Music: Rock Ain't Dead

Random or Off Topic
1

So I am not exactly sure of the point of my post other than to waste some time and perhaps share some links to music that other mind find interesting. FYI, this is all relating to rock (heavy). I am really not on any other social media so I thought I would post here as an additional distraction to current events.

Background

So I grew up on guitar focused hard rock along with guitar shredders. The truth is I am a bit picky on that front. I don’t like things too heavy or too progressive or too cheesy. I enjoy stuff in this genre that has it “all”, great vocals, great guitar, great production, and catchy.

The truth is, at least in Canada, this type of music is not really made anymore. It appears in Europe and Scandinavia this music is still produced. I thought I would share the following that IMHO fits the bill and is pretty new. By no means is it exhaustive but maybe a good time killer if you are into this stuff.

Finally, if you like this type music, follow Frontiers Music on YouTube.

Bands – In no particular order (so scroll through it all)

Comments welcome. Have you heard of any of these bands?

#1 - The Defiants (North America)

The band is a good combination of all I like. I guess they all have ties to Danger Danger, an 80’s band that I knew of but never listened to. What is special for this band is that the singer, Paul Laine, is really good. Actually, until like 10 minutes ago, I did not even know he is Canadian! Equally important is the guitarist Rob Marcello is amazing. The solos on this album are awesome. Bottom line for me, there latest album “Zokusho” was a hidden gem for me. A couple cheesy songs and cheesy lyrics, but overall I like it.

#2 - Animal Drive/Dino Jelusić (Croatia)

So there is this guy from Croatia named Dino Jelusić. He is has got a really great voice. Like a combination between David Coverdale & Ronnie James Dio. The trouble is the stuff he has done is not super catchy. However, there is a cover EP that is kinda cool.

#3 - The New Roses (Germany)

So here is what is cool about these guys. They have a couple real catchy tunes and I am like wow, these guys must be from Alabama or Tennessee. Then I watch a couple interviews. Holy crap, they have German accents! Amazing. Here are a couple fun songs:

#4 - H.E.A.T / Erik Grönwall (Sweden)

So I guess these guys have been around awhile. I think Erik Grönwall won Swedish Idol in 2009. I think he might be one of the best rock singers out there currently. He can sing live just as well as in the studio. Lyrics a little cheesy but here are a couple cool tunes

#5 - Harem Scarem (Canada)

The most underrated Canadian ever! Every song on their 1993 album Mood Swings is awesome. They are still going strong. Here are some examples

#6 - D-A-D (Denmark)

So in 1989 I liked a song called “Sleeping My Day Away” by D-A-D. Recently, I thought I would check if they still existed. Wow, 30 years later still writing cool tunes:

#7 - One Desire / André Linman (Finland)

André Linman, great singer. Check em out!

#8 - Hollywood Undead (North America)

I don’t really follow these guys, but this is a rocking tune with great chorus:

#9 - W.E.T / Eclipse (Sweden)

I don’t fully follow the history but this band (W.E.T) but it was formed with members of three other popular bands W – Work Of Art, E – Eclipse, T – Talisman. Some good tunes and Jeff Scott Soto in the band.

#10 - Evergrey (Sweden)

Sometimes a little too gloomy and progressive, but great guitarists and some catchy tunes.

#11 - The Poodles (Sweden)

Don’t really follow, but a couple catchy tunes.

#12 - Kiss Guy/Foo Fighters

I am sure everyone has seen this but a
good one to watch to lift spirits - https://youtu.be/TjVOWOKa-lY

#13 - Crobot (North America)

I just like this tune.

#14 - Gothard (Swiss)

I think these guys have been around a while and even had a singer pass away. I don’t follow, probably big in Europe. However, here are a couple good tunes.

#15 - The Lazys (Australia)

Again, catchy tune.

Guitar Only

Here is some stuff that should make you quit guitar. Soooooo many great players out there.

Rock On

3 Likes
2

Must be showing my age none of them sound like Gareth Brooks

3

All of the good music was made before the mid 1970s
:wink:

4

Well, I typically run for classics and/or harder stuff and I really appreciate funky time signatures/changes, unusual chord progressions, and technically challenging riffs, but I’m HORRIBLE on keeping up with music, so my library hasn’t really changed much over the last 20 years or so. Definitely not trying to be critical of any of these bands…they are all more skilled than I am, but my honest opinion in case anybody agrees…might be able to point me toward some stuff that I’d ALSO like. You know?
So far…
Defiants: not quite hard enough for me. Seems to remind me of that “in-between” pocket I just can’t get into.
Animal Drive: Quite good! Covers irritate me unless they bring something NEW to the table. Knocked it out of the park, and I added these guys to my spotify. Monkey Business is pretty good, too!
New Roses: Down by the River - I wouldn’t skip it, but I wouldn’t reach for it either.
Thirsty- I like that one. Added it to the spotify, too. I really like about half the Dead Man’s Voice album, Nothing but Wild too. Give and Take brings a lot of those different elements together. I’m gonna half to check out the rest of this one. I really like what I’ve hears so far.
H.E.A.T If you hadn’t told me these guys are currently recording, I’d have thought I just missed them from the 80s. Great technical skill, but most of those two songs just feels repetitive. Almost willing to listen to it just for the solos, though. Pretty sweet stuff, right there.
Harem Scarem Pretty much the same evaluation as H.E.A.T, for me.
D-A-D like it. Sounds like they’d belong on the same station as G&R, ACDC, or DefLeopard, but wouldn’t be confused for any of them. Dig!
One Desire I think you’re right about the singer, but everything else feels kinda repetitive to me.
Hollywood Undead Not a fan of that song, sounded like the chorus was on loop. I kept waiting for them to let the drummer rip, but it never happened. Almost didn’t search them on Spotify, but I’m glad I did. Really good at transitioning styles. Listening through their hits reminded me of listening through Fort Minor, but definitely not the same.
W.E.T. Not bad at all. I like that they don’t let a bunch of their songs just get…polluted…with everybody trying to do everything at the same time.
Crobot, hey, that IS a likable tune! Went looking for them, and these guys are RIGHT up my alley!
Evergrey These guys have the goods! I think it takes a certain amount of cockiness to regularly record songs over 5 minutes long, but they deliver. I got all the way through King Of Errors, the others will have to wait. But they are DEFINITELY on the list!
The Poodles I can’t hear the passion. Where did it go?
And just like that, I’m out of time. Thanks for putting all these together!! Definitely wouldn’t have found most of them on my own, and my library was WAY stale!!

1 Like
5

And KISS guy…honestly never saw that. Looks like he managed to ACTUALLY melt his face off!!!

6

I either read or imagined an article saying that it is very hard to learn to enjoy new music after the age of 30.

I was an angry teenager, so a lot of my favorite music is angry rock music from the late 90s. I like some of the newer stuff, but the stuff I know well has a big advantage over new stuff.

I recently was recommended “lofi hip hop” for listening to while thinking. I don’t generally listen to hip hop, but lofi doesn’t have words, or a ton of energy, so it works really well for being able to think.

I am pretty sure I am exposing myself as a total nerd for not knowing more about it, but that’s where I am right now.

7

Hey @turbomacncheese, thanks for detailed response. Coincidentally, you really touched on the purpose of my post. Namely…

I am basically the same. For this genre, this was all the “new” stuff I discovered when I really tried searching. I am no expert in this but here are some youtube channel recommendations to subscribe to:

1 Like
8

Just to show worlds can collide, I really had to dig for this one. I did not even know this existed!

Turns out Garth Brooks covered a KISS song! He covered Hard Luck Women. I am not a big fan of KISS per se, but here are some links that you should look at just for laughs.

Anyway, a bunch of links solely for your entertainment.

2 Likes
9

Deep Purple’s “Burn” does kick some ass:

:wink:

10

And I’ll add that all the “real” country western music was made before the end of the 1960s.

1 Like
11

I could do ok with them. They sound enough like Kansas to pass. Mind you, when I was in high school if anyone mentioned AC/DC, it was like calling up Satan. We had a guy who moved to mid-Missouri from Cleveland. He liked metal. Was the year under us. Poor guy, didn’t have a chance. This was at a religious boarding school. However, eventually we all got pretty into KISS, of which I will tell more below.

I am the youngest of five boys so my musical tastes are heavily influenced by my older bros. I graduated high school in 79, so that gives you some perspective. I remember the day one of my brothers came home all excited and showed me that there were things called FM channels that had amazing music on them. CCR and CSN&Y were big. BTO but also the Who and Jefferson Airplane. The oldest like Chicago. He played the trumpet and went to the same college that Pankow went to. I never bought a record album. Didn’t need to. Brothers had everything and friends had more. But I played guitar so spent more time making music than listening to it. Although our class in junior year transformed the stereo room into an amazing listening experience. Of course there were carpet squares on every inch of the walls. Eagles and America and John Denver shaped my guitar love. Along with John Hartford who made me love bluegrass and roots music.

I was pretty much all acoustic guitar but liked Paul Stanley but actually had the tongue of Gene Simmons, of which a pic I will show in a Halloween costume when I find it.

IMG_0888 (2)
IMG_0888 (2)4032×3024 1.88 MB

So the back story of this is that it was a guitar that Paul Stanley played. I don’t have all the details, but it was given to me by a guy who made his living setting up custom trailers for rock concerts in the 70s and 80s. He would deliver that trailers to the venues all over and have them tricked out according to the green M&M specifications in the contracts. Mike, my buddy, played guitar and sang, and was very handy with tools. He would pitch in with the roadies setting up. He sat in on a lot of concerts when there was need of some backup musicians. He says that one of the KISS concerts he did some great troubleshooting that saved the show (he is a genius and can fix anything) and that’s how he got one of the setup guitars that were used for sound tests.

I got it for my 50th birthday as a gift. Not sure how true all this is, but it’s a great story and the guitar is for real. Knockoffs just don’t weigh this much.

3 Likes
12

Thanks for the look not many people would do that even cough the spelling thank you android country is surprising at times

13

Thanks for the links. I’ve only listened to a few, but liked some of it.

For the past few years my favorite “metal” band has been Nightwish. I think they’ve been called “symphonic metal”, but I think of it as “Valkyrie” music. I love some of their live videos.

14

So cool.

Pete, you will get a kick out of this for sure. I know Nightwish well. I like their early stuff. Here is something I think you will find interesting:

Nightwish - Dead to the world - https://youtu.be/ssVFiDcBhsA
Nightwish - Dead to the world - Netta Skog ACCORIAN COVER - https://youtu.be/quSs_Ef4L94

2 Likes
16

I recorded this video today. I am not too skilled but I do well enough that I enjoy it.

5 Likes
17

I can’t play piano. I cannot have one hand “think” in a bass line and the other hand “think” a melody. So kudos to you.

However, here is a ad lib solo from a gig a while back in the spirit of friendly competition :wink:

4 Likes