Supergroups 2 ..more tips on the potential supergroups of tomorrow - This time a few raw and rare supertalented gem clusters from England in the UK...
Get your stopwatch out and test your mates with the following question ...
Name as many famous rock trio's as you can in only ten seconds. After a lot of stumbling and stuttering you may very well have been given one of the following correct and incorect answers... Kopek, The White Stripes, Nebula, Charlie Don't Surf (Cork), Motorhead, The Jam, The Jimi Hendrix Experiance or, if they're real experts on the real roots of rock ( or perhaps just realy old)...Taste and Cream. The rock threesome is one of the more unique and raw cornerstones of 'modern' rock and to play in one is a real test of any guitarists endurance and skill , so it's no wonder then, that for the last forty years, the worlds three best considered guitarists were originators of classic rock threesomes (Jimi Hendrix- the Jimi Hendrix Experiance, Rory Gallagher-Taste- and Eric Clapton- Cream). Well we've recently spotted a new band name to add to the fray and their talents are not only equal to the aforementioned artists but, if they continue to record together in future, they could be seriously in danger of surpassing them on the raw cutting edge of grass roots rock and 'legend' status.
Two minutes of UK newcommer 'Stubb's ' fantastic genre defineing sound will make you think the 'white stripes' have simply sniffed too many.The bands ideal is to simply play some great music and take rock music back to it's roots - even to the point of using 70's 'anologue' recording techniques.
The end result is immense and speaks for itself, Ginger Baker in his prime would have struggled to compete with Stubb's drummer Aaron and even though the bass players of most threesomes get forgotten were fairly confident Stubb's Isabella never will be, as
1) she's alot better looking than all the others,
and 2) she can whop her fingers over and round that frettboard faster and more accurately than any professional speed typist can a keyboard.
As for Jack Dickinson on guitar, well, this is quite simply one of the best pieces of off the cuff and inspired pieces of guitaring I've heard for over twenty years. Even his vocals have a unique 'originaters' quality- one second there's a trace of Jimi, then a huge splash of Rory all sealed in the tail of each lyric by a slightly 'Curesque' edge. Hundreds, if not thousands of bands have tried to recreate the sounds, spirit and style of that era and those greats over the last thirty five years, but none have ever managed to capture the spirit of this genre with such accuracy, flair and musical accomplishment placing Stubb as our Top Tip of future tips despite only having a small handfull of songs to offer up..If Stubb can keep this up then they will not only utterly eclipse every threesome (four or fivesome) to ever have been before them, but they wil also set an unsurpassable standard to for anyone in their wake to attain.
We've offered two tracks to rekindle and wett your appetite and a link to Stubbs MySpace page where you can order their stunning and authentic premiere EP 'The Dropout Sessions' which includes the tracks Galloping
Horses along with Flame and Road priced at £3UK (approx $6.50US) via paypal. Also playing on their MySpace site is 'Scale The Mountain' along with' Milk And Honey' and even though this last track is little more than an imprompto practice jam it's not hard to hear a few 'diamonds in the rough' running through this track either.
Quite frankly, were utterly amazed that they're still unsigned and Rory, if he was still alive, would have been their biggest fan (and friend). So turn up those speakers and get your ears round this taster of pure talent and then cry for more!!
Unfortunately for those who have fallen for Stubbs awe inspiring sound there is a little bit of bad news in that Isabella -one of Britains most capable female bass players - is going to be away from Stubbs line up for the next few months while she is touring the world for fun. The boys are staying faithfull to their lineup and wont be touring as Stubb until she returns -So Stubbs last concert for some time actualy took place place in London on 9th December 2007 . But don't worry too much as Isabella is due back from her world spree in April 2008.
In the meantime Aaron and Jack have been trying their hands at a new experimental musical venture called Stone Turner which has, and will be, including some of the UK's finest underground rock musicians for a selection of tours and promised recordings in which the boys will be playing a central role .
The venture has recently added some new acoustic songs to their MySpace page with some nice, skillfull and uplifting, yet relaxed, guitar work from Jack and co -but the greatly reduced amount of decibels may cause quite a shock for some listeners.. a couple of shaky notes in the vocals in 'Dreams for Sale' also came as quite a surprise - but there are still a few diamonds here that could realy shine out with just a tiny bit of vocalised polishing. So continue to watch this new space to see their growing collection of potential diamonds with some special guests and some heavily electrucuted gems to come soon...
Speaking of 'StoneTurners' , we turned over a few stones recently and discovered an enourmous slab of rock in the form of another 'Turner' whose first name is 'Rus'. If you're a fan of Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, or even Rush and like to lose yourself by bathing your soul deeply in the vast depths of expanded, intricate and intimate phases of musical brilliance then the music of Russ Turner is the perfect place to gleefully drown. From Southampton in the UK, Rus may be familiar to some as being a name previously linked to a few Ozric Tentacle tours.
What you may not know is that Rus is a multi talented professional musician and sound technician who originaly played every single instument on his latest album, mixing and engineering the entire project as a truly 'solo' solo artist ( before later borrowing another former 'Ozric' for a spot of drumming). It has also been rumoured that prior to recording he managed to have a sneaky hand transplant after kidnapping the limbs of David Gilmour. It seems that the basis for this rumour lies in the stunning solos found throughout the new album and most notably on the title track entitled 'Breaking The Silence' - though anyone who remembers his skill as an 'Ozrician Tentacle' will be able to reassure you that his guitar playing has always been this good. The other rumour about him stealing the vocal chords of Peter Gabriel however, may ( after carefully listening to the track 'into the fire') just have a slight glimmer of truth in it. One thing we do know is that Rus can match some of the greatest bands in history for musical composition and he is looking for like minded and gifted musicians to join him when he takes his outstanding sound on tour. Our two links to view for the musical brilliance of Rus Turner are his MySpace and Ultradimensional sites.
Ultradimension also contains his ultradimensionaly multi genred collection of musical
masterpieces from the last decade ..
Liverpool... A name synonymous with the birth of the British Beat movement and the Beatles, it's history has been filled with many influences from all corners of the globe in the last mileniun and it is often referred to as a Dublin Suberb on both sides of the Irish sea . In fact, when the Beat movement and 'Northern soul' started to take hold in the sixties there was alot of two way trafficing of influences, Liverpool had the famous Cavern Club birthing many of the era's beat bands, while Dublin had the 'Tara Telephone ' movement founded by Peter Fallon and Eamon Carr (later of Horslips on Rock Cornerstone one) whose publications were sought out by many of both cities beat poets and musicians (John Lennon even submitted a few of his works throughout the sixties). When the Beatles exploded into the world of music and began to be persued by hordes of screaming girls with scenes that hadn't been seen on earth since the days of King David (arguably the worlds first superstar celebrity figure in 1000AD) Liverpool became the very centre of attention in the world of music. But once the Beetles split it seemed that a musical vacum appeared over the city and many talented musicians were left out in the cold purely because they were Liverpudlian's but not the Beatles. ( A similar story affected Dublin in the late eighties and nineties in the vacume left by U2 once America became their main home). Let's face it, if you say youre in a band from Liverpool no one wants to take you seriously in the UK...But things are looking up for the cities bands. New festivals have sprung up over the last 24 months to highlight the cities talents, abilities and creativities...and it is among these new bands that we discovered the best set of songwriters and composers to come out of Liverpool for the last forty years. Their name is The Majority and they have written some of the best songs to have emmerged from the UK in the last eighteen months with lyrics that show a much deeper level of maturity and understanding than ever expected from such a young band. It takes years of hardships and life experiance for most people to be able to write and think whith such a depth - which is in itself a testament to the bands abilities and integrity and experiance.Liverpool can be taken seriously by the music industry again and The Majority are the proof of it. If you do just one thing over the next few months make sure it's buying their new single and album due out at the begining of August...they're not just the best Liverpool band touring and recording at the moment, but the best from England and the whole of the UK. WHATEVER YOU DO - DON'T MISS THEM ! These moving songs and lyrics will wrap themselves around every fibre of your being and there's a depth of character here thats almost unheard of in the rest of the world, so see and here it all for yourself on the jukebox below and on their MySpace page.. Sooner or Later you'll wish you'd bought the album... . THE MAJORITY
