Dare are back with their first album of new material since 2009 and Darren Wharton and his colleagues have certainly impressed with this one. “Sacred Ground” was released on 15th July through Legend Records. Darren of course is probably best known as the keyboard player for Thin Lizzy, but his work with Dare should really put him in that ‘rock legend’ category on its own. I played the track “On My Own” on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 3rd June and the opening track “Home” is included on the Show on 22nd July.
Inglorious released their self-titled debut album via Frontiers Records in February. The band is fronted by Nathan James, who previously performed with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and also includes guitarists Andreas Eriksson and Wil Taylor, bass-player Colin Parkinson and drummer Phil Beaver. After it was announced that they’d be supporting The Dead Daisies in Belfast on 21st July, I arranged to record an interview with Nathan. Unfortunately, circumstances meant we didn’t get speaking until the evening of the gig in The Limelight, but Nathan was good enough to chat with me for about 20 minutes after soundcheck. The interview and 4 tracks from the album were included on the Friday NI Rocks Show that was broadcast on 29th July 2016. That Show is available now via the NI Rocks MixCloud page - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interview-with-nathan-james-from-inglorious-friday-ni-rocks-show-29th-july-2016/
Read more: NI ROCKS Interview with NATHAN JAMES from INGLORIOUS
“Northern Rumble” is the debut album from Swedish band Featherstone and it was released via AOR Heaven on 24th June. The band is largely the creation of Rikard Quist, a songwriter and producer who also just happens to play numerous musical instruments. The album is a good example of that more powerful side of the melodic rock genre that is able to retain my attention and keep me listening (I’ve now had the album on repeat for several hours at my desk as I type this!).
Read more: NI ROCKS Recommends "Northern Rumble" by FEATHERSTONE
“Runaway” is the debut album from a young New York band called Tempt. It was released on 17th June through Rock Candy Records. This is one of those albums that I knew I was going to like from the moment I took a quick listen to the promotional material sent through by our friends at Rock n Growl Promotions. The tracks on “Runaway” are a blend of modern melodic hard rock and that classic 80’s rock sound. I played the track “Under My Skin” on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 1st July and you can be sure that there will be more played in the weeks ahead!