The Hard Place #6
If you like to hibernate over the winter then it’s likely that these words are reaching you as you continue to languish in an eiderdown-enrobed soft place. You’re cosy, you’re warm and you may well be under the impression that there is precious little to get out of bed for anyway. The Hard Place is here to tell you the f**k otherwise. The Hard place is a bucket of cold water hurled over your snoozings. The Hard Place is here, now, to drag you out of that pathetic torpor into a world where leaping from drum risers is de rigeur and staying up all night to a soundtrack of deafening guitars is a raison d’être. So, stop snivelling and get yourself dressed, preferably in something black and butt-squeezingly tight. Good. Now, ready yourself to rock.
Looking like a renegade bunch of furloughed pantomime dames, reunited Norwegian quartet Wig Wam have just released their new LP, Never Say Die, their first since 2012’s Wall Street. The band’s Spice Girls-inspired nicknames (Glam, Teeny, Flash and, yes, Sporty) may be risible but the pounding, stadium pomp of the title track and the singalong Def Jovi goodness of ‘Kilimanjaro’ are no laughing matter. The rest of the record is similarly littered with huge, high-octane, hook-laden, melodic rock which proves that, even after several years off, this band have very much still got it. RGM’s chief interviewer, Patrick Isstaker, recently caught up with the guys to talk all things Wig Wam but the chat was abruptly abandoned when they mentioned their dream of winning Eurovision. Patrick retorted with a theatrical “it’s behind you!” and was hospitalised shortly afterwards. His last wish was that we fully endorse the record as a bona fide Hard Place classic, and we do.
Now then, it’s been a very, very long time since the UK produced a female rock vocalist as talented as Chez Kane, who will be known to British audiences as a member of the Welsh band Kane’d, alongside her two (not in the slightest bit ugly) sisters. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: heavy metal Bananarama. Think again. Live, and indeed on record, Kane’d pack a ferocious rock wallop. Striking out now as a soloist, Chez Kane has found she has a fairy godfather – in the form of Crazy Lixx frontman Danny Rexon – who has waved his magic production and co-writing wand across her debut record. And it sounds as if she did indeed have quite the ball; the LP’s first single, ‘Too Late For Love’, appears to take as its blueprint the finest hours of Robin Beck, Vixen and Chrissy Steele. The high-heeled leather footwear of these heavyweights takes some filling but Kane’s preposterously accomplished vocal ensures that the shoe does indeed fit. The track perfects the balance between pop sheen and raw rock attitude and leaves us feeling certain that Chez Kane will marry the Prince and live happily ever after… that is, once her self-titled album is released on 12th March.
Speaking of marriage, we must now bring to your attention the new transatlantic union of vocalists and guitarists Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen. Smith, best known for his work with Iron Maiden and Kotzen, who has, rather greedily, enjoyed the guitar gig with both Poison and Mr. Big, are such revered fretmelters of Rock Royalty that neither of them would dirty their uninsurable fingers with the business of coming up with a name for the project, so some precocious intern at BMG decided to christen them with the enigmatic moniker Smith/Kotzen. We are still trying to work out why. The pair’s chunkily-riffed debut single ‘Taking My Chances’ was released in December and we eagerly await news of a potential 2021 album release (now confirmed for March 26th). Sharing vocals and trading licks on the track, the chemistry and synergy between the chaps is obvious and we are happy to report that that all showboating and one-upmanship is parked (docked?) for the duration. Tidy.
Digipack CD
Digital (streaming and download)
12” black vinyl with embossed sleeve
Limited edition 12” red & black smoke effect coloured vinyl
I can only apologise, boys and girls, for the fact that there were no panto jokes in that last segment. Must try harder. That is, after all, one of the eleven Hard Place mottos. Before the curtain comes down on this particular farce – I mean issue – there’s just time to alert you to the work of new prog quintet Arc Of Life, who will release their self-titled debut album next month. “I’ve ever heard of ‘em!” we hear you jeer, to which we reply, “Oh YES you have!” The band features Yes members Billy Sherwood, Jon Davison and Jay Schellen, along with Dave Kerzner (Sound of Contact) on keys and Jimmy Haun on guitar. With the focus on melody and structure over noodles and rambling, the first two singles ‘Just In Sight’ and ‘You Make It Real’ will appeal to fans of Sherwood’s early projects Lodgic, World Trade and the much under-mentioned The Key. Both tracks promise plenty for the upcoming eponymous album which is definitely not due for release via Frontiers on 12th February. All together now… “oh yes it is!”
Right. Show’s over. Now you can take off those ridiculous trousers and go back to bed.
The Hard Place is a Rich Barnard production for Red Guitar Music.
You have reached The Hard Place. A place where the hair is just a shade more voluminous. A place where the trousers are, on average, two belt holes tighter. A place wherein it is perfectly normal for guitars to begin spontaneously spewing fireworks. Or lightning. Or both. We bring you the choicest, freshest cuts of retro-metal on offer. And, in a scene where wrongness so often prevails, The Hard Place offers a distillation of all that is currently right with the world of melodic hard rock. Quite a lot of it is, as you might expect, from Sweden.