For the third and definitely last time after the two "Thick As A Brick" albums Ian Anderson lets his alter ego Gerald Bostock have his say with "Homo Erraticus" (Review in eclipsed 4/2014). The latter again takes a stand on current political and social issues. In the eclipsed interview, the Jethro Tull boss explains why he is currently particularly concerned about migration and immigration.
eclipsed: Is "Homo Erraticus" your most political album yet?
Jack Bruce has produced a late work that underlines why the Scotsman is one of the greatest bassists and singers in music history. "Silver Rails" oscillates between hard rock, blues and jazz and is bursting with energy. eclipsed visited the 70-year-old on his country estate in Devon in southern England.
eclipsed: "Silver Rails" has an impressive guest list, which also includes Phil Manzanera and Robin Trower.
Jack Bruce: That's right. I did three or four albums with Robin in the '80s. The last one was "Seven Moons", a really good blues rock album. I was in Cuba with Phil a few years ago, which was really interesting. Phil spent his childhood in Cuba. He was there during the revolution and had to flee with his parents. So it was very exciting to return to this place with him and indulge in memories.
eclipsed: Why Uli Jon Roth and not Eric Clapton?
The story Thomas Anderson tells about the new album sounds exciting and creepy. The musician is reminiscent of a fairytale uncle when he starts to lead us into the world of a demon: "My father used to work for an international company in Prague. There he was told the story of a manuscript found in an abandoned apartment, in which a man claims to be many hundreds of years old and to hunt down a demon who is mischievous all over the world. But it is not just any demon, but the embodiment of evil par excellence that lurks everywhere. And the man found this demon. Shortly thereafter, however, he disappeared without a trace and left behind only this manuscript."
The album title "Illusory Blues" is meaningful. After all, the seven airily arranged songs have very little to do with blues. Rather the core trio Khaled Lowe, Barnaby Maddick and Jaime Gomez Arellano want to show with their music how one can productively use one's own worries - the "blues" - and thereby draw new strength. You yourself have achieved this in an impressive way. In an interview, the British, supported in the studio and on stage by Dan Knight (g, keys) and James Leach (b), talked about their musical roots, the message of their lyrics and the spirit of the seventies that they want to capture with their songs.
The Innsbrucker Trio was founded in 2008 in order to create funky, hard-rock and progressive-rock music. According to drummer Jan Haußels, Yves Krismer (vocals, guitar) and Benedikt Trenkwalder (bass) have been making music together since they were children, while he was just taking a more "normal" path. "My humble self came to music late and thanks to the other two. Before that, everything went according to plan: graduation, studies, office job. Now the direction seems to be a different one," he comments on the development of the band. They already won the Austrian version of the "Local Heroes" band contest in 2010 and finished second in the European final in Hungary. Last year they were voted Newcomer Band of the Year in their own country, and in August they attracted attention as supporters of Iggy and the Stooges.
When Gotthard frontman Steve Lee was killed in a traffic accident in the USA in 2010, the Swiss hard rock heroes first had to think about their own future. Almost two years later they dared a cautious new beginning with singer Nic Maeder on "Firebirth", whereby Maeder's vocal talent already appeared. Now the Swiss go one step further on the bear-strong follow-up album "Bang!", in which they show themselves from their rockiest side and only sporadically sprinkle in ballads.
Christopher Hamlet Thompson is a great rock singer. He was in great demand by greats like Jeff Wayne, Mike Oldfield or Alan Parsons. However, his solo career never really took off after several exits and re-entries with Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The quality of our own oeuvre was too unsteady. Now the 67-year-old family man wants to return to the charts with the recording of "Toys & Dishes".
eclipsed: Please tell us a little about the creation process of your new album. With the young guitarist Arno Krabmann there is also a new name.
Kari Rueslåtten is already a star in her native Norway. She is even said to have founded Gothic Metal with female vocals with the band The 3rd And The Mortal 1992 before later more successful, but also more commercial acts like Nightwish. Since 2005 there were no signs of life from this band anymore, but the woman with the memorable voice, which sounds quite amazing like a miraculous mixture of the vocal chords of Tori Amos and Kate Bush, always had a solo career going on at the same time, weaving artistic ethereal keyboard and ambient folk. But also here in 2005 with "Other People's Stories" it was over for now.
