While many fine bands and artists delivered memorable performances across the whole weekend, including Demon, the Skids, Ugly Kid Joe, These Wicked Rivers, Powell Payne, Kingdom of Madness, High Fade, and Baphomet, I felt a very strong urge to briefly mention just how magnificent it was to witness legendary British glam rockers Sweet on stage on Friday night. A more fitting headliner act could simply not have been found by the friendly organisers of WinterStorm. The band had absolutely everyone singing along, clapping, and losing themselves to the grooves and tones of main man Andy Scott and his immensely talented partners in crime. I even spotted a couple of photographers dancing and completely forgetting why they were there and what they were meant to be doing.

The act sold millions of records in their heyday, but it sets my teeth on edge whenever people refer to them as a “singles band”; they were more than that and released some brilliantly crafted, cleverly arranged, and surprisingly heavy LPs such as Sweet Fanny Adams (1974) and Give Us a Wink (1976), just to list a couple of examples. Their latest offering, Full Circle (2024), is up there with the best of them, too.

The hits and anthems came thick and fast, and the show never lost any of its momentum. Kicking things off with ‘Action’ ensured that the entire venue erupted from the get-go, and Sweet never strayed from the path of kick-ass rock music that reminded us of better times. ‘Hell Raiser’, ‘Burn on the Flame’, ‘Lost Angels’, ‘Teenage Rampage’, ‘Set Me Free’, ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’, and the punchy rabble-rousing trio consisting of ‘Fox on the Run’, ‘Blockbuster’, and inevitably ‘The Ballroom Blitz’ made for a perfectly entertaining set. Plenty of other songs also did the trick, one being the riveting ‘Circus’ from last year’s Full Circle album.

There were a few technical problems throughout that annoyed Scott quite a bit, and their stage tech was working as hard as the band that night. Being the pros that they are, they soldiered on, and I dare say that many of us were unaffected by it. The sound was powerful and crunchy without sacrificing any clarity or definition, so to these ears it was pure bliss. As vocalist Paul Manzi succinctly (and smilingly) summed up the hassles the quintet was having with respect to the monitors: “That’s life, isn’t it?”

That Andy is a legend is unquestionable, but the other four members of the constellation deserve praise for firing on all cylinders and being right on the money from beginning to end. Each musician brought something unique and charismatic to the table, and it was heaps of fun seeing the interaction between bassist/vocalist Lee Small and the inimitable guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick (FM) throughout. The latter had joined the ensemble on short notice as a session guitarist to fill in for Tom Cory, who had just become a father and was absent from parts of the tour for obvious reasons (assuming I heard correctly).

One reason why this show meant so much to me on a personal level, apart from the purely musical qualities and memorable aspects of the performance itself, is that I inherited a bunch of old vinyl singles by Sweet from my aunt in 1995. That was around the time that I discovered hard rock and heavy metal. There was something special about watching the group in the flesh thirty years later and being as thrilled and excited as I was when I was a kid listening to their catchy tunes for the first time. That same unadulterated and palpable sense of joy coursed through me now as it did back then. Call me a nostalgic fool, but the songs are unarguably timeless, as evidenced by the reception they received at the fabulous WinterStorm festival on Friday night. It truly was an event and a happening to remember.

Sweet performed on the 28th of November in Troon, Scotland.

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Bearing a melodic voice, that’s often been compared to artists like Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes, Toto’s Bobby Kimball or Kansas’ Steve Walsh, Small has become one of the most established artists on the AOR scene, performing and recording with the likes of Lionheart, Shy, Sweet and Phenomena.

‘Eye In The Sky’ was recorded and produced by Small’s fellow Sweet cohort,  Tom Cory, with guitar parts played by FM’s Jim Kirkpatrick.

The single is available via streaming services and you can check out the video for it here at RAMzine.

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‘Caught’ is a spontaneous love song. Musically, the song transports the funky hard rock grooves from the mid-70s, when bands like Deep Purple in the Coverdale/Hughes era or Trapeze celebrated international success, back to the present day.

Available digitally, you can check out the video to it here at RAMzine.

A vintage classic rock styled three piece band, Falcon Trails features vocalist Lee Small (The Sweet, Lionheart) and from Finnish both composer/lyricist and mutli-instrumentalist Mika Grönholm and drummer & percussionist Tom Rask.

Their music sails you deep into the seventies with a distinct vintage rock, soul and funk style. Small and Grönholm, share the same influences in music and in various bands from that period, and that led to the foundation of the band.

Grönholm said:  “It was the music we first heard as children and it stayed  in our hearts and minds forever. We heard and saw those big time bands making their mark in our generation, and in our own way, we respect that spirit with our music. We take our hats off to those great acts such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Pink Floyd and many others.”

The music on Coming Home was actually written and recorded around 2018 and 2019, and was not completed until this year, when it will finally be released.

No strangers to the music industry, with various albums and different music projects under their individual belts, there’s been what’s described as “natural musical understanding” involved in this venture.

”When we were writing the tracks for the album, I did rough vocal guide melodies,” said Grönholm. “Then I sent those on to Lee, and he changes what he needs to suit him and his very soulful vocal style, lifting the songs and taking them to where I wanted them to be. Both of us having such a similar style and thinking which makes the creative process very enjoyable and easy.” 

Coming Home feature the tracks: ‘Fastlane’, Feel’, ‘The Way We Want’, ‘Soul Satisfaction’, ‘Devotion’, Caught’, ‘Winter’s Blues’, ‘Last’, ‘Hearts Of Fire’, ‘Safe In My Arms’, ‘Stars’, Coming Home’ and ‘Sapphire Sky’, and will feature additional backing vocals by Michelle Lynch on tracks 1, 5 and 9.

The band’s debut single was ‘Last Hearts Of Fire’ that is about the people who are now getting older, like the last hippies, but also a whole generation who had the same attitude. When things were very different to the kids today. It’s also a song about what it was like to listen to rock music for the first time in your life. That special moment that you won’t experience a second time.

Available digitally, you can check out the video here at RAMzine – While it most certainly rocks, don’t be surprised if you also start thinking it’s some lost golden nugget discovered on a classic Dobbie Brothers album.

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A rocker that pumps out loud, curling riffs wrap themselves round upbeat verses and celebratory chorus hooks telling the story of ‘Operation Dynamo’ when, between 26th May and 4th June 1940, hundreds of thousands of allied soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk with the aid of hundreds of little ships, ranging from merchant fishing boats to yachts. The song’s anthemic choruses embodying the miraculous success of the operation.

You can check out the video here at RAMzine.

Much as it might have appeared that the covid pandemic had put paid to Lionheart’s return to active duty, it now transpires that as soon as their The Reality Of Miracles album hit the shelves back in 2020, they were knuckling down to record the next one, and decided early on, that this time they would produce a concept album, The Grace Of A Dragonfly.

Despite its title, the album in fact centres around World War II, but the band very much wanted to make this an anti-war album, while at the same time remembering those who fought for our global freedoms.

The eleven songs on the album have been described as “sensational”, as evidenced by a leap in the quality of the songwriting and production undertaken, with the intent that The Grace Of A Dragonfly be nothing short of epic and, “by far Lionheart’s finest work to date”.

Tracks featured are: ‘Declaration’, ‘Flight 19’, ‘V Is For Victory’, ‘This Is A Woman’s War’, ‘The Longest Night’, ‘The Eagle’s Nest’, ‘Little Ships’, ‘Just A Man’, ‘UXB’, ‘The Grace Of A Dragonfly’, ‘Remembrance’ and ‘Praying For World Peace’.

Lionheart were originally founded in 1980, as something akin to a supergroup constituting members from various bands tagged under the New Wave Of Heavy Metal banner. Former Iron Maiden guitarist Dennis Stratton, MSG and Sweet keyboardist/guitarist  Steve Mann plus MSG and Grand Slam bass player  Rocky Newton (Grand Slam, MSG) remain with the band to this day, whilst also adding backing vocals. Ex-Pat Travers Band, UFO and Uli Jon Roth drummer Clive Edwards first played with the band back in 1981, when they supported Def Leppard, and subsequently re-joined when they reformed in 2016, the year that also saw Lee Small – whose own pedigree includes Sweet and Shy join as lead vocalist.

The band’s previous single was ‘V Is For Victory’ an up-tempo lament for the terrible loss and grief suffered by countless innocent civilians on all sides during a war. It’s soaring, powerful choruses counter this with hope for the future with a call for all peoples to come together and find a way to create a peaceful world. You can check out the video for that here at RAMzine.

‘Flight 19’ was the first single to be taken from the parent album, and it relates the story of the group of bombers who disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle on 5th December 1945, after losing contact during a United States Navy overwater navigation training flight from Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. The song’s industrial choruses convey the mysteriousness surrounding the whole affair. Again, you can also check out the video to that single right here at RAMzine.

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Imagine Yngwe in a restrained, less widdly mood (difficult I know) with Doogie White on vocals or Alcatrazz without Bonnet and that should give a guide of what to expect from this classy guitarist and vocalist. ‘Right of Passage’ is the former and ‘Darkest Hour’ the latter with a definite No Parole feel…and that’s a compliment. Take the two instrumentals as well: ‘Hit The Ground Running’ begins with a Purple like intro before the guitar sings the verses, chorus and solo. Similarly ‘Boat To Samarkand’ has inherent melody, albeit slower, and brings a bluesiness to the table and that’s always welcome.

Elsewhere, the acoustic/electric ‘Into The Light’ brings out emotions in both Dave and Lee that are sheer quality. ‘Understand’ is an MSG like epic, while ‘Made Of Stone’ is archetypal British rock; a sort of Priest/Bonnet amalgam that works a treat. ‘Always’ is a paradox; the rapid drums belaying the gentle melodic vocals and guitar.

Throughout the record, Dave is a technical, melodic and skilled player and doesn’t fall into the trap of trying to fit as many notes as possible so that it all becomes a meaningless blur; along with Lee what we get is solid hard rock that may echo some, but remains original. A thoroughly enjoyable heavy rock album delivering a dozen quality songs with strong vocals, great guitar playing and no guitar wankery!

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