"My flared jeans fluttered as if I were standing outside in the wind," Alex Wilson remembers the effect of his first Black Sabbath concert in November 1969 in Dumfries, Scotland. After that his life would have changed, says the Brit, because he had never heard such heavy powerriffs before. The contemporary witnesses of Sabbath's first gigs in Germany report similar things.
Cologne, Eigelstein. The Hotel Savoy is only five minutes' walk away from the former headquarters of the legendary Eigelstein Musikproduktion GmbH on Hansaring. It's the beginning of March. Arjen Lucassen sits in a cosy corner of the lobby and gives entertaining interviews. It is still almost two months until the release of "The Source". But the mechanisms of the music industry have long been running at full speed behind the scenes. This also includes the usual discussion marathon, which, after stops in Paris, London and Milan, now also takes the two-metre slag to three German cities.
Basically nobody expected a new studio album from Procol Harum any more. The last recordings were released with "The Well's On Fire" a long time ago, in the year 2003. Now "Novum", which actually comes up with some innovations: organist Matthew Fisher and lyricist Keith Reid are two original members; for the first time all Procol-Harum-musicians are involved in the songwriting; Urgestein Pete Brown is responsible for the lyrics.
Basically, there is Ten Years After (TYA) 2017 double. On one track, drummer Ric Lee and organist Chick Churchill drive with guitarist/singer Marcus Bonfanti and bassist Colin Hodgkinson under the name Ten Years After. Although their concerts have something of a tribute band due to the two rather inconspicuous original members, Bonfantis' performance is pure passion, and ex-Alexis-Korner-/Whitesnake bassist Hodgkinson is still one of the outstanding instrumentalists in the area of tension between blues, jazz and rock. And even a Leo Lyons cannot and does not complain about such colleagues.
It has been eight years since Kairon; IRSE! was launched. Since then, the four boys have been following their own path between Shoegaze, psychedelic rock and postrock. With "Ruination" the band even went one step further: instead of relying on their improvisation skills, Kairon; IRSE! worked on new songs for two years. In a conversation with eclipsed guitarist/keyboarder Niko Lehdontie makes a bow from the beginning of the band to the current record.
"I've been here a few years, a stone's throw from Manhattan. And that's because of a woman. How life plays," giggles the phone. This lady is called Rebecca Wilson and is a life companion, background singer, assistant and lifeline in personal union. "She was there for me when I had a stroke in 2004 and had to learn to walk and speak again. A terrible experience. It took me two years to get on my feet. Since then I have known what is important in life, namely family, friendship, good music and enjoying every day to the full."
A hotel suite in Berlin. Greg Dulli slurps an iced coffee and looks more like a university professor than a rock star with his turtleneck sweater, shirt collar, pleated trousers, short haircut and discreet overweight. Which brings a certain irony. After all, the 51-year-old is a studied historian, but (in the past) also one of the most eccentric representatives of the post-grunge generation. Today he owns four bars and enjoys life between Los Angeles and New Orleans.
For the Big Big Train founders Greg Spawton and Andy Poole it was and is a main concern with their creative creature that the sound is constantly expanded through regular reshuffles. On the most recent work "Grimspound", as on "Folklore", a proud eight henchmen and women are at work in order to be able to implement this requirement. "Above all, they are the same creative partners as on the last album, you can talk about a kind of well-rehearsed team," says 51-year-old Spawton. "It's a lot of fun to be a member of this band like never before. Because you're always working on new ideas.
"When I first heard his new album, I thought, "Something's wrong here," laughs Mark Lanegan's bosom buddy Greg Dulli from the Afghan Whigs. "Mark sounds happy for the first time. I said to him, 'Dude, what's the matter with you?' And he said, 'I guess I'm completely satisfied with myself and the world.'" No wonder, at 52 Mark Lanegan has reached the point he always dreamed of, both professionally and privately.
![FATES WARNING have brought "Awaken The Guardian" on stage](https://www.eclipsed.de/sites/default/files/field/image/FW%20ATG%20promo%201986%20web.jpg "FATES WARNING have brought "Awaken The Guardian" on stage")
Last year Fates Warning celebrated the 30th birthday of their masterpiece "Awaken The Guardian". To pay tribute to this progmetal milestone, guitarist Jim Matheos reactivated the original line-up for two festival shows in Germany and the USA. The recordings of both performances are now available as "Awaken The Guardian Live". We grabbed singer John Arch to chat about the shows. "The preparations took over a year," explains the 57-year-old, who lives just under two and a half hours by car northeast of New York.
