Talking Tracks December 2011
As 2011 drags its weary butt towards its inevitable meeting with 2012 it’s time once again to review the past twelve months in which my name was seemingly immortalised in yet another crap film ‘Tucker And Dale Vs Evil’ (as if ‘John Tucker Must Die’ wasn’t bad enough). I guess in a year dominated by a relocation back home to Torquay – hey, it’s the rock ‘n’ rock capital of the English Riviera! – and all the stuff that goes with such a move, it’s bound to have been a bit of a quiet year in terms of music writing. However, 2011 saw the completion of the long-discussed Whitesnake biography. The original book was written by Deep Purple Appreciation Society’s Simon Robinson back in 1988, but has long been out of print. We’ve discussed bringing it up-to-date for a while, and by the time you read this ‘Whitesnake – The Definitive Biography’ should be almost ready to roll in time to lift the post-Christmas blues in January. ‘Whitesnake – The Definitive Biography’ is a hefty coffee-table job, the sort of thing publishers Rufus Stone specialise in, with a run of just 1,000 – 750 of the Standard Edition, and 250 deluxe HARDKASE copies. Better ask Santa to reserve a copy for you now before they sell out. Writing my end of the story was a lot of fun, and I’d certainly like to thank both Simon and Mark at Rufus, as well as Olly Hahn at SPV who was a seemingly unending source of inspiration and information. Cheers you lot, as Girlschool would no doubt say…
I was pleased to be invited to contribute to Banger Films’ TV series ‘Metal Evolution’ which started airing in the US on 11th November (ie 11/11/11 – they really
wanted it to be the series that went up to eleven). Obviously I haven’t seen it, and I have no idea when it’ll be shown in the UK or be available to buy, but a couple of people have passed comments on the NWOBHM programme in which I make an appearance. Rys Miller, who looks after Elixir’s MySpace site emailed guitarist Phil Denton about the show: “They also spoke with John Tucker, the journalist, who was wearing a British Steel Festival t-shirt! This was great, and he got a lot more screen time than John Gallagher from Raven!” Sorry, John. And Jasun Tipton, guitarist and driving force behind US powerhouses Zero Hour and Abnormal Thought Patterns and full-time nice guy mailed me directly: “Yo, bro, I just saw you on VH1 for the Metal Evolution!! That's awesome, my bro, and I'm sending you the METAL SIGN on that. YOU RULE!!” Anyway, it was exciting to be asked to contribute, it was fun to do, and anyone who knows me is aware that I can talk about the NWOBHM for hours, for which I feel I should occasionally apologise!
Writing the liner notes for Jameson Raid’s live album ‘Live At The O2Academy’ and Agincourt’s ‘Angels Of Mons’ (both on High Roller Records) was also a great pleasure. I’d admired both bands greatly even before I started the projects and both were a joy to work with. Cheers Terry, cheers, Russ, and a big thank you to Steffen and Thorsten at High Roller. The Agincourt album looks a treat in gold vinyl, and although this packshot doesn’t really do it justice you can get the feel of just how nice it looks. ‘Continuance’ by Shiva also received the vinyl treatment from High Roller Records; if anyone wants a copy of what would have been the band’s second album, autographed by bassist Andy Skuse, drop me a line.
Skipping back to books for a mo, my friend and Fireworks colleague Neil Daniels has been pretty busy and just
two of his recent projects are ‘Rock Landmarks: Judas Priest’s ‘British Steel’’ (published in September by Wymer Publishing, ISBN: 978-0-9557542-6-5) and an upcoming biography of Iron Maiden. Both feature drop-ins from guest contributors including the likes of Martin Popoff and Matthias Mader, and Neil also gave me the opportunity to add a couple of hundred words of my own weird ‘n’ wonderful thoughts.
I was very saddened to hear the news about the death of Andrew ‘Mac’ McDermott (26 January 1966 – 3 August 2011), most famous for his work with Threshold. I only met him twice, but he was one of the nicest guys you could come across. At ProgPower UK in 2006 he was really easy-going and nothing seemed to be too much trouble for him; and then later that year I had the pleasure of photographing the band and not only was he receptive to ideas he was also god enough to help me pack up my gear and take it to my car. No ego, no hidden agenda, just an all-round nice guy with a fabulous sense of humour as was demonstrate when he leapt on some kind of knackered milk float (or something) at the end of the session and started clowning around. Great voice too; he’ll be sadly missed.
And finally for now, this year’s Top Ten; don’t forget, boys and girls, it’s just a personal opinion:
1. YEAR OF THE GOAT – ‘Lucem Ferre’ (Ván)
OK, so it’s an EP, not an LP; in fact it’s less than that as it can only really be listened to as a whole. You can go to a restaurant and order just a starter or just a pud and you’ll come out feeling completely unsatisfied and wishing you’d had a full meal; the same is true of ‘Lucem Ferre’. Taken as a whole it’s a fabulous body of music. Occasionally challenging, often sublime and almost truly perfect. The band are currently recording their first full album and I for one can’t wait to hear it.
2. DRACONIAN – ‘A Rose For The Apocalypse’ (Napalm)
Gloomy Swedes fifth album: “never has desolation sounded so bleak”
3. WHILE HEAVEN WEPT – ‘Fear Of Infinity’ (Nuclear Blast)
Typically strong offereing from a band refusing to be bound by convention
4. THEATRE OF TRAGEDY – ‘Last Curtain Call’ (AFM)
A fitting epitaph for the Norwegian metal female voices innovators
5. SVÖLK – ‘Svölk ’Em All’ (Napalm)
Anthrax? Forget ’em! Bring on the Norwegian purveyors of Bear Metal!
6. BITCHES SIN – ‘The Rapture’ (Independent)
The reformed British band get better and better with every storming new release
7. AGINCOURT – ‘Angels Of Mons’ (Independent)
Nineties British band reform and deliver a debut album hot enough to melt the Polar ice caps
8. PAGAN’S MIND – ‘Heavenly Ecstasy’ (SPV)
Strong compositions with impeccable musicianship and the instantly recognisable voice of Nils K. Rue
9. WOLVERINE – ‘Communication Lost.’ (Candlelight)
A stunning and inspirational album born in part from personal tragedy
10. ROXXCALIBUR – ‘Lords Of The NWOBHM’ (Limb)
Devil-may-care Germans romp through fourteen NWOBHM classics
Honourable mentions go to HELL (‘Human Remains’ – Nuclear Blast), LAKE OF TEARS (‘Illwill’ – AFM), RIOT (‘Immortal Soul’ – SPV) and the extremely clever independently-released ABNORMAL THOUGHT PATTERNS mini-album.
And finally, just room for ‘Single Cuts’, the Judas Priest singles box set which is the must-have of the year. I’m a sucker for these singles collections anyway, and the thought of all of Priest’s singles on CD – rigged to even look like the vinyl originals – had me running around like a dog with two doo-dahs. It could have been better, of course: the booklet notes are flawed (and rubbish anyway); the compilers bizarrely chose to replicate the 7” artwork which in some cases was non-existent even though they’re all copies of 12” singles; ‘Freewheel Burning’ loses that lovely little intro that the original 12” carried and hasn’t been replicated elsewhere; and it’s a shame that they didn’t go the extra yard and include one more CD: there was no single from ‘Unleashed In The East’ (cynics would say the band didn’t have enough time in the studio to come up with one!) but there was a free 7” with initial pressings of the album featuring a cracking (and unreleased on CD) version of ‘Beyond The Realms Of Death’; the inclusion of that would have gone some way to redeeming all the other flaws. It’s the age-old story; if fans had compiled this, rather than suits, it would have been so much better.
Enough for now: may Santa bring you everything you wish for – and more besides – and we’ll catch up again in 2012.
John Tucker December 2011