Hard Rock Hell XVIII

Awards

Proceedings opened with the awards! Head honcho Jonni Davis is on hand personally to present the awards in his own charismatic way, make sure everything is going well and the music is kept as loud as possible! He cares about the grass roots music industry dying and HRH gives newcomers a chance to cut their teeth and rise, making sure the UK gig scene is not just all about arena acts. He has also spent time recovering from a bike accident writing a book ‘Order Of The Black’ about warfare in the Scottish highlands, brought to life on the screen by amazing computer graphics illustrating hellish face to face mass combat in a time where honour was everything. Apparently, the book is set to be turned into a film. Jonni always thinks big and you need that in a person who really makes things happen.

Although the awards are very much about the bands and stars that win, it’s also about the people who attend. Everyone gets their photo on the red carpet which means that almost everyone attending dresses up, the theme this time being vampires! This automatically raises the energy before anything starts. Who else to start proceedings therefore, but Dhampyres with their Nosferatu looking singer from Tewkesbury and their amazing looking mike stand!

Awards include Brian Tatler (Saxon and Diamond Head) for Axeman, Jizzy Pearl for Best International Singer, Master of Keys Keith Weir and Black Rain as Lords of Sleaze picked up by Jerem Guiguet their guitarist who had to get three trains to make it, thanked everyone for keeping rock music alive and didn’t lose a chance to plug their new album coming out next year!

It was also my chance to see Black Eyed Sons for the first time, formerly Quireboys, now with Griff fronting them instead of Spike (who is continuing the Quireboys with Nigel Mogg instead). They’re still a great Rock ‘n’ Roll band playing songs from their debut album ‘Cowboys In Pin Stripe Suits’!

Thursday

Dhampyres open the day again on the main stage with their Damned inspired Goth Rock and tracks like ‘Blood Red Moon’ and ‘The Revenant’. Singer ‘Al Hale’ stares at the crowd with his otherworldly eyes with complete conviction and his striking image, all white face and black make up adds a definite sense of drama.

For those about to rock were AC/DC inspired The Dirty Denims. It’s good time Boogie Rock with the only frills being singer Mirjam Sieben’s leopard print hot pants suit with Bowie red lightning flashes echoed by the flashing lightning bolt on her mike stand. They are from the Netherlands, but with her strong raspy voice and energetic engagement with the crowd and Angus style guitar solos most people would assume they must have Australian DNA like the great AC/DC themselves!

Grand Slam are the band started by Phil Lynott when he left Thin Lizzy, but revived later by other original members. As such they play material written by Lynott in the eighties, provide beautiful lyrical guitar solos  and finish with a cover of ‘Whisky In The Jar’. Singer Mike Dyer is not shy to say what he means, taking advantage of the time between songs to make anti-war statements and cracking lines like we were gonna call the next album ‘The Epstein Files’ so we can say we’re gonna release them.

Black Eyed Sons got another chance to strut their stuff. It is clear they are not resting on their laurels and concentrated on playing their new material. There’s a lot to talk about, songs written with Joe Elliott of Def Leppard and Steve Conte of the Michael Monroe band. They end with Mott The Hoople’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Queen’. With not a Quireboys song in sight it’s obvious that they are determined to plow their own furrow. This is a good strategy as with fine vocals, rollicking guitar solos, honky tonk keys, female backing vocals and a guy devoted just to the mouth organ, they have their own very credible proposition. Griff isn’t trying to be Spike and there’s no reason why they can’t prosper on their own merits.

Electric 6 who happen to be from this town, Great Yarmouth, take the stage in suits, playing on their established nerdy image. While they don’t really look very Rock it was amazing to hear the riff from ‘Gay Bar’ live and to hear that distinctive voice on ‘Danger High Voltage’, worth the ticket price alone.

Steelheart were going for the title of loudest Rock band ever and singer Miljenko Matijević (‘Mili’) still has his amazing pipes! ‘I’ll Never Let You Go’ started soft before building into a glorious electric version. Mili tirelessly engaged the crowd keeping the show’s momentum with the sheer force of his presence.

Friday

I started off Friday early with a lecture from Dacre Stoker, relative of Bram Stoker writer of Dracula! We learned about the writer’s life, what led him to write the famous novel and the differences between the actual novel and the films that followed. He also covered how the films that followed helped to shape the image and characteristics of Count Dracula we all have in mind today, such as an Eastern European accent, not being able to see themselves in mirrors and being killed by sunlight.

Shortly, thereafter, the Black Eyed Sons, well Griff, Paul and Keith, took the stage for the third time this festival for an all acoustic set. The emphasis is still on their new record although they did a couple of Quireboys tracks too. Necessarily lower key than an electric performance, but still worthwhile, even if it was very early and Griff admitted he’s not that good at ‘Bright and Breezy’. Mike Tramp with whom they collaborated on their record also made the effort to get there early to catch their set.

Dead Reynolds from East Anglia began the full electric shows on stage 2 with their energetic alt-rock, mostly with a punky streak, although one of their songs reminded me a bit of Those Damn Crows. They have a singer with a big personality on the barrier reaching out to the crown, a feisty female bassist that is their secret weapon and a drummer spinning his sticks in a commitment to entertainment even at this early hour!

The Soul Revival have a devilishly handsome drummer that spins sticks and appears at one point to be trying to eat them! When I saw them at Call Of The Wild I thought they were still finding their feet direction wise. This time I felt that overall their offering was more unified, straight ahead hard rock, making their name including ‘soul’ a little misleading perhaps. Nevertheless I like the direction they appear now to have chosen.

Crimes of Passion are back with a couple of new talented female members, a short haired blonde who shreds like a mofo and a bassist whose not afraid to tailgun anyone she can. This band has epic songs and it’s great to see frontman Dale Radcliffe back with his incedible pipes and showcasing them with a new band that are passionate about what they do.

Backseat Juliet are a band with an obsession with animal prints and wear as many as they can all at once. They don’t hide their obsession with Classic Rock and are clearly enjoying their versions of ‘Love Gun’ and ‘Look What the Cat Dragged in’ as much as the crowd. With their energetic party delivery they can’t help but raise a smile.

Coyote Mad Seeds are straightforward hard rock and not as crazy as their name sounds.

The utter madness of the Silk Spinster band also completely belies their name which apparently refers to the spider god they serve as part of the post apocalyptic image of their band, think medieval torture chamber and you won’t go far wrong. Their material spans from melodic to downright heavy. They clearly have a sense of humour with their cover of ‘Livin La Vida Loca’.

I’ll have whatever Molly Karloff’s bass player is taking, striking all the poses in his purple Indian pipe bone jacket and wielding his purple cracked mirror bass.

András Droppa plays some lovely bluesy guitar and he’s got some catchy songs like ‘Painted Ladies’, but in my opinion he’s not a natural frontman or singer

For The Forsaken are another straightforward hard rock band despite the mohican of their singer which suggests they might be a bit Punkier.

Venus Mountains painted luminous paint all over themselves and their instruments gave them a tribal hippy look. They did a fun heavy cover of ‘Venus’ the song made famous by Bananarama.

Typan were traditional heavy metal. Their line up features a young guitarist whose hair was so big, it must be difficult for him to see.

GrayWolf from Switzerland brought their classy melodic rock.

A New Tomorrow were a modern Rock band, fairly heavy with traditional roots. The singer excels at high notes when he goes for it, but most of it is shouty gang vocal style.

It’s lovely to see Mike Tramp performing White Lion with a full electric band behind him again and getting a chance to play the full part of a frontman. He still has all the moves and is looking super fit. Next year will be his fiftieth anniversary and he joked “how do I look this good.. night crème”! His voice is full and strong which may be unexpected for those familiar with the high pitched voice ancient production afforded to him in the eighties. The PA blows out in the second song and it took the crew a good ten minutes to fix it, but like true professionals the band did not let it affect them or the rest of the show. It’s a greatest hits show and seeing full electric versions of songs like ‘When The Children Cry’ was truly emotional. Luckily for us he confided that he intends to keep doing this for more years to come.

Saturday

Velour Fog are a very loose outfit with a record deck and a penchant for rap “know what I’m sayin Bruv”. One of the most relaxed performances I have ever seen.

Edit The Tide are a heavy noisy band from Wales again with a modern casual approach.

Gypsy’s Kiss by contrast are veterans with fifty years service and a band which used to count Steve Harris in their number. Singer David Smith used to go to school with him and Paul Di’anno. Soaring vocals, traditional guitar solos and a few 70s style space effects. They organise a cheer for Paul Di’anno that he could hear in heaven and the crowd obliged.

4 Fox Sake clearly have their eyes on arenas looking at the stars. Their material is accessible immediately, but to help matters along they do a cover of ‘What’s Up’ by 4 Non Blondes. Their singer is buffed and takes his shirt off to prove it.

Junkyard Drive are high energy hard rock from Denmark. It’s great to see the Scandinavians keeping Classic Rock live in such a vital way, looking and sounding great!

Black Paisley are Classy Dad rock aimed at fans of bands like FM and Whitesnake. They have good songs, well delivered, if some of the tracks give you a sense of déjà vu.

Hard Buds are AC/DC inspired Rock from Spain. Their singer reminds me a bit of the crazy guy from Police Academy, but he’s capable of sounding a bit like Bon Scott and you can’t knock that.

WigWam came, saw and conquered with their catchy melodic anthems which have received a lot more attention recently due to their music being used as the title song for the first series of ‘Peacemaker’. Despite hamming the Glam Rock image to the max frontman Age Sten Nilsen has a world class voice and guitarist Trond Holter has world class tone and feel a la John Norum. Age isn’t far wrong when he says they were Steel Panther before Steel Panther existed. I haven’t had as much fun singing songs at a gig in a long time. They know how to put on a show! The final song is of course the mammoth ‘Do You Wanna Taste It?’. Along with Mike Tramp they were the best bands of the whole shebang.

Final headliner are Swedish band Royal Republic with their poptastic take on rock. Like Electric Six they are not usual HRH fare, but they go down well. With a fine line in patter to improve crowd engagement singer Adam Grahn stands on a box in the middle of the crowd and got a member of the crowd to play the cowbell. Overall this band are not really my thing, but with their hi energy beats I can see why they are tasked with bringing the party.

So once again HRH are providing a fine forum for bands starting out to appear, get known and get some press coverage. With the disappearance of many small clubs from the circuit this public service is even more valuable than ever.

Dawn Osborne