“Fire and Grace” is the fifth studio album from American melodic rockers Alliance, a band that traces its roots back over thirty years; although their first album wasn’t released until 1996. Their last album was actually released over ten years ago, as the band members all continue to work on other projects. “Fire and Grace” was released on 24th May by Escape Music. The track “The Wheel” was featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 3rd May followed by “Real Thing” on 31st May.


 

The idea of forming Alliance goes back to 1986 when Sammy Hagar went off to join Van Halen; leaving his former band members looking for other projects. Former Hagar drummer David Lauser, guitarist Gary Pihl and keyboardist Jesse Harms went to see vocalist Robert Berry perform and were on the brink of getting a band together when fate intervened. Harms was recruited into REO Speedwagon, Pihl joined Boston and Berry went to England to work with Steve Howe in GTR and later with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer in the band 3.


In the mid 90’s Lauser, Pihl and Berry revisited the concept and together with former Night Ranger keyboardist Alan ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald started working on the first Alliance recordings in Sammy Hagar’s studio. The debut album “Bond of Union” was released in 1996, followed by a self-titled album in 1997 and “Missing Piece” in 1999. The band members continued to be busy with other commitments and lived far apart in California, Texas and Boston so live performances were extremely rare. However, a compilation album was released in 2007 and a new album called “Road to Heaven” in 2008.


The band membership is now reduced to Berry on vocals, bass and keyboards, Pihl on guitar and Lauser on drums. Their commitment to the project seems to be as strong as ever however.


Check out Robert Berry’s website for more info - http://www.robertberry.com/

About “NI Rocks Recommends”

The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. The albums that I’ll be recommending are those that you’ll hear me playing tracks from on my shows. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation to go check something out, not a traditional “review”!