Looks like the Predator franchise is going places. “Prey” is set 300 years ago, and a young Comanche woman called Naru (portrayed by Amber Midthunder) takes on the unwelcome guest with an attitude that is likely to match Arnold Schwarzenegger´s in the original 1987 movie. They have a lot to live up to here and I hope it is a good movie. It can be streamed on August 5, no premiere in theaters for some reason. I hope they have the sense to release this on DVD down the road. I was first made aware of this film when I spotted this image on the cover of UK publication SFX (issue 355). Check out official trailers on YouTube.
We have a new outfit called Otyken from Siberia that is making waves. The video for the song “Storm” has notched up over 1,800,000 views on YouTube since April. Call it Folk Rock, call it whatever you want, they have an interesting thing going here and if The Hu could break out of Mongolia, I see no reason – short of the war in the region – why this could not be the next big thing. Music transcends borders, overrides politics and unites souls no matter where we are on this little planet in this vast universe of ours.
My effort to get the old Deep Purple Family collection in order is ongoing and the timeline has now reached 1994-1995. This was an incredibly busy period for me as I had the Deep Purple Forever! magazine going at the time, and I have so much stuff (like photographs that people used to send me) lying around that really should be part of this collection. This takes time. The end result is going to be awesome and I will get there some day, come hell or high water.
(My shot of spread in binder 51, cover of Deep Purple Forever! 10 to the right)
Really enjoyed listening to Alan Parsons “From The New World”. I have slowly discovered how good this guy really is, but then he has worked with The Beatles and Pink Floyd so why should I be surprised? His new album is easy listening, very cool and laid-back. Almost serene. Perfect music to relax to. I will be digging deeper into his body of work, but if this is how good he is in 2022, that should be a nice journey.
This is a sad day for fans of Deep Purple, as Steve Morse has decided to leave the band after 28 years and seven studio albums (eight if you count the covers album “Turning To Crime” that was released last year), not to mention the thousands of concerts that he has done with the band. The reason for him leaving is heart-wrenching too as he steps down to be there for his wife Janine that is battling cancer. He has said in many interviews that he would like to stay in Deep Purple until the end but circumstances has now changed and a decision had to be made. The press release from Deep Purple today does not mention whether Simon McBride will step in permanently or not (that is for another day) as the new guitarist, but all members of Purple has nothing but good things to say about Steve. With him, Purple became a stable unit and the only change in the last 28 years came when Jon Lord quit in 2002 and lovingly handed over the keyboard duties to his friend Don Airey. There has been very little drama, if any, compared to the previous history during his reign. I met Steve a few times when he toured with Purple and he was always a kind man, always with a smile. I could see why the guys loved having him in the band. Musically, he had his thing going but they managed to merge the talent that he brought with him into the Purple sound with ease. It was obvious even on the very first album, “Purpendicular” back in 1996, that they had found new life. The only thing I ever heard him complain about (and he did it to me) was that the legs of the tours could have been shorter. The endless tours often got longer and that screwed up his own plans for short solo tours, and at the time I thought that maybe that would have ended up in him leaving the band some day. But he did not, he wanted to be there when Purple ended. I have nothing but respect for Steve Morse and everything that he has given me as a music fan and Purple aficionado. If anything, I want to send him all my love and thanks for everything that he has contributed to over the years. I know that he will be missed. Finally, I will share one quote from the official press release from Deep Purple, from Ian Gillan. “He came from a different background to the rest of us in Deep Purple and yet his musical genius has been somehow compatible and played a big part in the fresh direction adopted by the group when he joined and made his first album with us in 1996, and then onwards, for over a quarter of a century, enjoying the longest incumbency of any DP guitarist and contributing to the longest unchanging line-up, which started when Don Airey replaced Jon Lord – who retired in 2002 – until the present day”.
(My shot of Deep Purple Forever! 27 – Steve Morse cover shot by Michael Johansson)
Here is yet another ABBA Special, this time from Stateside LIFE magazine. 98 pages, loads of great photographs. I quite enjoyed reading this today. Not many artists have brought as much joy to the world as ABBA. Lovely to see them vindicated in recent years.
Enjoyed reading Sweden Rock Magazine 7 2022, particularly the interviews with Ian Hill of Judas Priest and Johan Hegg from Viking rockers Amon Amarth. Apparently, Biff Byford is a guest on the new Amon Amarth album “The Great Heathen Army”, so that is interesting right there. Swedish drummer Henrik “Hempo” Hildén has passed away and Erik Thompson interviews John Norum about his old friend in this issue. I met Hempo briefly when John Norum worked with Glenn Hughes (the false start back in 1988). Nice guy. Still have to read the Adrian Smith interview by Carl Linnaeus, great Iron Maiden cover though (some Eddie art can never really go wrong for a magazine cover, can it?).
(My shot of said cover – cover artwork credited to Iron Maiden)
Seen here is the CD and Blu-ray releases of Japanese act Roselia´s new mini-album “Rozen Horizon” that came out in Japan on May 18. The group has existed since 2016 and according to Wikipedia it is an alternative rock/J-Pop band that has been put together by a company called Bushiroad and they are one of their acts in the BanG Dream! franchise. The artists are featured in anime projects etc and in the case of Roselia the members are out there performing as a band live, and they are good at what they do, no doubt about it. Friends of 1980s rock will have no problem enjoying this band but it is a project for fans of J-Pop so listeners will have to be open to that culture to get it. I have to assume that Babymetal has been instrumental in tearing down some barriers in the Japanese music industry, and that this is part of the new Zeitgeist over there. It is very melodic and nice but it is steeped in rock. My guess is that the song writers are old rockers. Also, the image is very strong and I can see that their videos are popular. Comic book fans will have no problem enjoying this. For a westerner like me, this is very exotic and fresh. It would be nice if acts like Roselia could infiltrate our culture as well, although I have a feeling that the rock festivals will not go for it, it would have to be special events (as it stands now). Having said that, I think there is a market for it and I hope that it will blossom outside of Japan in a big way given time. Japan is a very exciting place and I am so glad that Babymetal opened that door for me.
Ever since Babymetal went into a pause nine month ago (and they did it in style with the video “The One – Stairway To Living Legend”) it has been obvious that they have left a hole that nobody else can fill in the music industry. They will be back, but the jury is still out on exactly when, and how. Meanwhile the reaction videos on YouTube are still coming in thick and fast, they have 1,000,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and when Metal Hammer (one of the classic Metal publications) creates an ad for Total Film Magazine they make sure that Su-metal can be seen on one of the covers. The return of Babymetal is going to be massive. The only thing that can really stop that is if our civilization goes belly up (trouble is, it just might). We live in interesting times.
(My shot of Metal Hammer ad in Total Film 326, “10 Babymetal Budokan” CD down to the right)
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