“Boneyard” is the new album from singer Reuben Archer and it was released by Toxic Arrow Records on the 12th July. Archer is best known for fronting the band Stampede in the early 80’s and again following their reformation in 2009. He has also released two great albums as Reuben Archer and Personal Sin between 2013 and 2017. On this new album he has teamed up with a group of musicians called The Brand. I featured the track “Love Is Blind” on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 19th July.
Reuben Archer (with his stepson, guitarist Laurence Archer) had formed the band Lautrec in 1977 before joining Lionheart for a short period and then being part of an ill-fated Wild Horses re-union in 1981. Stampede was formed in 1981 after Reuben and Laurence left Wild Horses. That band released an EP and a Live “Official Bootleg” album in 1982 followed by a studio album in 1983, but split shortly afterwards, partly due to illness. (Laurence Archer went on to join Phil Lynott and Mark Stanway in Grand Slam, which he has now reformed and is recording an album with). Stampede reformed in 2009 and released the album “A Sudden Impulse” in 2011. Reuben and Stampede guitarist Rob Wolverson then worked on a ‘solo’ record called “Personnel Sin” in 2013 and the follow-up “Petrolhead” in 2017.
On “Boneyard”, Archer had teamed up with ‘The Brand’, a collection of musicians that includes three other members of ‘Personal Sin’ – guitarist Chris Clowsley, bass player Jim Cooper and drummer Neil Ablard – as well as Ross Wareing on guitar, Matt Taylor on saxophone and Vicky Bull on backing vocals.
The album features ten tracks that are heavily blues influenced; indeed the project was initially to be a blues album but Archer’s rock background is very evident.
Check out the Reuben Archer website for more info - http://reubenarcherrocks.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”!