After a six-year hiatus, Swedish heavy metal band LION’S SHARE has just released a new lyric video, “Another Desire”. This is the group’s first new release since the Dark Hours album in 2009.
“The plan was always to release more LION’S SHARE material. And even though Lars [Chriss, guitar] and I live quite far apart, we have managed to squeeze in songwriting sessions here and there throughout the years,” lead singer Nils Patrik Johansson reveals.
“I’ve been working full time as a producer/mixer for the last six years, and Patrik has released albums and toured with both Civil War and Astral Doors, so it’s not like we’ve been out of the music business, even though LION’S SHARE as a band hasn’t been very public”, Chriss adds.
Both remark that they have always worked very well together, and at this point it feels the most natural to keep LION’S SHARE as a duo, with friends helping out wherever needed.
Well over 20 new LION’S SHARE songs are more or less written. About half of them are partly recorded as well, with original member Andy Loos handling the bass duties on the first batch of tracks. The plan is to release a couple of lyric videos – one by one – a couple of months apart, and to take it from there, depending on the response from fans.
THRESHOLD have released the first official picture of their new line-up featuring returning vocalist Glynn Morgan.
The band are currently at Thin Ice Studios in England putting the finishing touches on their new concept album ‘Legends Of The Shires’. The record is due for release through Nuclear Blast later this year and it will be the band’s first ever double album.
Karl Groom commented: “The music just would not stop flowing during the writing process. We decided that while the ideas were of a high standard, we would keep writing and are very excited by what we have.”
THRESHOLD will be back on the road across Europe at the end of the year, kicking off in Athens on November 12th and rounding off with a homecoming show in London on December 10th. Glynn Morgan will also play guitar during the shows, which will include tracks from ‘Legends Of The Shires’ as well as plenty of blasts from the past!
THRESHOLD – ‘Legends Of The Shires’ Tour 2017
12.11 GR Athens – Kyttaro Live Club 17.11 UK Pwllheli – HRH Prog
w/ DAMNATION ANGELS, DAY SIX
28.11 NL Weert – De Bosuil
29.11. D Hamburg – Markthalle
30.11. D Berlin – Lido
01.12. D Aschaffenburg – Colos-Saal
02.12. D Munich – Feierwerk
03.12. CH Pratteln – Z7
05.12. D Stuttgart – Club Cann
06.12. D Hanover – Musikzentrum
07.12. B Kortrijk – De Kreun
08.12. D Essen – Turock
09.12. NL Zoetermeer – Boerderij 10.12. UK London – O2 Islington Academy
The Cambridge Rock Festival 2017 will be held at Horseheath Lodge, Linton, Cambs. CB21 4PT. This is following a new sponsorship arrangement with Cambridge’s Black Barn Records. The owner of the site, won the jackpot in the Euro-millions lottery, and is an avid music lover. This is a stunning location in 90 acres of rolling parkland, Festival director Dave Roberts said “This will be our 13th full festival and we aim… for it to be the start of a new chapter in the life of the CRF”.
There will be the usual 3 undercover stages, Main Stage, Blues Stage and Acoustic Stage. There will be bars within the Main Stage and the Blues Stage. There is also a disabled seating area in the main stage.
Amongst the bands confirmed for 2017 are: FM, Tygers of Pan Tang, Chantel McGregor, Eddie & The Hotrods, Son of Man, John Otway Big Band, Atomic Rooster, Magenta, Deborah Bonham, Mostly Autumn, and exciting young band, Bad Touch.
More bands include, Space Elevator, Buster James, Laurence Jones Band, Ben Poole, Pearl Handled Revolver, The Mentulls, and Roadhouse. Lots of other great bands and solo artists can be found on the Cambridge Rock Festival website. http://cambridgerockfestival.co.uk/
The Thursday night, as usual will have its fair share of Tribute Bands, which is always a crowd pleaser to the local music lover.
The CRF is known for its great selection of Beers, Real Ales, Lagers and Ciders, some from local breweries, including 50 from Micro-Breweries, all at affordable prices.
There is camping for tents, caravans and motor homes, in close proximity to the stages. Free parking for day visitors.
Dogs are welcome, but please bring poo bags.
Access to the site, is mainly by vehicle. It is close to the M11 and A11.
The Rockin’ Chair has a forum. Please do feel free to join in on music & books, includes mix tapes, blogs, gigs etc. It’s all there and keen to engage with fellow music fans and readers.
Tony Hill pens the excellent ‘Mumbling About’ blog that combines music and books and he has a wide taste in both. Well worth a visit.
What inspired you to start writing/blogging about music and books?
I’ve been blogging in one way or another for about ten years now. I gave up on the personal stuff some time ago – too much navel-gazing. Music has been a huge love for as long as I can remember and a lot of my blogging had been geared toward is anyway so deciding to focus purely on that was a no-brainer. It also gives me an outlet for the rants / thoughts I have and saves me chewing my wife’s ear off over, say, whether Vs. is a better album than Ten…
The books element was added when I saw a publisher on twitter offering review copies of a novel called See You Tomorrow by Tore Renburg. I’ve always loved reading, I studied literature at Uni and so it seemed like a natural extension of the blog – especially when the publisher, Karen, started her own publishing house (Orenda) and was kind enough to send me more books to review.
What do you think makes for a good read for a music/book review?
Honesty. I like to read honest opinions – it doesn’t matter if it’s well written or if I agree, I just like to see passion for the subject be it positive or negative. If I want a formulaic or predictable review I’ll go the press as it were. Blogs are a more personal / peer-to-peer community sort of thing and I want to see the person in the review. Often that person’s passion has proven the catalyst for my checking out both new bands and artists that I’d previously thought “nah, not for me”
What has been the most popular post on your blog to date?
Looking at the stats… it’s a really close call between an older book review for Paul E Hardisty’s The Abrupt Physics of Dying and a more recent post on Wrecking Ball, part of a Least to Most favourite series I did on Bruce Springsteen albums which seems an odd one but there you go.
What were your musical and reading highlights of 2016 and why?
Well the best thing I read last year was Gunnar Staalesen’s ‘Where Roses Never Die’ and I read it over a couple of quick afternoon sessions while we were on a mid-week break at CenterParcs, overlooking a lake and armed with a good cup of coffee with no distractions while everybody else was having a nap. A simple pleasure, really, but certainly a reading highlight.
2016, I’m pretty sure, was the first CD-free year for me – if I bought a new album it was on vinyl. I love the warmth and experience of the format and there were some great releases last year.. I did a ‘best of the year’ on my blog… Explosions In The Sky’s ‘The Wilderness’ was gorgeous both sonically and in terms of packaging. But I’m gonna say the highlight – because it’s all about the overall experience – was the reissue of the Twin Peaks soundtrack. My wife gave it to me for my birthday but as we were getting to move at the time everything was in boxes so it wasn’t until we moved into our new home (our first) that I could put my stereo back in place and I made sure it was the first thing I dropped the needle on.
You have a wide taste in music, however what band(s) or album(s) do you keep coming back to?
Thanks, I do try to listen to a fairly wide range. Well, I try… but there are always bands I come back to and I seem to be ‘stuck’ in that alternative/rock and 90’s arena. I’m a huge Pearl Jam fan so there’s usually a couple of their albums in the car at any time along with other bands from the Seattle scene. Buffalo Tom are a big favourite as are Sonic Youth, Mogwai and, of course, Springsteen. In terms of individual albums… My Morning Jacket’s Z is probably among one of my most played and I think Jeff Buckley’s Grace is faultless.
Who are you musical heroes and why?
I think I’m gonna be a bit obvious with this one and say Eddie Vedder. From a musical point of view he’s just getting better and live I don’t think I’ve seen anyone (Springsteen aside) that performs with such intensity and honesty who can captivate crowds both large and small. On a personal level he’s a very generous guy when it comes to charity and championing the causes he believes in and while a lot of the angst of the early years has mellowed with age the intensity is still there – he also seems to be a very doting dad and family man too.
You are doing a blog tour based on crime books. What exactly does this entail and how do you find the time to read so much?!
The blog tours are an interesting thing – it’s a way of focusing / generating a lot of reviews and discussion about a book around its launch date. I’ll get an email from Karen at Orenda (or a member of the team) asking if I’d like to take part and they let me have a date to post and share my review. In terms of finding the time… it’s the one thing nobody has enough of, isn’t it? I can usually average a book every week / week and a half and am always staggered when I see people in the online community clearing more than that. I squeeze mine in at night or at weekends when my young son takes his nap.
Heard any good music lately?
Earlier this year I found a really cool record shop that hadn’t long opened in Canterbury called Vinylstore Jr (gotta love that name) and the owner was spinning a record that I had to buy – it’s a post-rock band from South Korea called Jambinai and their album Differance is great; a real heady, powerful thing that mixes Korean folk elements with rock instruments. It has this dirty, fuzzy opening riff played on a geomungo (I had to look it up) and then everything kicks in and rattles the fillings from your teeth.
My wife and I have just been watching some anime films and we’ve been listening to the soundtrack for (the original) Ghost In The Shell but then there’s a new film called Your Name and the soundtrack to that is great too, though totally different – it’s by a Japanese rock band called Radwimps and the songs were written to sort of supplement the dialogue, it’s got this great energy.
Anything else to add…
Not really – just thanks for reading my blog and inviting me to be on yours – I always enjoy your posts. The community and discoveries that come from blogging is the best part of it.
Oh and one I always encourage; listen to (they’ve got a Pledge Music thing going for their next album too which is something I always love as it makes the whole fan-band thing so much more personal).
