Said individual, Darren Wharton, still fronts the band, singing as well as tickling assorted ivories, one Marc Roberts being the other keyboard player now, with Nigel Clutterbuck (bass) and Kev Whitehead (drums) the current rhythm section, while original guitarist Vinny Burns returned to play with them a few years back – He too has form, with acts as diverse as Asia, Ultravox, FM, and most particularly Ten, and there I confess is where the confusion lies for me, since I’ve heard the odd track by both Dare and Ten, and tend to confuse them in my mind, though listening to Road To Eden, they actually sound pretty different.

Getting my facts right here hopefully, Dare gained swift critical success with their arrival on the music scene of the late eighties, touring as support to some major acts but ultimately deciding to not feed the more predictable flames of fan furore, notably by developing a Celtic feel to their music, while retaining a hard rock/AOR approach too if this album’s any judge.

Road To Eden is their tenth album, produced by Wharton and released on his own label, Legend Records, through Warner’s distributor ADA. I am presuming that he’s also the main, if not sole, songwriter across the ten tracks featured for there are certainly similar themes among several of the tracks.

From the start, there’s the feeling these songs were written during the covid lockdown, a time of solitude and too much time to think, but coming out of it having deliberated on the things that matter: friends, relatives and those who’ve influenced you, some of who may not be with you now but still have a hold on the things that make you who and what you are; hopefully for the better.

Guitars worm their way skywards then resound ever louder until a hefty “whoa-whoah” calls out and we’re off and running on open number ‘Born In the Storm’. At first, both lyrically and musically it calls to mind primetime Whitesnake but with an added Celtic thread, then as it continues you realise the lyrics are less machismo more spiritual in intent, but that’d puts aside by an invigorating solo from Burns that demands your attention.

Upbeat in sound, melancholy in theme, more resounding in its Celtic rock assurgency as it bops along is ‘Cradle To The Grave’. Bright and bold, 80s rocking in its initial jousting is ‘Fire Never Fades’ albeit with some folk ballad-esque moments suiting Wharton’s dry reeded voice. Now for some, these songs might be a little too like Mike & The Mechanics’ ‘The Living Years’ in their narrative, but that’s necessarily a bad thing.

Pitched somewhere between the previous two numbers, but with a big singalong anthemic feel is title track, ‘Road To Eden’. A song of positivity and about reaching your personal goal. The mainstream ballad ‘Lovers And Friends’ that follows shows that goal doesn’t need to be soul searching or overtly profound.

Piano-led initially, ‘Only the Good Die Young’ draws the listener in, rocking up while looking back nostalgically, not dissimilarly to Bryan Adams’ ‘Summer Of 69’, Don Henley’s ‘Boys of Summer’ yet strangely more so echoing Waysted’s ‘Heroes Die Young’.

Something of a departure, ‘Grace’, while being another piano led ballad initially, building in part though not overtly, its main focus being the convincing narrative portrayed of a brief encounter, romance if you will, on a train.

As change of pace again, Burns’ guitar evokes the sound of haunting bagpipes on the melancholy rocker, ‘I Always Will’. Then, broken chord give way to rockier tones on ‘The Devil Rides Tonight’ – The song implies escape from an abusive relationship, a guitar solo fittingly screaming out as chords drive harder underneath, notes soaring as it returns to the main songs to song and riffing away until end.

On closing number ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ keyboards temper the mood and the guitar plays quieter in the background over this churchly AOR number – If its attempt is to be aspiring rock as kindled by the influence of visionaries like William Blake, its coming from a good place. Wharton sings of youth and how life can chip away at your dreams, while Burns rips out his finest, and longest solo, tangled and twisted ever roaring in defiance as vocal refrains repeat in ascension, the rhythm section beating down hard underneath to reinforce the message as a final guitar solo takes the record to its conclusion.

Road To Eden is likely to be best appreciated, played in full, as summer turns to autumn, where there’s still warmth and happy memories felt as the seasons slowly change colour.

The album is available to order on CD here or digital here.  Dare will be returning to the live stage later this year with a UK tour.

The post Dare – Road To Eden  appeared first on RAMzine.

The news follows Redfern ‘s support slot on When Rivers Meet’s this April and May just gone and precedes a new studio album slated for release in Autumn 2022. 

Hailed by Rock And Blues Muse as part of their Best of British: 15 UK Blues Artists to Check Out Today, they had this to say: “His performances are passionate and intense, and while his style certainly references its delta blues roots, his delivery pulls it into the 21st century through a swamp of distortion and contemporary rock n’ roll aesthetics.”

Over the past 12 months, Redfern has toured the UK several times supporting the likes of Robert Jon & The Wreck, The Quireboys, The Sweet and most recently When Rivers Meet. 

His critically acclaimed album, The Fire Cosmic, was released in August 2021, and features the singles ‘Waiting For Your Love’, ‘Ghosts’, ‘Sanctify’ and ‘Stone’.

The album is available from here and tickets to see DARE with Troy Redfern are available from The Gig Cartel and Seetickets.com.

The post Troy Redfern & DARE appeared first on RAMzine.

To support the release, Dare will embark on a 12-date UK headline Tour this coming October. Planet Rock will start at 48-hour ticket pre-sale at 9am on Wednesday 12th January thar you can access here. Tickets then go on general sale at 9am on Friday 14th January via The Gig Cartel and www.seetickets.com. 

The first single, ‘Born In The Storm’, will also be released on Friday 14th January, and can be pre-saved here. While Road To Eden can be pre-ordered both on CD and digitally here.

Road To Eden follows Dare’s critically acclaimed 2016 album Sacred Ground and 2018’s Out Of The Silence 2. Both records reached Number #1 in the Amazon Classic Rock Charts in the UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The band also entered the top #5 in the Official UK Rock Chart, number #6 in the U.S. Amazon Classic Rock Charts and Number #1 in Japanese rock imports. The band has received well over 4 million streams on Spotify.

The band features Darren Wharton – Vocals, keyboards, Vinny Burns – Guitars, Nigel Clutterbuck – Bass guitar, Marc Roberts – Keyboards and Kev Whitehead – Drums.
Road To Eden has been produced by Wharton, who was also a member of Thin Lizzy. It was record at his studio in the mountains of North Wales. The new album has a harder rock edge than previous ones, whilst still retaining the atmospheric sound, and anthemic melodies that has become the band’s signature trademark.

“We wanted to write an album that translated well to live performance,” said Wharton. “Road To Eden has some great anthems, energy and power. We can’t wait to play the new songs live.”

Tracks featured on the new album are: ‘Born In The Storm’, ‘Cradle To The Grave’, ‘Fire Never Fades’, ‘Road To Eden’, ‘Lovers And Friends’, ‘Only The Good Die Young’, ‘I Always Will’, ‘Grace’, ‘The Devil Rides Tonight’, ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ and ‘Born In A Storm’ (Romesh Remix)’.

You can watch the official music video for new single ‘Born In The Storm’ right here at RAMzine, and UK tour days are listed below.

The post Dare… New single, album & UK tour due! appeared first on RAMzine.

Red Rum (Hammerfest Arena)

“YAAAAAARRRRR!!!” Neoclassical pirate metallers Red Rum provided us with a performance that we certainly won’t forget anytime soon. They played a cover of the internet hit ‘They’re Taking The Hobbits To Isengard’ – this quite frankly amazing cover, took us completely by surprise. The excitement certainly got to everyone in the room, for it was a Metal Marauders theme this year, which meant a lot of people were dressed as pirates on this day. What a great crowd-pumping band. See our Instagram video here.

Sepentine (HRH AOR Arena)

Serpentine are a band that we have dubbed as awesome since 2012’s Hard Rock Hell. It was great to see them perform yet again – It’s as if they came straight from some kind of AOR dream land. We were very happy to hear some tracks off their forthcoming album ‘Circle of Knives’ – which will be out through AOR Heaven on April 24th.

It was evident from the very beginning that this band are in it with pure passion. As always they produce a set full of technically strong songs and heart felt lyrics. They have had a few line-up changes in recent years, but assured us that they are now settled.

StOp, sToP (HRH Sleaze)

It’s not everyday a band orders a pizza during a set. Jacob A.M., lead singer & bass guitarist of StOp, sToP jumps down from the stage, across the crowd, and over the counter into Papa Johns. Playing the Pink Panther theme tune, he scrapers around. This was our first time witnessing StOp, sToP, and they did not disappoint. If you are a fan of all things sleazy, check them out.

Devilment (Hammerfest Arena)

Devilment features the dark lord himself, Dani Filth. We found this set both enriching and comedic. In between his screeching and gloriously murky singing, he stops to say “This song is dedicated to all the beautiful sheep….I mean WOMEN in the audience”. An entertaining set indeed. If you haven’t checked it out yet, see Devilments latest album ‘The Great And Secret Show’. It’s a modern take on British Heavy Metal.

Night Ranger (HRH AOR Arena)

US melodic hard rock legends Night Ranger played a staggering set, playing for almost two hours, proving they most certainly have still got it. It’s great to see them starting to head back over to the UK more often now. A few years ago had marked their 30 year UK performance hiatus. Night Ranger treated us to covers of Alice Cooper, The Betles, Damn Yankees, and Ozzy.

Orange Goblin (Hammerfest Arena)

Evil Scarecrow (HRH Closing Party)

What a way to end a festival! Evil Scarecrow packed out the arena, there were people spilling out the doors, into the cold outside. We have never before seen a crowd so in-sync, and on-point with dance moves and lyrics. Evil Scarecrow were a top choice band to end a phenomenal weekend. Highlights of their set include making a couple eat a cake, getting the whole room to scuttle like crabs to track ‘Crabulon‘, and the in-sync robot dancing to ‘Robototron‘.

See our video from the center of the crowd during ‘Crabulon‘ here”

Stay tuned all this week as we release backstage interviews, and the many photos we took across the weekend!

With to Thanks to: Lisa Billingham, Rob Billingham, Neil Mach, Christopher James Ryan.

Check out the RAMzine review of Hammerfest and HRH AOR Festival in the next issue of RAMzine – out April 6th 2015.

The post HRH United 2015: Highlights appeared first on RAMzine.

FM

DARE

The Poodles (featuring a rare appearance from legendary 70’s New Jersey Rockers Starz)

OVEGA

Eclipse

Casablanca

Crazy Lixx

Psycho Kiss

Tainted Nation

HRH AOR 3, will take place on 12-15 March 2015 at its high quality residential site in Pwllheli, North Wales. Get your tickets to Europe’s biggest AOR residential festival by either ringing 0203 287 6684 or book online at www.hrhaor.com/tickets. VIP & Royalty are already sold out and were now under a 100 rooms left in the Hard Rock class packages.

Video: FM ‘Cold Hearted’

The post FM, DARE, The Poodles and Starz lead the charge for HRH AOR 3 appeared first on RAMzine.