“Now” is the third album from Italian band Planethard, but the first to feature new vocalist Davide Merletto. Sometimes the first thirty seconds or so of the first track on an album can give you a fairly good feel for what you can expect from the rest of the album. On “Now”, the opening track “Play Harder” certainly captured my attention and it proved to be a good indicator for the remaining tracks. As I tend to only have time to skip through albums that are sent into the station before deciding if I want to download them, that ability to grab my attention makes all the difference! “Now” was released through Scarlet Records on 13th October. Check out the track “Play Harder” on the Friday NI Rocks Show first broadcast on 17th October.
“Sex First” is the debut album from Italian band Midnight Sin. It was released through Bakerteam Records on 14th October. I always say that I don’t like applying musical genre labels to bands and I’m not even sure that I could in this case. The press release from Midnight Sin’s record label says that their music is a “sexy combination of Sleaze Rock, Hard Rock and AOR”. Take from that what you will until you get a chance to listen to some of the tracks from “Sex First” and judge for yourselves. You can hear “Midnight Revolution” on the Friday NI Rocks Show first broadcast on 17th October.
Australian rockers Electric Mary first came to my attention around 2007 when they featured on a CD sampler from Classic Rock Magazine* . Soon after, the band were associated with the short-lived Classic Rock Magazine Powerage Records project and their second album “Down to the Bone” was re-released through that label. Since then they’ve released another couple of EPs and their third album and have embarked on a number of tours, including two in the UK. Having heard quite a few reports of how good they are live I’ve been hoping to see them perform for some time. That opportunity finally comes on Friday 7th November when Electric Mary kick off a European tour in the Diamond Rock Club, Ahoghill. That show comes just a few days after the UK release of their latest EP “The Last Great Hope”.
We contacted lead singer Rusty Brown to see if we could arrange an interview before their arrival and he was good enough to answer a few questions put to him via e-mail.