Music-Drop Magazine

Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, MC5, Mountain, Deep Purple and… Stray? The canon of hard rock and heavy metal is filled with founders and originators. Some argue The Kinks created the genre in 1964, others claim Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were the bands who ushered in the heavy era of rock.  But one band who helped define the sound Hard Rock is Stray who were made up of a bunch of teenagers from London who formed in 1966 and played together until 1997. To help indulge the music lovers amongst us, I decided that we should all be aware of the rocking impulsive sounds which come from Stray. To help me tell you about the band and its history I enlisted the help of Stray's guitarist Del Bromham. M-D M: Who were your earliest musical influences? Del Bromham: Well All my family loved music and my older brother Allan had a band so consequently there was always music playing in my house. I remember the first record that had a big impact on me even though I was ju...

Today, hard rock legends AC/DC announced that they are doing a european tour in summer 2015. Among the dates are June 28th, Glasgow, July 1st, Dublin and July 4th, London. Now these dates leave a auspicious date open in their touring calendar. June 26/7th, part of the Glastonbury weekend. They have been rumoured to headline glastonbury since they announced a new album, and the tour announcement has made many fans excitedly anticipate their headlining of Glastonbury. Tickets for the tour go on sale 9.30 am GMT on December 17th. The tour will not feature long-time member and founder Malcolm Young who is currently suffering from dementia, and whether or not drummer Phil Rudd will take part is currently unknown as he was recently arrested for  drug charges and threats to kill.

Speaking at event in Oxford university Johnny Lydon (Rotton) spoke about Simon Cowell while promoting his new autobiography Anger Is An Energy. At the event he called Simon Cowell "Our worst enemy. I dont think [the contestants] on the show [X-Factor] are awful, it becomes awful when they become trained into that cruise ship show band mentality." Talking of Cowell he said that he "has got us all on his big cruise ship lollipop, and I ain't licking his lollipop." In the talk he went on to insult Band Aid, saying it was "full of corruption", and pointed out that the administration takes all of the money. He then went on to insult Phil Collins' role in Band Aid, insulting him being at both Live Aid performances.

In a attempt to appear at least slightly modern here is a little piece on one of the most fascinating young guitar bands. Deers are a all-female Spanish band who pretty much adhere strictly to the music set by NME as C86. Which is the genre name for a certain form of Indie Jangle Pop. If you follow Indie music its likely that you've heard of this band before. They've been getting blogged about and talked about by almost everyone who loves guitar music, and that is perhaps fair enough. They play their music in one of the most devil may care ramshackle attitudes that I've ever heard. They sound like Girlpool yet have hints of Phil Spector and The Wedding Present. They are unique. *Note. 7/1/14 Deers has changed their name to Hinds after threat of legal action from namesake band

Yesterday Bobby Keys died. With him went the greatest saxophonist of the Rock n Roll era. He may not have rivalled the great jazz saxophonists, but he indubitably changed the sound of Rock N Roll. Perhaps best known for his affiliation with The Rolling Stones (He was born on the same day as Keith  Richards). Here, in his honour, is a list of his finest moments. The Wanderer - Dion  Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones  Can't You Hear Me Knocking - The Rolling Stones Whatever Gets You Through The Night - John Lennon Among his other greatest achievements include playing on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass , The Stones' Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main St., and hundreds of other amazing albums. Heres what some of his colleagues and friends have reacted with. "'Another good bye to another good friend' I will miss you, Bobby" - Keith Richards "Thank you Bobby keys for the time we spent together God bless ...

Yesterday (2/12/14), famous Riot Grrl band Sleater-Kinney took to Reddit to promote their recent reunion. Below are the top 10 things that were learned from the IAMA. See the full IAMA here . 1. Why the band don't use Bass? "Funny thing but I don't really love low end. That big bass sound that hits you in your gut is unpleasant! Not having a bass allows for the drums to occupy an interesting space in the music, which I really love. Also, bass players often make those funny faces." - Janet Weiss 2. Does Janet Weiss think that pop stars have cheapened the use of fans on stage? "You just put me and my fan in the same sentence as JLo and Beyonce? That is kind of awesome. I am not using it for the wind blown look, but to keep from sweating profusely. Not as sexy as those other ladies, right?" 3. Will there be a Portlandia skit involving the reunion? "Unlikely. But Fred offered to be our roadie in real life." 4. Our Pearl jam as cool in real life...

Blinkbox has published a poll which has revealed that the 80s was the best decade for Christmas music, hence the worst decade for music. The poll found that 36% of the people asked believed the 80s was had the best Christmas music. While 25% say 70s and 10% say 90s. The poll say The Pogues Fairytale Of New York  be voted the best Christmas song ever, while Wham & Bing Crosby and David Bowie also scored well.

George; a 71 year saint would have looked fondly his lawns in Friars Park as he awoke on the 29th Of November. His death day. Unfortunately George is not able to act this scenario for me, as he passed on in 2001. Personally, George has always been the Beatle who spoke to me. George always seemed, better. Ringo was the one I think I could of been buddies with, he would say a joke, I'd say a joke. Paul was the one who I reckon I'd be friends with but I'd get I'd feel a little too clean if I spent too much time with him. John is the one who is raw and unafraid. George was silent, funny, and thoughtful, exactly how I like humans. You'll find everyone talking about him nowadays. How he had the best post-Beatles solo album; the immaculate All Things Must Pass, how he had the first and last solo number 1 out of all the Beatles: My Sweet Lord & Got My Mind Set On You. And about how Martin Scorsese made one of the best documentaries ever about him Living In The Mater...

"You know you don't please everybody" - Ronnie Montrose  Ronnie Montrose; the leader ofAmerican rock band: Montrose & Gamma passed away on the 3rd March 2012. If he had lived he would have been 67 today, 29th November 2014. Ronnie's first foray into the music world was in band Sawbuck with Bill Church, but in the middle of recording Sawbuck's debut, producer David Rubinson gave Ronnie a audition to play on Van Morrison's Tupelo Honey . Ronnie got the job. Ronnie then played with Boz Scaggs, before joint the Edgar Winter Group, where he played on such hits as Free Ride & Frankenstein.  With Sammy Hagar in 1973, he formed Rock band Montrose. The band released two albums Montrose (1973) and Paper Money (1974). The second edition of Montrose with Bob James instead of Hagar released two albums Warner Bros Present…. Montrose (1975) & Jump On It (1976) before breaking up. Ronnie's first solo release was the all-instrumental Open Fire (1...

In a recent interview with NME (See here) , Jimmy Page has said that Royal Blood (Young UK Hard rock band) are capable of "Taking rock into a new realm". Jimmy Page praised the rock duo in the interview saying that "Their album has taken the genre up a serious few notches". Page saw the duo in New York in May, and complimented they performance "They were fantastic. Absolutely riveting". Royal Blood will be opening for The Foo Fighters alongside Iggy Pop during The Foo Fighters 2015 UK tour. Meanwhile Jimmy Page has expressed interest in touring in 2015, and has recently published a pictorial autobiography. Royal Blood's Little Monsters

In honour of the 40th anniversary John Lennon's last concert appearance: 28th November 1974. I'm going to list the top 5 most significant Beatles performances of their career. The band's touring schedule was famously cut short in 1966, after becoming increasingly annoyed with the fact that they could not hear themselves perform, and the fact that there songs could no longer be recreated for a audience with just 4 Beatles. Tour with Roy Orbison (May 18th - June 9th 1963)  Riding high off their Please Please Me album, Brian Epstein (The bands manager), organised a 'joint' tour between the Beatles and Rock N Roll superstar Roy Orbison.  The Beatles during the tour were reportedly shown up by Orbison's performances, and reports claim that Roy stole almost every show.  During the performances The Beatles wrote She Loves You and All My Loving during the tour.  George and John continued their friendship with Orbison after the tour, and George and Roy...

Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs and Koerner Ray & Glover. 1 of these names is a household name, 2 of these names recognisable for most music fans, but 1 is left to be ignored by all who are not experts on folk. Koerner, Ray & Glover met at the university of Minnesota, and became stars of the Folk revival. Their breakthrough album Blues, Rags and Hollers  was released in 1963, to heaps of success which gave them a recording contract for 2 albums with Elektra. Together they have been credited with influencing many musicians including: Bob Dylan & Bonnie Raitt. The trio continued to reunite throughout the 20th century, until 2002, when Ray died on the 28th of November. Koerner & Glover meanwhile still perform together infrequently. This post was made today in appreciation of Dave "Snaker" Ray who passed on today, 12 years ago.

Tom Petty has recently done a interview with Classic Rock Magazine ( Read it here) . In the interview Petty talked about The Travelling Wilburys, the supergroup he was part of alongside George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne & Roy Orbison. The band came about due to Harrison needing a B-side for This Is Love. The song which came about Handle With Care  was deemed far too good for a simple B-side by the band. So they decided to form The Travelling Wilburys (A recurring joke of Harrison's). In the interview Petty said "That extra track turned into the Travelling Wilburys. It was a wonderful time. There was never a negative moment doing that. We really enjoyed that. I think we made that record for us really" "Those 10 tracks were all we did. We'd go and cut the track. We'd have to dinner, and work on the lyrics over dinner, and then go to do the vocals - Bang. I love those guys" said Petty. The Band released two albums Vol 1 & Vol 3.

17th February 2015 - 100 Club, London. Mark the date. Because one of the hottest commodities in contemporary music are in town. Twin Peaks, are a power pop/jangle pop band, they are perhaps one of the most talented bands of their genre nowadays and their album Wild Onions  of 2014, was very very good. The band playfully intwine their guitars to echo the sounds perhaps most accurately of Weezer. Whose similar power chords and power pop dual combination are perhaps nearing identical to Chicago's Twin Peaks.

"Al Jackson was the greatest single stroke player I ever hear in my life" said Steve Cropper , in a interview with Jim Payne for his book Give The Drummers Some! . Perhaps one of the greatest stories in American music history, is that of the multi-racial Booker T & The MGs, named by their drummer Mr Al Jackson Jr. The band broke boundaries limited in music, by having 2 white players; Donald Dunn & Steve Cropper and 2 Black players Al Jackson Jr, & Booker T. Unfortunately just Booker T & Steve Cropper are still with us today. Perhaps the ground shaking nature of the band, set them apart from their contemporaries and allowed them to be one of the very few acts who emerged post original Rock n Roll (1954-1959) and the Beatles induced rock era (1963 - ). Their quintessential hit Green Onions is such a part of Western culture that it is grained into us seemingly by birth. Al Jackson, alongside the rest of Booker T & The MGs, backed many of the greats ...

Well NME has posted it's top 50 tracks of this year. Naturally it failed to match my personal opinion. Perhaps the worst part about the list is that they've revealed it over a month before the end of the year. December could have some of the greatest music ever, as far as we know, but alas as William Shakespeare said "December aint no part of a year". NME's top 10 was 1. Seasons (Waiting For You) - Future Islands 2. Can't Do Without You - Caribou 3. Touch The Leather - Fat White Family 4. Red Eyes -  The War on Drugs 5. Blockbuster Night Part 1 - Run The Jewels 6. Eez-Eh - Kasabian 7. Digital Witness -  St Vincent 8. Zombie - Jamie T 9. Little Monster - Royal Blood 10. Chambers Of Reflection - Mac DeMarco Basically you can separate these songs into a few sections 1. NME's personal addictions (Fat White Family, Kasabian, Jamie T) 2. NME wanting to be Hip (Caribou, Run The Jewels) 3. Popular indie choices (Mac DeMarco, Royal Blood, St...

In a recent interview with Uncut, Jimmy Page has said that his greatest achievement outside of Led Zeppelin was performing with X-factor winning singer Leona Lewis at the 2008 olympics in Beijing. In the interview Page complimented Lewis' vocals during their performance of Whole Lotta Love  saying that "She's really plucky, she's superb and she sang ' Whole Lotta Love ' brilliantly". Of the performance he also said that he was very proud that "We didn't fuck it up". "It was a Led Zeppelin number but it took on another persona. I was proud to be able to play that riff for the handover." Page has in recent interviews discussed the possibility that he will tour in 2015 alongside a backing band, while he in september he discussed with NME that Led Zeppelin are not looking likely to reunite "I don't think it looks as though thats a possibility or on the cards". Recently Page has also published a self-titled aut...

There are two bands called Felt. Both are cult artists. One was a jangle pop group from the 1980s who reached levels of critical fame but barely any popular recognition. The other band is a psychedelic band who formed 2 years after the summer of love and didn't gain any sort of fame for over 20 years. One of the few things we know of this band is that it was made up of five musicians from Arab, Alabama. Mike Neel on drums, Stan Lee on guitar, Tommy Gilstrap on bass, Alan Darlymple on Keyboard and lead singer and guitarist Myke Jackson (Now Mychael John Thomas).  Mychael John Thomas was enlisted to help uncover the secrets of this top-secret cult band. Music-Drop Magazine: How did Felt form? Mychael John Thomas : Sometime in April or May of 1970 Mike Neel came back from Florida (He had moved there a couple of years earlier). He came to me and said he wanted to start an all original music band, because that‘s what all the bands in Florida were doing. So we started writing song...

In case anyone was wondering I trawl though Reddit. One of the things that I found a few days ago was that River Cuomo of Weezer is doing a IAMA, now this is 4 days later, yet I haven't seen a round-up of it. So I figured whose more qualified than me to do one. A lot of people actually.  So here are the top 10 things we learnt from River Cuomo's IAMA.   You can read the IAMA here .  He's not a big movie guy What did he think of himself in the 90s? "We Rule"  When he was younger he really did want to be monk His pre-gig ritual is that he plays Frisbee with bandmate Scott  His favourite animal? "Pig"  He thinks all Weezer fans should here The Beach Boy ' s Pet Sounds and Ozma's Rock & Roll Part 3 He says "we're confident we're going to keep making kick ass music that we all love"  When he started his career he tried to look like Rick Moranis. No one thought he did.  His hobby when not doing music "Going to S...

Unfortunately for everyone with ears sometimes the greatest musicians are simply unknown. The case can be made for Alex Chilton (Of Big Star), of Rodriguez, and of many other musicians. However one thing that they have is the fact that they brign something unique into music. Never was this case more prevalent than in the story of Nick Drake the English folk songster. On the 25th of November 1974 he (allegedly) committed suicide. Taking from the world one of the greatest song-crafter in existence. In his lifetime Drake released 3 albums, all of which have achieved a legendary status, in this article I could talk about how he was a under appreciated genius, I could talk about his life, and I could talk about him. However you can read that all here , here , here and here . Instead I'm going to do a simple music person thing; I'm going to list. Perhaps you stubbled on this article because you were looking for Nick Drake stuff, or perhaps you were randomly trawling the web,...