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.

Zafiriou leaves Pink Cream 69

Posted on Mar 6, 2012

Kosta Zafiriou, drummer and original member of PINK CREAM 69 has left the band. He will be replaced by his good friend and long time drum tech Chris Schmidt, who played drums for Sunstorm, Harry Hess’ First Signal and more.

Kosta: "It was a very hard decision to leave the band I co-founded back in 1987, but I am sure this is the right step. Due to my various activities with my company Bottom Row plus being the drummer and manager of my new band UNISONIC, more and more I felt I was retarding PC 69´s career. Chris is a great drummer and a good friend of the band since many years, which makes him the perfect match for PINK CREAM 69. I wish the guys only the best and look forward to see the first show with him – as a visitor, enjoying the songs that accompanied me half of my life!”

The band already started recording the successor to the “In10sity”-album on the 1st of march. The new, yet-untitled, effort will be released by Marquee/Avalon (Japan + SouthEast Asia) and Frontiers Records (rest of the world) in the autumn of 2012.

Says guitarist Alfred Koffler: “The vibe within the band is very enthusiastic and creative. There are far too many strong songs by Dennis (Ward), David (Readman) and myself to pick from. There will be eleven of them on the album plus a couple of bonus tracks for the different markets and formats. We also will have guest appearances by two famous musicians on the new record – both fans of the band. More on that soon!”

For the release of the new PINK CREAM 69 album, the band will also be shooting a new video clip – the first one since “Shame”. The band will be appearing at several European festivals during the summer and will tour after the release of the album.

 

It was forty years ago today

Posted on Nov 8, 2011

Forty years ago today, the greatest rock band of all-time released the greatest rock album of all-time, Led Zeppelin IV. A powerhouse from the legendary opening vocal intro of “Black Dog” to the final notes of the hypnotic Mississippi blues-infused “When The Levee Breaks,” IV contains eight radio classics including “Rock And Roll,” “The Battle Of Evermore,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” “Four Sticks,” “Going To California,” and, of course, the ultimate rock anthem, “Stairway To Heaven.” “Hats Off” to Jimmy, Robert, John Paul, and John for creating a true work of art that only gets better with age.

Led Zep 4 is truly a rock classic and a must for any music collection.

Chickenfoot premieres new video for "Three and a Half Letters"

Posted on Oct 19, 2011

To coincide with the UK release of Chickenfoot’s highly anticipated second album “III” (Oct 24^th) and the recent announcement of two UK concerts in January 2012, this week the band have released a new video for the single “Three and a Half Letters”. Watch the video here – http://bit.ly/nCStEu

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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.