jack J Hutchinson spiced up his new track Sleep, Awake, Obey! by playing it along with a ‘virtual rock choir’ (i.e. 50 fans), singing it together in isolation. But perhaps the most hilarious thing we’ve seen all month was Robert Fripp and wife Toyah Wilcox ballet dancing (yes ballet dancing) to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake on their immaculately sculpted lawn – with the King Crimson man wearing a suit and a tutu. Check it out on Toyah’s Facebook profile, where it was part of their Sunday Lockdown Lunch series.
While lockdown life continues, and even when it’s relaxed, stay safe, and keep rocking, y’all.
“We’ve seen King Crimson’s Robert Fripp and wife Toyah Wilcox ballet dancing to Swan Lake…”