Aaron Buchanan And The Cult Classics-The Man With Stars On His Knees

Self-Release/Independent
2017

Formed in 2016 by onetime Heaven's Basement vocalist Aaron Buchanan, British rock band Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics will be releasing their full-length debut album on Friday, May 26th. If you fancy yourself to be the kind of reader that appreciates intelligent and vibrant rock that is punctuated with moments of graceful classic rock elegance and post-grunge dynamites then you are going to want to keep that date in mind. From what I've been able to determine that is less than one year from concept to completion, but all the same that is day when "The Man With The Stars On His Knees" is due to drop. As mentioned it is the first album from this five-piece band. For many people it will also be the first time that they have heard of this group and/or Aaron Buchanan. Admittedly up until this morning I was a member of both categories. Prior to this promo's arrival I had never heard of Heaven's Basement or this new project. Here it is four o'clock in the afternoon and I am now wondering why that is? For one thing this band's front-man is a straight-up boss! Aided by his equably-talented sibling Laurie Buchanan (guitars and vocals) and the wonderful trio of Tom McCarthy (guitar), Chris Guyatt (bass), and Kev Hickman (drums), ace lead singer Aaron Buchanan handles his role as the mic man with confidence and a considerable amount of prime-time passion!! If rock and roll ever ends up being the one true religion that bring us all together under one big gospel revival tent then I am going to nominate Aaron as one of the fierier preachers in charge of the message! Aaron's soulful delivery on "The Man With Stars On His Knees" was a highlight of my morning. This guy can sing!! I find it kind of strange then how this band tries to sell you on the notion that it was only 1990's grunge that inspired their work. That might very well have been the group's intention staring out, but on tape this band's lead singer is a direct descendant of rock and roll's ruling class! Of course one man alone does not make for a very exciting band. Thankfully Aaron is backed-up by a set of enthusiastic musicians with their own message in mind. That message is simple and direct: "We are here to rock you!". And rock us they do! There is so much to love about this young band musically. Thanks to the top-tier craftsmanship of Laurie Buchanan and company, Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics has recorded a instant rock classic that owes as much to the legendary existence of Queen as it does Chris Cornell's best work (solo and with Soundgarden*)! For those of us who are old enough to understand the complex reality that Freddie Mercury and Chris Cornell are one in the same and yet completely different, Brittan's Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics are well on their way to making sure that everyone has a seat at the table! This British band is what happens when seventies rock and nineties grunge bridges the gap between radio rock and radical rock. In doing so they have punched the establishment right square in the face. Someone needed to do it so kudos to this lot!







*As someone who has mourned the loss of Chris Cornell I make that comment with respect.

Saturday Single: Righteous Reprobates-We Go With What We Know

Self-Release/Independent
2016

Due for release on April 15th, 2016, "We Go With What We Know" is a upcoming single from one of UK's latest rock and roll discoveries, Righteous Reprobates. Based in London & Kent and comprised of Rob White (guitar, vocals), Jack Griffiths (guitar, vocals), Jack Collier (bass), and Charlie Kenny (drums) this up-and-coming four-piece offers up a distinctive take on rock and roll that is all at once heartfelt and heroic. Influenced by not only the current state of British rock, but by the classic rock and pop legends of the 60s & 70s and Britpop acts like Oasis and Blur, Righteous Reprobates combines the old with the new on this catchy single as witnessed by heading here.With a full-length album due for release in very near future this young and hip quartet could make a real difference in not only the UK, but worldwide! Here's hoping their new/debut album (which was incidentally recorded with the help of Grammy winning Sean Magee at Abbey Road studios of all places!) is even half as good as "We Go With What We Know"....

The Pop Group-Citizen Zombie

Freaks R Us
2015


For the uniformed, The Pop Group is a British post-punk band that was formed back in 1977 in Bristol, England. Mere teenagers at the time of their formation, The Pop Group made their vinyl debut in March of 1979 with the release of the cult single "She Is Beyond Good and Evil". Both the single (a punk-funk freakout of a cut if ever there was one!) and the band's praise-worthy first full-length album, "Y", were released on Radar Records with "Y" appearing one month after the band had first issued "She Is Beyond Good and Evil". The following year another album appeared and there was a split single with the Slits released. The band also put out the misc. compilation "We Are Time", but for all intensive purposes The Pop Group was done by 1980. In 2010 original members of The Pop Group got back together with the full-length "Citizen Zombie" serving as the band's first post-reunion LP. Released in late February of this year, with recording sessions having taken place over the course of two years at various locations before it was finally finished in late summer 2014 at Epworth's studio in Crouch End, London, "Citizen Zombie" is the first new studio album for this British band in 35 years! It follows 1980's "For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?" and features original band members Mark Stewart (lyrics, vocals), Gareth Sager (guitar), Dan Catsis (bass) and Bruce Smith (drums). Production duties fell on multi-Grammy and Academy Award winner Paul Epworth (U2, Lorde, FKA Twigs, Adele, Cee Lo Green, Florence & The Machine, etc.), but sound-wise and theme-wise this is the same The Pop Group as before only older and perhaps a little wiser. That means their still socially-conscious and (by necessity) political in their approach and that when it comes to music of The Pop Group you should expect the unexpected. The group's music is anything but typical and while that can often times be a real blessing it can also be a curse. The Pop Group's new album was a hit-miss for me at first spin, but each new listen offers something different. Album number three for The Pop Group opens with the nearly four minutes long title track. While the industrial noise that is "Citizen Zombie" is a tragically harsh way to start things off thankfully the album gradually gets better with each new number just as it get's better with each new spin. "Mad Truth" is more like The Pop Group of old and from that moment forward these post-punk rockers offer plenty of good will to fans and newcomers alike. It's not a perfect studio piece by any stretch of the imagination, but for what it is and what it represents it's as pleasurable a conversation as one can hope to have with The Pop Group.