On Saturday, September 25th, Rock City Berlin will air a one hour long Glenn Hughes special. Glenn will talk extensively about Black Country Communion. Some other topics will include: Glenn’s voice, his difficult times in the 80’s and the late great Ronnie James Dio.
Note: The presentation of the show is in German, but Glenn is not overdubbed. The quotes are from an interview Glenn had with Jens Fritze at the NH Hotel in Berlin on July 8.
Arriving rather early to scope the venue we were rather alarmed to find some vans outside a building that can only be described as an industrial unit, near the door to Pentonville prison. Hardly the nicest area around, we took our chances and left!
However coming back at the advertised time of 7pm we found a group of people standing on the other side of the road, next to an older building that we hadn’t noticed before, and before long we were ushered through a courtyard to a small 2 up 2 down type of building. Upstairs is the bar, and downstairs is the venue. If it’s too loud you can watch the show on the tv upstairs! (I’ll cope!)
There’s a real sense of anticipation in the air, considering the majority of the audience are regular journalists, the rest of the audience (120 – 150) being made up from competition winners and such like.
The room for the show is approximately 50% stage, and 50% standing area, and come 8 o’clock it was great to note that there was no one taking the tv route, everyone was crammed in that room to witness the begining of the BCC story live.
A few minutes later than planned they stroll out and after a moments warm up launch into Black Country. The sound levels are spot on, everything loud and clear for certainly the heaviest song of the night. There’s a palpable sense of relief at the end, and the rest of the show builds momentum perfectly. You realise that literally other than during the recording sessions this is a band that are merely hours into their career. Each song played is still a learning experience for the band as new areas of solo come out.
By the time we get to Medusa the band is in full flow. On the record I wasn’t sure we needed another version of Medusa, being rather fond of the original personally. I’ll eat my words now and say simply it was epic. Perhaps it was the heat, the size of the room, that you could feel the music rather than just hear it, always a bonus in such a small venue!
Throughout the night everyone is on top form, Glenn’s voice is great as per usual, but controlled. Joe Bonamassa’s guitar always spot on, Jason Bonhams thumping drum style, and Derek Sherinian’s great Hammond swirls. The latter finally coming to the fore in the soon to be epic Sista Jane which finished the show, ending with more than a nod and a wink to ‘Won’t get fooled again’ and barely an hour after it started it was all over.
Upstairs later there was a playback of the show on tv screens all over, and everyone seemed genuinely excited about the show, and the future!
BCC will be touring early next year, dates are being put together currently, and more music will be recorded before that tour.
Yes it’s being hyped, especially in the UK by Planet Rock radio, who broadcast the show shortly after it had finished. But live, in the flesh, just sometimes the hype is worth it!
Posted in Blog by The Spanish Archer on 2010-09-22 15 Comments
At 9 pm UK time tonight, Black Country Communion hits a stage in Europe for the first time. And just as you thought nothing would ever happen again on The Highway Star’s Twitter feed, we have armed a fearless reporter with the login details and put him on a train to the secret venue in London. Let’s hope mobile reception works in this top secret location and stayed tuned to our Twitter page for details as they happen live.
Posted in News by Svante Axbacke on 2010-09-20 2 Comments
On Sunday, September 19, between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Nicky Horne will be joined in the Planet Rock‘s studio by three members of Black Country Communion — Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, and Jason Bonham. The band will be coming straight from the rehearsal studios for this two hour exclusive in studio chat. Nicky will delve into the making of the new album and find out about their first and only UK show for 2010 which is happening the following night.
He’ll also be taking questions for the band sent in by listeners using Facebook, Twitter, text and email on the night. And play songs from some of the bands and artists that have influenced their careers over the years.
Planet Rock will air the live performance of Black Country Communion’s only UK and concert for 2010 at an intimate venue in London. This exclusive worldwide broadcast can be heard online at www.planetrock.com as well as DAB radio and digital TV after 9pm.
Planet Rock broadcasts in the UK on digital radio, Sky 0110, Virgin Media 924, Freesat 730, and online www.planetrock.com.
The occasion; lunch in a secluded restaurant under a roof of vine leaves, slivers of sunlight dappling bright patches on the dozen or so customers – a random cast of characters, tourists, locals, mostly couples. It is a family-run business, waiters quick and efficient, sure-footedly dispensing breadbaskets and menus with practiced hands and seasoned smiles.
Diners and their secret lives; young and old, thick and thin, bellies, shorts, summer dresses, muffled conversations, occasional laughter…
Read observations of a rock musician in an Italian restaurant at in the third installment of Roger’s Road Life.
On September 17th Peter Brkusic from the Nasty Habits will present their new CD with Nick Simper The Deep Purple Mark 1 Songbook on Radiofabrik Salzburg in Austria. The show will run between 15:00 and 17:00. Radiofabrik Salzburg is on the air at 107.5 MHz & 97.3 MHz, on cable at 98.6 MHz, and online at www.radiofabrik.at (look for “live stream” link at the bottom of their front page). The whole album will be played.
Nasty Habits performing with Nick Simper at the Dolina Charlotty festival in Poland on August 15. Peter Brkusic on the drums:
At this point we would like to stress that Nasty Habits are not a tribute band and, apart from this project, they do write and perform the material of their own.
Thanks to Peter Brkusic and Jerry Bloom for the info.
Planet Rock reports that the (now) 35th anniversary reissue of Come Taste The Band is due out on October 25th. The album will be a double CD package, with first disc containing remastered version of the album along with the single edit of You Keep On Moving. The second CD will contain the album completely remixed by Kevin Shirley “with input from Glenn Hughes”, plus two unreleased instrumental tracks from the album sessions: Always the Same in LA and Bolin/Paice Jam. The tracks appear to be indeed unreleased, as they do not feature on either the Days May Come & Days May Go or on 1420 Beachwood Drive. DPAS describes them as “one is a five minute jam with Paice and Bolin, the other a short three minute track.”
The Deepest Purple reissue with bonus DVD is also due to be released on October 25th.
New Blackmore’s Night album Autumn Sky is due to be released in a few days and what appears to be an electronic press kit has found it’s way to Youtube. Featuring (shock! horror!) smiling and happy Blackmore, here it is:
There will be a Deep Purple special tonight, Sunday, August 29th, on Get Ready To Rock radio at 9:00 p.m. GMT. You can listen to Get Ready To Rock online through their player or directly from http://freedom.wavestreamer.com:6424/ (MP3 stream, you might need to copy and paste the link to your favourite player).
We apologise for the very short notice, but this is the best we could do.
Bob Daisley has posted on Youtube three promo videos for the Long Live Rock’n’Roll album. They all appear to be excellent quality, albeit the band is obviously not playing live (look for Blackmore in his typical fashion barely even pretending to play his parts).
Long Live Rock’n’Roll:
L.A. Connection:
Gates of Babylon:
Once you’re at it, be sure to check the rest of Bob Daisley’s Youtube channel — he has more goodies in there, including Jon Lord & The Hooche Coochie Men and Living Loud videos. Although some (all?) of them have previously appeared on DVD, it might inspire you to take it off the shelf and enjoy watching Jon rocking that Hammond like there’s no tomorrow one more time.
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Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing