Mike Portnoy’s Flying Colors announce September European tour

Posted on May 11, 2012

    

Mascot Label Group have announced the release of the eponymous debut album from Flying Colors – the spectacular new virtuoso prog/pop/metal rock band formed by drummer Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater) and guitarist Steve Morse (Deep Purple). The album is released by Music Theories Recordings in the UK on Monday March 26th, followed by a US release on Tuesday March 27th.

Flying Colors is Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals), Dave LaRue (bass), Neal Morse (keyboards, vocals), Casey McPherson (lead vocals, guitar), and Steve Morse (lead guitar). "This album has bits and pieces of what you’d expect from each of us,” says Portnoy.  “The sum of all its parts led to brand new, unchartered territory for everyone involved."

The formation of Flying Colors began with a simple idea: virtuoso musicians and a pop singer joining together to make new-fashioned music the old fashioned way.  Refreshing, classic, old and new, the recordings are saturated with the many styles, tones and hues of the players who in becoming a band have delivered a unique fusion of vintage craftsmanship and contemporary music.

In 2008, executive producer Bill Evans brought the idea to the world renowned musicians and producer Peter Collins. Intrigued by the idea and the prospect of working together, the four musicians signed on to form a band and record a first album.

Steve Morse and Dave LaRue have developed magical music chemistry over the years that began early in their careers as partners in Dixie Dregs. In 1995, Morse subsequently became a member of Deep Purple, while LaRue’s ongoing musical adventures include Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, Steve Vai, and the aforementioned Portnoy.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and singer Neal Morse is one of the leading figures in progressive rock, whose notoriety follows his co-founding of the seminal band, Spock’s Beard in 1995, recordings as a solo artist, and contributions to the super-group Transatlantic.

Mike Portnoy is one of the most popular and respected drummers in both metal and rock, and an accomplished writer and producer.  He is the recipient of numerous industry accolades, including 26 Modern Drummer awards, Revolver Magazine’s Golden God award for “Best Drummer" and Drum Magazine’s "Drummer of the Year".  He rose to prominence as the leader, drummer, producer, and co-writer for metal/prog juggernaut Dream Theater, before moving on in 2010. That same year, he worked on Avenged Sevenfold’s #1 album Nightmare and their subsequent tour.

It was Portnoy who recommended Alpha Rev’s emotive singer Casey McPherson as a contender to join Flying Colors. McPherson, who’s 2010 Hollywood/Disney album New Morning debuted in the Top-5 on two Billboard charts, enjoyed major success at radio with multiple hits. The track “New Morning” spent 17 weeks in the Top-10 on Triple A Radio, and enjoyed a run on Vh1’s Top-20 Countdown for months. Steve Morse offers, "Casey was a glorious find, because he could make anything sound fantastic, and is a multitalented like the others."

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Irish HARD ROCK’s finest new band MILLION $ RELOAD to release their second album “A Sinner’s Saint”

Posted on May 9, 2012

Formed in Northern Ireland in 2005, Million $ Reload started immediately to learn their breed playing live in the local club circuit leaving behind them a trail of fans hungry for more. Their catchy anthemic tunes soon gained them a recording deal, which culminated with the release of the debut album “Anthems Of A Degeneration” in 2008. A tour-de-force of vast hooks, killer riffs and moments of joyous, snake-hipped abandon, with shades of everyone from AC/DC and Aerosmith through to Thin Lizzy and Thunder confirming that these young Irishmen know their history and salute it with style, while also displaying a powerful and compelling character and atmosphere that is all their own.

“Million Dollar Reload sound is the culmination of our individual influences : no frills, balls to the wall, straight up rock n roll” says singer Phil Conalane. “Loud guitars , big vocals and the odd guitar solo with killer hooks. We have a definite sound, it’s not a new sound and we are not trying to re-invent the wheel, there are no delusions of grandeur in M$R . We know what we are about. All of us have our own personal influences that clearly can be heard in our songs, AC/DC, Aerosmith, early GNR . We don’t try to emulate those bands, we have our own take on modern day rock n roll, but they are definitely a big influence”.

The band toured heavily in support of the album and shared stages with Thunder, The Darkness, Buckcherry, Papa Roach and more. This has further pushed the band’s abilities and focused their song writing abilities. The result is the new killer album “A Sinner’s Saint” which has sparkled the attention from the Italian label Frontiers Records which immediately signed the band upon hearing the new stuff the Irish five piece created.

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TRACER announce UK September tour and mini album

Posted on May 1, 2012

Straight off the back of their first triumphant headline UK tour in April 2012, Australian power metal rock trio TRACER return for their second UK headline tour, starting at the Wolverhampton Slade Rooms on Wednesday 26th September.

A 48-hour ticket pre-sale will kick off on Planet Rock on Wednesday 2nd May, followed by a 24-hour ticket pre-sale with www.ents24.com on Thursday 3rd May. Tickets go on general sale on Friday 4th May from the 24 hour box office: 0844 478 0898. Tickets can be booked online from www.thegigcartel.com.

Tracer was recently voted third place in Planet Rock’s “Best New Band” listeners’ poll.  Over the past four months Planet Rock has played the singles Too Mucha nd Devil Ride, two songs taken from Tracer’s debut critically acclaimed album Spaces In Between.

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Tracer kick off UK Tour

Posted on Mar 9, 2012

Due to popular demand, Australian power rock trio “TRACER” kick off their first nationwide headline UK tour at London’s Islington O2 Academy on Tuesday 24th April.

Planet Rock (www.planetrock.com) will start a 48-hour ticket pre-sale for Planet Rock listeners from Wednesday 1st February at 9am. www.ents24.com will start their 24-hour pre-sale on Thursday 2nd February. Tickets will then go on sale to the general public from 10am on Friday 3rd February via the 24 hour box office: 0844 478 0898 and  www.thegigcartel.com.

Tracer was recently voted third place in Planet Rock’s “Best New Band” listeners’ poll.  Over the past four months Planet Rock has played the singles Too Much and Devil Ride, two songs taken from Tracer’s debut critically acclaimed album Spaces In Between.

Tracer has captured the excitement and adrenalin rush of rock ’n’ roll. Tracer’s sound embodies the same raw dynamics and edge to that of Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age and Black Sabbath.

With the release of Spaces in Between, Tracer has attracted rave reviews and interviews in Classic Rock (New Band of the Month), Total Guitar, Rock Sound, Guitarist, Fireworks and Powerplay.  Their video for Too Much has attracted over 50,000 hits on YouTube.

In the tradition of three-piece rock bands like Rush and Muse, Tracer’s sound is the audio equivalent to Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now set inside the eye of a hurricane.

Hailing from Adelaide, South Australia, Tracer embrace a sonic sledgehammer sound steeped in epic guitars, thunderous riffs and raw, uncompromising vocals. Their Australian blend of 90’s stoner and 70’s classic rock continues to win them new fans.

When Tracer supported Royal Republic on their 2011 European tour, it soon became evident that Tracer was the band to watch. When the UK’s premiere classic rock radio station, Planet Rock, started playing the band’s rock anthem Too Much, listeners responded, and posted messages on the Too Much YouTube video wall by saying, “Planet Rock brought me here.”

Rising from the ashes of blues prodigy band The Brown Brothers in 2004, Michael (vocals, guitar) and Leigh Brown (vocals, bass) teamed up with drummer Andre Wise to form Tracer.

The following years have seen the trio find success with two independent releases; two international tours, including support slots for Little Red, Children Collide, The John Steel Singers and Cassette Kids.

Following a successful debut European tour in late 2009, Tracer returned overseas in September 2010 to take a coveted showcase slot at Germany’s PopKomm Music Conference in Berlin. The band then set off on a string of dates throughout Germany, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK, taking time off only to sign a long term record deal with Cool Green Recordings, a sub label of the Mascot Label Group. 

Upon returning to Adelaide, the band headed straight into the studio, and recorded what was to be their debut album, released in October 2011. Entitled “Spaces In Between,” the album includes 12 in-your-face songs that will blow your head off.

Tracer Biography

With a sound reminiscent of 90′s grunge/stoner rock mixed with the everlasting bravado of 70′s classic rock, Tracer is a driving, sonic sledgehammer of massive guitars, clever hooks and raw uncompromising vocals. Forming out of the ashes of blues prodigy band The Brown Brothers in 2004, Michael (Vocals and guitar) and Leigh Brown (Vocals and Bass) teamed up with drummer Andre Wise to make Tracer. With 2 independent releases, 2 international tours and now a record contract under their belt, Tracer is a band that takes every little chance, every crazy idea, and commits everything they have to it.

During 2008 and 2009 Tracer took on an extensive touring schedule with multiple trips to Melbourne, a swag of successful Adelaide shows including a capacity crowd at the Australian album launch for their second critically acclaimed mini-album “L.A.?”

2009 also saw the band share the stage with Little Red, Children Collide, The John Steel Singers and Cassette Kids among others. In late 2009 Tracer set off and toured Europe for three and a half months taking in Germany, the Netherlands, U.K., Denmark, Switzerland and Czech. Tracer also toured as part of The Great Australian Wave (as a showcase at PopKomm in Germany).

Upon returning from Europe the band got busy writing new songs and developing their live show. Demand from overseas led the band to recording 3 new songs to compliment the release of ‘L.A.?’ in Europe. ‘L.A.?’ was met with countless praising reviews in German magazines and an expression of interest from Mascot Records in the Netherlands. Due to the success of the 2009 European tour and an increasing demand from overseas, Tracer played Europe once more with a showcase performance at Germany’s new format PopKomm Music Conference in Berlin. From this performance the band set off on a string of dates throughout Germany, Czech, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK.

The band released their debut LP via Mascot’s Cool Green Recordings on October 3rd 2011. Following the release of the album, the band toured the UK and Europe as support to Royal Republic.

In 2011, their single “Too Much” was A-listed on Planet Rock Radio in the UK for three months. The band generated over 50,000 views for their Too Much video on YouTube.  In December 2011, Planet Rock started A-listing Tracer’s second single “Devil Ride”.

Due to popular demand, Tracer will return to the UK and Europe for their first headline tour in April 2012.

Tracer–Spaces in between

Posted on Sep 28, 2011

High art it isn’t – but it rocks

When you have a voice a bit like Klaus Mein, you have a fair shot of climbing the old fame and fortune ladder. So, Tracer front man Michael Brown looks set to position himself as a man to whom you should listen. It doesn’t matter that he can’t play like a Schenker, although he poses with a Flying V quite nicely, because the lads write decent rock songs and perform them with enthusiasm and no little skill.

Based in Adelaide, South Australia, the trio of Michael, his brother Leigh who plays bass and drummer Andre Wise do the riff-rock genre proud with solid, uncomplicated songs that have a certain catchiness about them. Think of the driving, rhythmic feel of the Foo Fighters wrapped around the metallic thunder of the Scorpions and you’ll get close. The solos are short, to the point and derivative, as are the the songs, but despite this, Tracer manage to turn in a sound that works. They’re a rock band for a new generation of guitar heads. Lack of originality is nothing to be sneered at, dozens of bands from Guns n Roses to Pearl Jam via Muse have made massive careers out of it. So, unless you’re a genius, you make the best out of what you have and Tracer have quite a lot thank you.

Their new album: “Spaces In Between” taken as a whole is quite impressive. There’s lots of good, solid guitar rock to be had, nice hooks and bag of riffs to bang your head to. The album opens with “Too Much”. Take a listen to this:

I get the feeling I’ve heard it before somewhere, but it rocks, so who cares? Next up is “Push”, which opens with a pulsing drum beat, then we’re into the riffing. “Push” could have been lifted straight off a Free album in the seventies, Brown even manages to do a Paul Rogers intone in the chorus “It goes on and on…” The pace drops into Doctor-Doctor mode for “Walk Alone” and Brown starts singing like Percy Plant. We get served “Louder than this” after “Walk Alone”. It’s pretty much a blues standard of the kind Deep Purple used to excel when they were in the mood, circa Machine Head. “Devil Ride” takes into grungeland with shades of Nirvana daubed over Motorhead.

The best track on the album is “The Bitch”, which opens with a very promising, undistorted, metronomic riff, which is suddenly subsumed under a wailing voice and crashing guitar, only for it to disappointingly develop into a pretty standard seventies riff, although the chorus brings out a lovely dynamic contrast, which is really why this song is the stand out track on the album. It has a great hook, lots of drama and a sing along tune, with the best guitar solo on offer – it’s almost accomplished. The slide guitar at the end is very nice though and completely unexpected.

“Voice in the rain” nods to Jimi at his most mellow with Paul Rogers singing along. Good stuff if you’re in that bottle of whisky and a quiet cigarette while staring out at the rain type of mood. There’s a great crescendo that descends into a reprise of the opening bars. It’s really quite good.

The title track closes the middle section album. It’s five minutes I’ll never get back. The twee, eastern Indian influenced solo was particularly grating. It’s followed by “Dead inside”, which is a cracker, lots of dynamics, drama and contrasts. “Save my breath” is like “Too much” with a slightly different riff – enjoyable though. “All in my head” takes on a tour of Michael’s soft guitar  technique, before it breaks out into a “Wheels of fire” Cream sound-alike – he even does Jack Bruce phrasing, although the chorus breaks out into Foo Fighters yelling. I was moved to think Pete Brown must have had Aussie children. The chorus is really good though.

By time we get to “Won’t let it die” with it’s vibrato guitar, I’m ready for something different, and to be fair to Tracer, they serve it up with aplomb. This is a nice plodder, with a great, sparse sound. Good production can make a song and this one is a great example of good production values making a good song, great.

Overall, this is a good, perhaps very good album, but you’ll enjoy it more if you haven’t listened to everything rock from the sixties to the naughties. Recognising complete rips is not the same as admitting influences and “Spaces in between” tends more towards the latter than the former. Better still, it’s a grower – by time I’d played it three or four times, I was beginning  to sing along and by the sixth play I was sold and will probably end up buying my own copy.

Listen if you want high art, then this isn’t the album for you, but if you’re after real good time rock ‘n’ roll with a more than adequate sampling of listenable tunes and the odd sing along, then it might be worth shelling out a few quid.

 

URIAH HEEP to release a new Live CD and DVD package

Posted on Jul 22, 2011

In October 2009, Uriah Heep released their 40th Anniversary ‘Celebration’ album, containing new studio recordings of 12 of their most successful, classic tracks, plus two brand new songs. This recording heralded an exciting new phase for the band, taking their classic sound right into the future.

The band hit the road to celebrate 40 years at the top and opened new frontiers in Eastern Europe, Australia, South Africa, Japan and America. The band has played 53 different countries in total. The band’s motto has always been “if the people cannot come to see and hear Heep music, we will take it to them” and based on that when the band was invited to play for the first time in Armenia, they did not think twice and went for it. So when the band agreed they were approached by TV and film crews to document this concert which shows an epic performance and an incredibly strong and powerful audience reaction.

“It was unique because it was a first for us, and the fact that our music meant so much to so many people, was just wonderful” says Mick Box. “It cannot get any better than that. There were some technical problems to overcome, as we played on hired equipment, but the emotion of the night won through, and if asked, we would indeed go back and play again“.

Uriah Heep, who indisputably invented Hard Rock in conjunction with Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, have sold in excess of 30 million albums since their inception in 1969. From their early incarnation as The Gods and Spice, through record breaking tours, gold and platinum selling albums, timeless chart scaling anthems and a fiercely dedicated fan base of worldwide proportions, Uriah Heep can rightly claim to be one of the greatest U.K. Progressive Heavy Rock bands of both the 20th and 21st centuries.

“Live in Armenia” will be exclusively released in a glossy digipak 2CD+DVD package and on a limited 2LP gatefold sleeve version (including only the audio portion). Full tracklisting is below:

CD1: Wake the Sleeper; Overload; Tears of the World; Stealin’; Book of Lies; Gypsy; Look at Yourself; What Kind of God; Angels Walk With You; Shadow.
CD2: July Morning; Easy Livin’; Sunrise; Sympathy; Lady In Black.
DVD: Wake the Sleeper; Overload; Tears of the World; Stealin’; Book of Lies; Gypsy; Look at Yourself; What Kind of God; Angels Walk With You; Shadow; July Morning; Easy Livin’; Sunrise; Sympathy; Lady In Black.
Dvd Stereo mix 2.0 – Screen 16:9; format: NTSC Region Free / Length 100 mins.