Troy Redfern is ‘Waiting For Your Love’, or so he declares on his brand new single, due out on Friday 21st May. It’s taken from that British slide guitarist’s forthcoming album …The Fire Cosmic! That is itself not due until this summer.
“I really wanted to try and capture the visceral vibe, atmosphere and swagger of this song,” Redfern said of the recently released video for the single.
“It’s dark, moody and is chock full of rock ‘n’ roll attitude. When we recorded the track at Rockfield Studios we played it totally live to get that raw energy you can only get when you’re all playing at the same time. When we made the video, I wanted a visual representation three guys in a room sweating it out and hitting it hard.
“What you see in the video is a true representation of this band. It’s a no-frills, honest delivery of a ballsy blues boogie. It was also great to feature my ’29 National Triolian resonator guitar used on the actual recording. That beat up old guitar has so much mojo. Darby Todd (Devin Townsend, The Darkness, Paul Gilbert) brought his vintage, acrylic Ludwig Vistalite drum kit along for the shoot. These kits were made famous by the late great John Bonham and sound massive. Darby used this drum kit for the entire album, not only does it sound huge but it looks amazing, we had to have it in the video.”
Redfern enlisted what he refers to as “the ultimate dream team” for …The Fire Cosmic! Aside, from the aforementioned Todd, the other half of the rhythm section is bass guitarist Dave Marks (Hans Zimmer), plus a guest spot from guitarist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal of Guns ‘N Roses, Asia, and Sons Of Apollo fame.
…The Fire Cosmic! follows five unprecedented albums that he released in 2020 and was recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios in North Wales, and in the same studio where Queen recorded all their early albums.
Commenting on this he revealed: “I chose Rockfield Studios because so much of the music I grew up listening to was recorded at this legendary studio (Queen, Black Sabbath, Mott The Hoople). The studio is hallowed ground for every musician, and the rooms there are charged with so much magic and history of all the iconic, classic albums that have been produced there.
“It was important for me to capture the raw energy of three guys playing live in the same place, at the same time. That’s something that you just can’t get if you’re sending files from different locations, it doesn’t have the same vibe or feel if you do it that way.
“As soon as we arrived at Rockfield, everyone, including Darby and Dave who’ve recorded all over the world, were excited to be there,” he continued. “It’s that kind of place. It has that effect on every musician who records there. Even before we started recording, the energy and vibe was there, which definitely set the tone for the entire album.”
Troy Redfern cut his teeth and has refined his style over the last few years, playing festival main stages and blazing a trail across Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia. He’s also become a well-known draw on the UK blues rock festival circuit, playing alongside rock luminaries including Robert Plant.
“Troy is a passionate, intense, free-spirited musician whose ferocious slide guitar style twists and turns timeless themes and ideas to his own ends. He’s a musical visionary unafraid to trample on the boundaries of restricting labels,” wrote Blues Matters Magazine.
If you’ve seen him live you’ll know that’s hard to disagree with.
…The Fire Cosmic! is a culmination everything Redfern has learnt so far on his musical journey, and, more importantly, brings into sharp focus a much tighter song-writing and more visceral, muscular production style.
For those particular duties, he enlisted the Brighton- based producer Paul ‘Win’ Winstanley, best known for his epic rock production style, and whom he met and had worked with previously on the 2019 RHR album, Hotel Toledo. Bonding immediately, they shared the same musical aesthetic, no nonsense work ethic and dry sense of humour.
Rockfield’s vintage mics, mixing desk, and analogue outboard gear gave Winstanley options to capture the dynamic performances on the album. “It was like being a kid in a candy store,” said the producer.
“It was important for the album to sound massive,” Redfern remarked. “It was a much bigger sound than anything that I’ve released before. As soon as we heard the first takes in the control, we were blown away. We knew that we captured something special. It sounded fantastic.
Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal commented, “It all starts with the drums, if you’ve got a great drummer, great sounding room, great board, it’s going to sound phenomenal, and it does!”
“I met Ron at a festival in Poland that we were both playing at, we immediately hit it off,” recalled Redfern. “He let me use his signature double neck guitar to play on Anthony Gomes’ encore set at the festival, that was an absolute blast. He’s such a cool, generous guy. When I returned to the UK, I emailed him to ask if he’d like to play on my new album. He was totally fired up to do it.
“The album really is a step up. It’s the best album I’ve made. Hiring Rockfield, getting the best players, the best producer – it was a risk, but it paid off tenfold. I’ve made an album I really couldn’t be happier with.
“With all the hard work that went into getting this album to sound as great as possible, there was only one option when it came to mastering. I decided to hire Frank Arkwright (Biffy Clyro, Oasis, Iggy Pop, Paul Weller, System Of A Down). Frank is the senior mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios. The mastering at Abbey Road added that final sheen. Frank did an absolutely amazing job in bringing out every nuance of the recording.”
“When it came to the album artwork, I was originally going to get an artist from Brazil to do it for me, however, I started working on some artwork of my own in the silver age Marvel comics style, based on the four guys that were on the album. I posted a few visuals on the socials and was overwhelmed by the response.
It was a huge kick getting responses from Joe Satriani, Richie Kotzenand my slide guitar hero Denny Walley of Frank Zappa fame. As a result, I created my own comic-style illustrations to package the album.”
…The Fire Cosmic! Will be released through RED7 Records on Friday 6th August and features the following tracks: ‘Scorpio’, ‘Waiting For Your Love’, ‘One Way Ticket’, ‘Love & War’, ‘On Fire’, ‘Lay That Love Down’, ‘Ghosts’, ‘Saving Grace, ‘Sanctify’ and ‘Stone’. You can pre-order it by clicking here.
Having heard new single ‘Waiting For Your Love’ we draw comparisons to a motorboat chugging unrelentingly through a dark, thick swap as Redfern testifies with a howling lustful longing. But you can judge that for yourselves via the video presented here at RAMzine, and you can order it by clicking here.
Troy Redfern will be going out live in 2022, as special guest on Wille & The Bandits’ UK Tour.
