Asia - Pheonix

Details: 2008, Frontiers, CD

Following significant acclaim for their live work post reformation, the “Original Members of Asia” now face the acid test with the comeback album full of new music… and manage to deliver something that both echoes that classic first album yet avoids merely retreading old ground.

Opening track “Never Again” is a superb piece of perfect pomp rock that bears all the hallmarks any era fan of the band would want to hear, whilst John Wetton’s personal commentary on his recent, well published health issues “An Extraordinary Life” provides a stirring and fitting book-end at the back end of the album. Both are sure fire inclusions on any good future Asia “Best Of” compilation and both were highlights of the recent live shows. Indeed the two are reason enough to make the purchase of the album worthwhile in my opinion.

Between them though there is something of a dearth of the stirring pop tinged indulgent up-tempo rock that I expected with the regrouped players instead delivering a work more mature and laid back, although still a pretty impressive set. Of the faster material “Shadow Of A Doubt” boasts an introduction that threatens to develop to the magnitude of “Don’t Cry” but although good, falls a little short of that high tide mark, whilst the other notable uptempo numbers “Nothings Forever” and “Alibis” may also fail to recapture former glories but don’t entirely disappoint either. Instead the positive impression is made by the songs that perhaps more resemble the recent John Wetton and Geoff Downes “Icon” material, or tracks that push time limits imposed in the bands vinyl days of the chart conscious early eighties.

The sentimental ballad “Heroine“, is beautifully delivered by Wetton, although runs close to over-sentimental on occasion, better though is “Wish I’d Known All Along“, a surprisingly modern sounding piece of powerful prog-rock boasting a medieval flavoured mid-section and Steve Howe in all his finery supplying some stunning guitar flourishes. The two eight minute, three part epics that are delivered are real treats though. “Sleeping Giant” is an ambitious spectacle full of big keyboard washes, exquisite guitar work and choral effect before seguing into a more typical Asia sounding piece entitled “No Way Back“. A fine song completed by great interplay between Downes’ keyboards and Howe’s guitar and nice to see there is still room in the modern format for a grand, overblown reprise. The second long track revisits the lush, mellow and classy rock delivered in the Icon project but is raised to Asia proportions thanks to Howe’s superb interventions. Whether intricate and delivered behind the vocal, a soaring lead delivered against Downes ever present keys, or owning the beautiful outro his mark is all over a track resplendent in the title “Parallel Worlds / Vortex / Deya“.

A couple of late in the day numbers are good enough without being outstanding and there is too little evidence of Carl Palmer’s powerhouse abilities but overall I find myself more impressed than I expected. Like the tour they’ve not taken the easy option of simply regurgitating the original “Asia” album and instead have stretched the boundaries and delivered something a bit different. More in line with the latter day Icon albums at times yes, but good enough and for the main part sounding suitably Asia-like to bear the identity of the reformed foursome.

Highlight: Never Again

Score: 3/5

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BL

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Confessions Of A Vinyl Collector

It’s coming up to the month end now and although most of my disposable has gone on other things this month (Man on tour and tickets for Whitesnake in July spring instantly to mind!) I have managed to add a few more vinyl additions to the shelves…

A couple of eBay purchases to mention first..

Gary Moore - We Want Moore… I don’t know much about this album but fancied a listen to Moore in concert prior to the successful late 80s period. Not a double album as such , rather a six-track record one that includes “Back On The Streets” from his impressive 70s solo LP, and a ‘bonus’ 12″ single with four further songs. All tracks recorded in 1984 with a line-up that included Ian Paice on drums. 99p + £3 p&p!

Deep Purple - The Mark II Purple Singles… a quick cash in compilation on the Purple Records label released under the premise of offering a “sensible, coherent collection of the hotch potch selection of 45s the band released over the years”. A nice looking purple vinyl edition in a good condition laminated sleeve I reckon this was worth the 57p (+£2 p&p) I got it for. The inclusion of “When A Blind Man Cries” and “Painted Horse” make for a nice change from the usual suspects on a Purple comp too. Seems the original buyer paid £4.50 at WH Smiths for this on release.

A jaunt to my companies head office in Ely towards the end of the month offered the chance to browse the charity shops in a town I wouldn’t otherwise have visited given its on the other side of the country. Surprisingly a few nice finds were forthcoming…

UFO - Lights Out… classic era UFO with Schenker in good form and the band writing what would become enduring classics. The title track, “Too Hot To Handle” and “Love To Love” all remaining in the live set for the times I’ve seen them in the last year. The industrial setting of the Hipgnosis designed sleeve seems fitting too given why I was there! Set me back £5 but it’s for charity - Cancer Research in this case and the case of the next album…

Pat Travers - Black Pearl… I’ve been listening to Ork’s new Travers collection recently (more about that soon) and was drawn to this because it comes after the period the Ork release focus’s on. The sleeve notes on “8+8″ also mentioned the track “I’d Rather See You Dead” as being worth the price for this one on it’s own - so I paid a fiver again!

Yes - Drama… moving onto Oxfam I was pleased to find this unusual Yes album from the period where they effectively merged with Buggles. Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White team up with Trever Horn and Geoff Downes for an album that I’ve heard a couple of tracks from recently with Downes appearing on both GTFM and Sunshine’s Rock Show to promote the new Asia album. Not the best Yes sleeve ever but for £1.49 you can’t go wrong.

AC/DC - Back In Black… finally, a hole filled in the collection thanks to finding a good condition copy of the Brian Johnson era debut complete with the original inner sleeve (it was important to me to find this - not a plain white sleeve!). A classic album that I still enjoy even if I do find myself drawn to the earlier Bon Scott era more at the moment. Again just £1.49 from Oxfam.

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Don Airey on this week’s Sunshine FM “Rock Show”

Given the mention of an early Purple collection it’s perhaps appropriate to mention that current Purple keyboard player Don Airey is Jeff Collins’ guest on this weeks Sunday evening Rock Show. A full time Purple-man for six years now he’s in to talk about his solo album “A Light In The Sky” as well as his time with Deep Purple. Also featured are another Irish band worthy of note “Inch High”, this show’s “New Band Of The Week”.

The stations website and streaming links : www.sunshine-radio.net

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BL

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Fish Interviewed on GTFM… again!

After his more than entertaining phone call to the show a few weeks ago Andy Fox once again caught up with Fish, this time prior to a gig on his current UK tour. 

Broadcast on this weeks GTFM Rock Show here is the chance to hear again the legendary ex-Marillion singer once again in great form… and not distracted by the football this time!

Download the 8.5Mb MP3 file here.

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BL

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Graham Bonnet - Line Up

Details: 1981, Mercury, LP

With a career stretching back to the late 60’s Graham Bonnet already had something of a solo career to his name when he became something of a surprise choice to replace Ronnie James Dio in “Rainbow”. His tenure with that band was of course brief although it did yield the hit singles “Since You Been Gone” and “All Night Long” from the album “Down To Earth”, and their headlining billing at the first Donington Monsters Of Rock festival ensures his spell with the band is memorable.

Arguably then, Bonnet’s stock was at its highest when he resumed his solo career with “Line Up”. Certainly the names accompanying him in the studio were from the then top draw of British rock. Rainbow colleague Cozy Powell puts in the expected impressive performance throughout and Whitesnake guitarist Micky Moody is ever-present too, whilst the guest appearances throughout the album reads like an early 80s who’s who. Sadly the “all music guide” assertion that it’s largely the “sound of a guy belting out mediocre songs with a lot of lung power in the waning days of 70’s style hard rock” isn’t that far from the truth.

It all starts well enough with opening track and hit single “Night Games“. Sitting astride the same hard rock crossed with AOR fence that Rainbow were straddling it’s one of the albums stand out tracks and has since become the Bonnet song most likely to feature on one of those generic compilations. Indeed it was the included on the high selling “Purple Rainbows” compilation too and remains notable to Status Quo fans too for its featuring of both Andy Bown on keyboards and Francis Rossi both on guitar duties and co-producing.

It’s further, although less impressive radio friendly rock next with Russ Ballard track “S.O.S.“. Not a great track, it does sound like something you wouldn’t be surprised to hear Kiss doing in their lean years though - which actually isn’t a great recommendation is it? The bluesy “I’m A Lover” is a definite improvement however, although Moody’s soulful guitar tones are lost in an over busy mix unfortunately. A straight cover of rock ‘n’ roll standard “Be My Baby” seems a waste of the contributors abilities to me and side closer “That’s The Way It Is” also isn’t special enough to abate some poor opinions I have of material offered so far.

Side two though benefits from some consistency by way of three songs from the same pens. First up though is another Ballard number, the cover of “Argent” track “Liar“. It did provide a low ranking hit single upon release and is better than “S.O.S.” but fails to sound outstanding. Fortunately though the choice of lesser known Chuck Berry number “Anthony Boy“, despite being a harder rocking number and out of step with the rest of the material on this album, proves to be a good one. Benefiting greatly from the edge offered by metronomic Quo rhythm guitarist Rick Parfitt it turns out to be one of the more enjoyable tracks on the album and briefly offers a decent sax versus guitar trade off to boot.

The three tracks from the Micky Moody/Bob Young songwriting team follow and are all more palatable than the Ballard numbers to me. “Dirty Hand” is a decent light-rocker and the Jon Lord featuring “Don’t Stand In The Open” is a pleasant if non-threatening, up-tempo track too but middle number “Out On The Water” demands note. With Bonnet backed by Powell and Moody along with Neil Murray, Francis Rossi and Andy Bown there is something of British rock pedigree on display and the song comes out unsurprisingly like a cross between Quo and early Whitesnake. Certainly one worth hearing.

Sadly though an over-embellished cover of Ray Davies’ “Set Me Free” that isn’t a patch on the original dilutes some of the good feeling side two has built up. Hindsight says this was best left for a bonus track on some future CD reissue, but nevertheless there is enough decent material here to make the album worth exploring.

Highlight: Out Of The Water

Score: 2.5/5

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The star-studded promo for “Night Games“…

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BL

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GTFM Rock Show Preview

“Something ‘Fishy’ going on…“

“ This week, a special guest interview with Fish, conducted during his current tour. He talks about the ‘13th Star’ album, Marillion reunion rumours and his plans for the future. We’ll have signed Fish goodies to give away plus t-shirts too. Keeping the Scottish vibe to the show, the featured album is the new one from the legendary Nazareth, and there will also be new music from Def Leppard and Whitesnake plus the usual rock history and rock news from the web.“

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email DJ Andy Fox via rockshow@gtfm.co.uk

Listen live in the Pontypridd, South Wales area on 107.9 FM

or on the Internet by pointing your media player at

http://qtss.lrc.glam.ac.uk:8000/gtfmmp3

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Join in the GTFM Sub-Forum at

The Classic Rock Newswire Forum

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The GTFM ROCK SHOW with ANDY FOX

22.00 to 24.00 GMT every Wednesday

Free - Fire And Water

Details : 1970, CD, Island

Even today, nearly 38 years after its initial release Free’s “Fire And Water” stands as a benchmark album for blues based hard rock. From the opening bars of the strutting title track to the closing strains of one of rock music’s best known songs it remains an outstanding piece of work.

Kossoff’s tone, Rodgers perfect voice and the throbbing rhythm section of Fraser and Kirke have near perfect chemistry on “Fire And Water” itself, a track I’d promote as one of the great album-opening numbers. The contrast between this confident opener and the superbly laid back “Oh I Wept” works well too, establishing the band’s hard rock credentials to proving their ability to still deliver beautifully melodic blues across the space of the first two numbers. Paul Kossoff’s wonderfully economic solo also acts as something of an early album highlight in this track to boot.

That a song as accomplished as “Remember” remains overlooked on the album speaks volumes for the material surrounding it. A fine song in its own right it suffers somewhat by being succeeded firstly by the piano lead mid-tempo groove of “Heavy Load“, a fine song with a great lazy vocal and more superb understated guitar, which in turn gives way to the massively confident “Mr. Big” complete with its mesmorising bass line and another superb guitar solo that builds to a huge crescendo amid Roders strained cries. A great song and again there is a fine contrast in styles too as “Mr Big” is followed by the more mellow “Don’t Say You Love Me“. From classic raw rock voice to perfectly smooth delivery the evidence on this album proves why Rodgers was considered such a phenomenon when Free emerged and why he remains a revered frontman still.

It’s not easy today to sit and comment on album closer and Free’s most famous track “All Right Now“. It is of course one of rock musics true classics and consequently has also become one of the most overplayed songs of the genre. In the context of the album though it’s a stunning finale combining everything that has come before it. The pulsing, melodic bass line and insistent rhythm coupled with a great vocal and a wonderful, certainly not overplayed, lead guitar all combine in what on release would have seemed a magical conclusion.

Currently I only possess the 2001 Universal reissue and “All Right Now” is the reason that the vinyl version remains high on my “wants list”. Why? Well the “Additional Recordings” that flesh out the CD apparently didn’t have much in the way of unreleased tracks to pick from. Free followed up this album with “Highway” about six months later so in addition to an alternate vocal take of “Oh I Wept” and a new stereo version and also a BBC session recording of the title track you get no less that three further versions of “All Right Now”. The “First Version” is interesting in plotting the evolution of the song, the BBC take an interesting curio, but the single version is surely un-required by all but the completist. Never a satisfactory edit once you are familiar with the album track its surely superflous when three superior versions are already present?

In summary then, “Fire And Water” remains a genre-defining album in it’s original seven song guise - and here a 5/5 for that very reason - but in its expanded format with three further versions of “All Right Now” making up tracks 11, 12 and 13 its becomes something of a test of patience. Free are about more than one song after all!

Highlight: Fire And Water

Score: 5/5

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A TV performance of what has become the album’s highlight for me… “Fire And Water”.

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BL

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Is That All There Is?

Okay… we’ve got to conclude the Danny Vaughn week here but I hope you’ll agree that it was worth the effort! An opportunity to go back and listen again to some great music, and I’ll stand by my comment at the beginning of the week that the guy just doesn’t release bad albums.

Of course we’ve only focused on three releases this week (although Tyketto’s “Don’t Come Easy was featured on Rock Of Ages back in September 2007) as well as featured Danny’s current tribute band, but there’s plenty more stuff out there. His discography reads something like this…

1986 - Save Your Prayers (Waysted)

1991 - Don’t Come Easy (Tyketto)

1994 - Strength In Numbers (Tyketto)

1997 - Blues For Daze (Flesh And Blood)

2000 - Soldiers And Sailors On Riverside (Vaughn)

2001 - Fearless (Vaughn)

2001 - Standing Alone (Vaughn)

2002 - Forever Live (Vaughn)

2004 - From The Inside (From The Inside)

2007 - The Last Sunset : Farewell (Tyketto)

2007 - Traveller (Danny Vaughn)

2007 - Back In The Fast Lane (Illegal Eagles)

A couple of outtake, live and demo collections also exist that are worth exploring too…

1996 - Take Out & Served Up Live (Tyketto)

2000 - Wilderness Of Mirrors (Waysted)

and of course you must visit the “Vaughn” home page and download the FREE “Rarities” album!

For further information on all era’s of Danny’s career try…

www.dannyvaughn.com

www.tyketto.de

www.vaughn.de

www.illegaleagles.com

www.waysted.co.uk

My personal thanks to Dave for his hard work writing the bulk of what got put on the site this week and of course our collective thanks to Danny Vaughn for giving us the material to write about and agreeing to answer our numerous questions. We look forward to the book Danny!

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BL

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“Illegal Eagles” in concert

at Cheltenham Town Hall, 8th March 2008

Now, I know that people who know me will be sat shaking their heads, as my opinion of “tribute bands” is well known. I probably wouldn’t even have considered myself an Eagles fan before this evening, in fact excluding Joe Walsh’s “But Seriously Folks”, I have never owned a single album by them! So what on earth attracted me to this show? Quite simply it was the opportunity to hear “the new kid in town” Danny Vaughn fronting a band of accomplished musicians.

Featuring Corinthian style columns, holding up a ceiling of over 50 feet with Baroque architecture, Cheltenham Town Hall was constructed in early 1900’s as a dedicated ballroom. As this was my first visit to this cavernous venue, it fairly took me by surprise that such a gig could be scheduled there. The massive organ housed behind the stage had obviously caused some difficulties to the lighting arrangements, though the stage crew imaginatively overcame them. Unfortunately the near legendary sprung floor remained underused with the venue installing rows of seats for the performance. So with two massive statues of former English Kings either side of the stage looking on, my maiden Illegal Eagles show began.

Even though I’m perhaps a little more unfamiliar with The Eagles themselves, than some of the surrounding aficionados I knew pretty much every song well enough to know they had done justice to the work of the country rock giants. In a two part set, separated by a short intermission and the chance to grab a cup of coffee, they showcased what can only be described as a “Best of The Eagles” interspersed with the odd solo hit. “Take It Easy“, “Take It To The Limit“, “Heartache Tonight“, “Lyin’ Eyes“, were all present, resplendent with excellent vocal harmonies and played to perfection. There was always the feeling Danny Vaughn was holding back just a little bit, singing well within his capabilities, that was until a spine tingling version of “Desperado” left me totally stunned. There’s no doubting this was the shows highlight for me and the roar from the audience showed I wasn’t alone. Also proving very popular was an intro section, where each of the band claimed the best intros in rock history were written on their particular instrument. Including such greats as “Smoke On The Water”, “Pinball Wizard” and the point where Danny got to prove his Queen credentials, “We Will Rock You”, they took turns, the winner decided by audience response. My money was on the Who cover! The light-hearted banter continued with instrument size comparisons, Jeff Green’s appearance with his double-necked guitar won the day and heralded a cracking rendition of “Hotel California“. The smiles on the faces of Thunder’s bass player Chris Childs and guitarist Keith Atack throughout, spoke volumes. This band was actually enjoying themselves. Having already had a couple of hours of hits, it was hard to see where the encores were coming from but a rocking Don Henley’s solo hit “Boys Of Summer” and a show stopping version of “Rocky Mountain Way” showed there was a wealth of material available.

A major problem I have with “tribute bands” is their reliance on mimicking the appearance of a band, rather than be able to replicate the tunes. Not so tonight, these guys were top-drawer musicians playing out fantastic versions of well known, well loved songs to a very knowledgeable and receptive audience. For my part, I came away Illegal Eagles CD in hand, more appreciative of the fine song writing skills of Messrs Henley,Frey and co., determined to investigate the fantastic harmonies and slide guitar work of the Eagles further. Danny Vaughn? Well he just further proved the versatility of his voice and maybe caused me to go and revisit “Traveller” to re-evaluate just how country it really is. Before this gig, seeing The Eagles was way down on my list of priorities, perhaps it still is but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend anyone to go see this show!

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DH

Dave (3rd left) meets the band pre-show…

All pictures in this post are provided courtesy of Marty Moffatt (www.martymoffatt.com)

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Danny Vaughn - Traveller

Details: 2007, Frontiers Records, CD

With what was his first recording in 3 years, Danny Vaughn was back with yet another cracker of an album, self- produced and the vast majority of the material from his own pen. Boasting a fine array of British talent, Tony Marshall and Pat Heath on guitars, Steve McKenna bass and drummer Lee Morris he dished up an album which was destined to make my top 10 last year.

I seem to remember some pretty mixed reviews when this first emerged, plenty seem to have taken one look at the cover and decided he had gone all country on us. Probably closer to the truth is this album encompasses just about every style of music that has ever reached and impressed the ears of Danny Vaughn. From AOR through to Celtic folk and yes, perhaps arguably there is a touch of country but they are all delivered with the soaring vocal ability of the man himself. From the opening American Indian type chants during “Miracle Days” through to the folky acoustic closer “Better By Far“, this album flows almost seamlessly through a myriad of styles. All of which are familiar territory for those who have followed his career and they are, of course, delivered flawlessly.

You’ll find top quality AOR in “Miracle Days” and “Restless Blood“, both easily recognisable as the man from Tyketto. “The Touch Of Your Hand” brings the blues to the table whilst the easy-going, title track “Traveller” certainly revisits the melodic rock of Vaughn. Boasting the dirtiest of riffs, hard rocker “The Warriors Way” stomps defiantly, gritty vocals reminiscent of Waysted days. There’s pop rock in the shape of “That’s What She Say’s“. With a touch of Bon Jovi about “Lifted” and “The Measure Of A Man“, maybe this is where the country references are coming from? One of the surprisingly few ballads on offer is “Think Of Me In The Fall“, acoustically driven, with backing vocals of the highest quality. Stretching out to almost 7 minutes, the epic “Death Of The Tiger” features a low growling riff, contrasting perfectly with a full pelt vocal performance. Closing it all is the acoustic “Better By Far“, a mandolin giving it a folk workout, a gentle ending, completing the journey of Danny Vaughn’s musical travels.

An absolute belting melodic rock album, one that now over a year from release is never far away from a spin. The only slight criticism I could offer here is perhaps the overall lighter feel and think there was a missed opportunity given with two guitars to include more out and out rockers. Still, this musical journey with the man of stunning vocal ability is an essential album for anyone even remotely interested in AOR or melodic hard rock. …. And not a cowboy in sight!

Highlight: Restless Blood

Score: 4.5/5

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An acoustic rendition of “Restless Blood” from the Journey support tour…

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DH

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Danny Vaughn Interview

<Bill> Danny, way back in 1986 you were the first ever singer I saw live in concert, at the Birmingham NEC when Waysted supported Status Quo. I’ve always wondered what you did before getting the position with Pete Way’s band and whether any recordings exist from your “early days”?

There are some earlier bands that I was in. Quite a few, actually. But any recordings that exist from those days would be demos and not something I would hope to see out there for general consumption. What I did do, however, was put several of them at my web site www.dannyvaughn.com and made the downloads free. I only asked folks to contribute anything they could to help keep the site up and running since Chris has always done it for nothing.

<Bill> And of Waysted themselves, I’d rate “Save Your Prayers” as one of my desert island albums. A great time I would imagine touring with Iron Maiden on the famous “World Slavery Tour”, supporting Quo on the UK leg of their comeback “In The Army Now” tour. What are your memories of that period?

Forgive the correction, but we toured with the mighty Maiden on the “Somewhere In Time” tour in 86 and 87. You can’t beat touring with those guys. They were incredibly helpful and supportive. I would have to say that I “learned my trade” working with Maiden. They were very open and helpful and I spent every available opportunity watching them work on stage. On the other hand, the only thing I learned from Quo was how not to be towards other people. They were, well one of them was, so unbelievably nasty, stoned, and paranoid that he would try to do anything to make our show fall apart. This included turning off the power to the monitors, or leaving us with a single over head light during our set. He ordered the road crew to do this stuff but they told him to go to hell, so he did it himself. Maiden always understood that if the opening act went down well, then the audience would be ever more pumped up when they went on. Quo never got that.

<Bill> Argh - “Somewhere In Time” not the “World Slavery Tour”… That’ll teach me to rely on my fading memory rather than doing proper research! Just why did that Waysted album not sell as well as it deserved?

I don’t think I would have any way of knowing the answer to that. Maybe you didn’t buy enough copies??

<Bill> I tried! Well I bought the vinyl twice (long story!) and the first reissue of the CD… Why didn’t that line-up of Waysted record again?

Waysted was always flirting with self-destruction. It’s the lifestyle and methodology of the two fellows from UFO. They had been playing the rock and roll game to the hilt for so long and since they were so young, that they couldn’t find any other way to live. It had some serious backlashes, both personal and in business. It was a relationship that ended with a whimper and not a bang. We all shook hands at an airport, said, “we’ll see you for the next album really soon” and then never did.

<Dave> The various genres of rock are littered with bands which have changed direction, sometimes pretty drastically, in order to sell records. Tyketto are often described as “the band who were born too late” and I would go along with that in as far as 2 years earlier and you guys would have been huge. Personally speaking, I wouldn’t swap Don’t Come Easy for anything that came out and sold by the bucket load back then but did it ever cross your mind to try and produce music that was more with the current flavour, therefore be now spending your days on a beach in the Bahamas?

First, let me say thanks for such high praise. We always felt that we had just a little more to offer as songwriters than a number of our contemporaries (no, I won’t name any). We certainly weren’t above the occasional love song or sex song, but we also felt we had a little more to say. When the trend of popular rock and roll changed in 1991 it was almost instantaneous. Like a light was turned off. Suddenly we, and everyone like us, were seriously persona non grata. You couldn’t get a return phone call from all the same people that swore you were going to be the next Aerosmith just a month before. But, to answer your question, no it never occurred to any of us to try and keep with the changing trends. Maybe it’s stupid pride, but in my case, I don’t think I could have pulled that off with any real conviction anyway. My style of singing just doesn’t work with what was coming out of Seattle at the time. But I absolutely agree with you that we got started about 2 years too late. Such is life.

<Dave> For reasons unknown to me, it took 3 years for the follow up, Strength In Numbers to be released, albeit on a different label, just what did happen there?

We had actually jumped on the writing and recording of “Strength In Numbers” right after the tours for DCE were finished. The writing was already on the wall and yet we were still treated like royalty by Geffen Records. Kevin Elson was found to produce the album. He’s not cheap. And he put us in two really fantastic studios in Rumbo recorders and Fantasy Studios. So a great deal of money was spent by Geffen. In fact, we had gotten as far as sending out test copies to radio stations when they pulled the plug! The only thing we hadn’t finished was the cover art work. It came as a phone call and it was devastating. There was a mourning period where none of us felt like doing anything anymore. It was like a funeral in the band house. It was probably Michael that started rallying us again and it was him that had the idea to approach Geffen records with a previously unheard of idea. I think also in part to John Kalodner’s intervention, Geffen did something purely out of righteousness and the let us have the master recordings at no cost to us. And allowed us to shop them to other labels. For that alone I can site them as one of the most amazing labels ever. We took them to Music For Nations in England and did very well with it there. Unfortunately we also chose CMC in America. At the time it was a fledgling company and it was crap. So nobody ever even knew it was released at home. This began my long-term romance with Europe and the UK and their music fans who are much less fickle and are amazingly supportive.

<Dave> One of my favourite albums of yours was the Flesh & Blood, Blues For Daze release. This was quite a departure for you, very much in the blues ballpark, how would you feel about doing more of the same in the future?
<Bill> cor! Good question Dave - I’d kill to hear Blues For Daze II!

I loved that album. It was the music I had always wanted to do. Despite my having a rather clear voice I have always loved the rougher edged singers and you find that in the blues. It was a no-brainer as the material was already written. I just came in every day and blasted it out until I was sore. And then I blasted some more! I would love to do another recording like that someday.

<Dave> Over the years, you have been involved in so many different projects, one such was Allied Forces. How do you feel about “tribute bands” nowadays?

Allied Forces was not really a project. It was a covers band that I was in long before the Waysted days. The release made under that name was a joke and a rip off, both of the artists involved in making it (none of the musicians involved were aware it was released nor did they give their consent) and, of the 3 songs that I was on, a rip off of the American Indian College Fund, for whom any proceeds were to be donated. Instead it all went into the pocket of the one guitarist who thought he’d get blood out of a stone and use what little name I have to pay his rent. Very sad.

<Dave> Vaughn were another band of yours which, whilst having some success this side of the Atlantic seem to have struggled Stateside. Considering the amount of fans I know from the USA, just how come you never managed to have any success over there? (I’m asking this for Mike Parrish here LOL - a guy both Bill and I know from old rock & metal internet discussion lists)

Because Mike didn’t buy enough CDs!! Seriously, you can get the word out in the right circles when you are in a “smaller” community like Europe and the UK. As I mentioned earlier, they are more supportive and they have longer memories nor do they completely live or die by the trend as Americans do. There are places we could have gone to play where fans would have turned up. Chicago, New Jersey, Dallas, but what do you do in the thousands of miles in between? You can’t support a tour that way. And, to be honest, Tyketto was as well known by word of mouth as some of our contemporaries like Firehouse, Danger Danger, Poison, but we never sold anywhere near the amount of records that they did. We were more of a cult thing.

<Dave> I can remember an extra on the Is That All There Is single was a pretty candid account of your life at the time detailing some pretty mundane jobs. Hopefully things have changed a wee bit and now you are able to focus entirely on the music.

God, I had forgotten about that! Mostly, yes, life is better in my own mind because I have been paying the bills as a working musician. That in and of itself is a tremendous rarity. But I don’t own a car, I teach guitar, I’m involved with a fantastic tribute band in the UK called “The Illegal Eagles” that play theatre tours and do very well and all of this will hopefully allow me to continue to pursue my own things which, while very rewarding, don’t pay. I’ll give you a for instance: “The Traveller” album is my favourite that I’ve ever done. I love it so much and I’m so proud of it. But you know what? Except for some small airplay royalty checks, I’ve never made a penny on that record. In fact, it cost me money to make. That’s the way these things are set up these days. Especially with a company like Frontiers. First you have to sell over 12,000 copies before you start to see any money from sales. And I don’t sell those kind of numbers any more. So my music really is made for the love of it. The only chance I have on making a living off of it is in touring and even that is risky at best.

<Dave> Up until this point, I have seen you with some of the most talented bands the UK had to offer as support, is there any you think should have made it big? Are there any you see out and about today which make you think, “Boy these guys deserve it”

The most obvious name that springs to mind is Furyon, who were formerly known as Pride. Basically, anything Matt Mitchell and Chris Greene are involved in is going to be musically great and appealing to me.

<Dave> One thing, which certainly deserves a mention, is your solo tours, both on your own and as support for Journey. As I understand it, you undertook this with no pay for you appearances and the only income you would have would be from merchandise sales. Were you happy with this arrangement? For my part, my two favourite vocalists, Danny Vaughn and Jeff Scott Soto were on the same stage.

Well, I would have loved for Neal Schon to have reached into his billion dollar pockets and come up with some petrol money for us, but, you can’t complain about getting an opening slot that anyone would have killed to get. We managed to make it work and we did sell a lot of CDs and make a lot of new friends along the way. Working with Jeff is always a pleasure and I hope to do something together with him in the future.

<Dave> Taking this one step further, I have always maintained JSS should be Freddie Mercury’s successor in Queen. Now I read on your myspace you quite fancy the job, I am totally torn. Was this a just a glib post or is there a real possibility of uniting my heroes with the voice?

It is a wishful thinking post. Who wouldn’t want that gig? But to be perfectly honest, I think I would fit in very well in that band. I can adapt my style to suit their music very well. And, as I said, who wouldn’t want the chance to audition for those guys?? So everybody start making phone calls!

<Dave> There has been such a deluge of bands releasing acoustic material of late. One of the first I can recall doing so was you. There has been so much of your history played acoustically and often with show stopping effect; it makes me wonder if you originally wrote them that way. Thinking of, your solo shows and the release Standing Alone, of which I can proudly say, “I saw that gig” how difficult was the transition from full band, to the stripped down versions?

By far the hardest gig I ever did! It’s funny, I can feel comfortable on stage in front of thousands and even tens of thousands of people, but when you’re in small room, eye to eye with 200 to 300 people you can read every face. Every reaction is immediate. And the focus is solely on you. How do you hold those people’s attention for 75 minutes with just your voice and an acoustic guitar? What I found out was how strongly the love of these songs runs with the fans. It was an incredibly rewarding experience because you felt their reactions right there. In Belfast they sang every song so loudly that it was tough to hear myself and I had a PA system! I only made 1,000 copies of the “Standing Alone” CD so I hope to get that reprinted in the future and my real dream is to make another full length acoustic recording.

You are right, by the way, I start out writing almost everything on the acoustic guitar. It’s always been my instrument of choice.

<Dave> Also, I think the first band that I enjoy who first put up an entire album for free download was you. I think every band can learn from this idea, do you think it was a worthwhile exercise? (available from http://www.dannyvaughn.com/seiten/)

I always get asked by fans if there are any rarities floating around. Well, usually, if something is rare and unreleased it’s because the writer didn’t think it was very good. Ever look at the deleted scenes section of a DVD? I can think of maybe twice that the scenes they left out were good ones. Mostly it’s throw-away stuff. I would never have put out a CD of those songs from so many different bands in my past and charged for it. But I did ask people to donate any monies that they could simply to help the gentleman that runs my web site and has done so for 7 years without charging a penny for his hard work. People did get it and they did contribute so I think it was definitely worth doing. I may do more in the future.

<Dave> From The Inside is probably the most complete AOR/hard rock album I have ever heard. I suspect you are particularly proud of that.

If you liked that one, wait until you hear the next one! It’s as AOR as it gets.

<Dave>Then of course we are onto the current Danny Vaughn, resplendent with a fine array of British artists. Traveller made my top 5 last year, in part for it’s “British” sound, though mainly for the voice but have you made a conscious effort to harness all the English/Irish influences?

Not conscious, no. It just comes out that way. It’s the music I grew up with and was influenced by. I never think of it as from one place or another. It’s just from me.

<Dave> Of course it follows, your not finished with this line up yet are you?

I certainly hope not. We are starting to look at new material now from the guitarists and I hope to be writing a new one this year, and perhaps a few shows as well.

<Bill> You mentioned the Illegal Eagles earlier so we must discuss them! I have to admit to being slightly surprised to seeing your name turn up in a “tribute band” (albeit one of some repute!) but then listening to “Take It Easy” on the band’s Myspace page I thought I heard similarities to that in the intro to the magnificent song “Is That All There Is?” off “Soldiers and Sailors”. Were the Eagles a big influence and this something of a labour of love?

Funny enough, I didn’t think of them as a conscious influence. I’ve never tried to emulate their style and yet something of them must have seeped into my writing consciousness because several people have noticed it. Playing in a band like this is really a simple decision. It’s wonderful and challenging music to make. All the players are top-notch talents. So we have worked really hard to make these songs strong on stage. The band cares about it’s audience very much, which is a work ethic I identify with. Every detail of the show is talked about and worked on. But the music is fantastic. It’s all about these songs. It’s never a burden to sing them. I never feel like I wish the night would get over with. I love being in it. And we have a good audience, selling out a lot of 1,000 seat theatre venues, so that means a lot of new people will know who I am as well. It’s a situation that I am very happy to be in.

<Bill> Is it something you envisage doing in downtime from further original solo and group projects?

It’s going to be my main focus right now. I will build my own project schedules around the Illegal Eagles schedule. As I mentioned earlier, making my own music doesn’t make me money and the past few years it has been a real struggle to keep up the recordings and the tours. Now I will be able to worry a lot less about bills and fund the projects that I want to work on of my own. I’m very lucky.

No sooner had we concluded this interview with Danny, some exciting press reports started appearing regarding Tyketto and a few forthcoming concerts. Notably they will be playing Hard Rock 2, Rio, Brazil 28th April along with the likes of White Lion and House Of Lords. Then, more significantly for British audiences, the Firefest at Nottingham Rock City 25th Oct, where they will share the stage with such artists as Jeff Scott Soto, Pink Cream 69 and Tony Hartnell. Incidentally the line-up will be Danny Vaughn, Jimi Kennedy, Michael Clayton Arbeeny and Brooke St James. Definitely an unmissable event for all fans of hard rock.

<Dave> Wow Danny! You certainly kept this under your hat! I had noticed you were chasing a spot at Rocklahoma but seriously thought you were just trying to find a way of thanking your US fans before bowing out. But these two
announcements are huge for Tyketto fans both in Brazil and of course the UK. How did the change of heart come about?

Mostly all of that came about because of the other guys and not from me at all. I was probably the most surprised of anyone when Michael and the lads declared that our appearance at last year’s Firefest would be our last. While I definitely wasn’t into a complete resurrection, I had always thought that we would pop up for a few gigs each year in some key spots whenever there was enough fan interest. But they all felt that it would be a difficult thing to arrange with everyone’s schedules and jobs and families so they felt, let’s go out with a bang.

Now, however, they remembered how much fun it all can be and there is renewed interest from the band members in playing more. So, with a little bit of a bashful grin, they guys declared they wanted to do a few more here and there. Brazil has always been a really good market for us but we have never been able to get there. This chance just jumped up and it was a perfect plan. We would, of course, love to play Rocklahoma and we have been lobbying the promoters to put us on but I am surprised to say that they have been somewhat cold towards the idea. I haven’t a clue why.

We have been encouraging fans to write into the Rocklahoma forums and message boards to let them know that we would be wanted but no results so far.

<Dave> You mentioned there are plans to record the Firefest performance for a DVD…

We’re still working on that one. Lots of people have been asking for a live dvd from us since we are at our best in a live setting, so we’ll see what we can do.

<Dave> The internet is rife with rumours of a potential new Tyketto release, how much truth is there in that?

We have been talking about it and some of the rusty writing wheels have been turning, but I have to stress that it is a long way from a done deal yet. The problem is that with such a beloved album like “Don’t Come Easy” to live up to, we’re not just going to write any old songs and throw them out there. We feel that we’ve got to be able to recreate some of the magic that we once employed as writers together. So we’ll keep quiet and trade some song ideas and if there’s a spark, we’ll go ahead and record some things and see if we can’t make another great album.

<Dave> So, Danny Vaughn, Tyketto, From The Inside, Illegal Eagles do you have time for any more surprises?

I’m pregnant with twins!

<Dave> Haha!!… Danny, thanks for all the pleasure you’ve given us with your music over the years and of course for taking the time to answer our questions. Is there anything else you would like to add for your fans?

Thank you, Dave, Bill and thanks to the fans for keeping the faith and all the internet support.

Keep those emails coming!

All the best,

Danny Vaughn