German band Running Wild return with their 16th studio album entitled “Rapid Foray” – released on 26th August through Steamhammer / SPV. I’ve always liked songs that are based on historical events or stories and Rolf Kasparek (aka Rock n Rolf) has a fantastic track record for delivering those conceptual lyrics accompanied by a thundering, instantly infectious soundtrack. I played the album’s opening track “Black Skies, Red Flag” on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 19th August.
Read more: NI ROCKS Recommends "Rapid Foray" by RUNNING WILD
Black Swamp Water is a band from Denmark and they release their debut album “Chapter One” through Mighty Music on 26th August. With a name like Black Swamp Water I had been expecting something with a Southern Rock kinda vibe, but the band lean more to the hard rock / metal side of things. More Black Sabbath than Black Stone Cherry perhaps? Either is ok with me. I played the track “Leave Nothing Behind” on the NI Rocks A-Z Show on 16th August.
Read more: NI ROCKS Recommends "Chapter One" by BLACK SWAMP WATER
This weekend marks the 6th anniversary of the first Friday NI Rocks Show being broadcast on Rock Radio NI on 27th August 2010. The 297th Show has just been uploaded to the On Demand Player – we’ve missed a few uploads over the years, mainly due to problems with my laptop! (The NI Rocks A-Z Show started a few months earlier and is currently on Show number 324). As I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to stats, I thought it was worth looking back over the first 6 years of the Friday NI Rocks Show. We’ve broadcast 50 interviews (44 in the last three years) and included almost 4,000 tracks by around 650 different artists on the playlists.
Read more: FRIDAY NI ROCKS SHOW - Review of the First Six Years
“Breathless” is the fifth album from British melodic rock band Dante Fox and it is released on 26th August via the AOR Heaven label. The band formed back in 1989 but didn’t release their debut album until 1996. They’ve been regulars in the line-up for Firefest and the Hard Rock Hell festivals over the past few years and I’m looking forward to catching them at the HRH AOR Festival in March 2017. The track “Young Hearts” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 29th July.