release date: 14.06.2013

product: Indicco - Karmalion

distributor: New Venture Music

format: CD

PR: world-wide

promo link (cover, bio, pictures): link

When Indigo Balboa and Paco Cerezo started to work together in 2008 they felt that their musical talents are a perfect match. At the time the Spanish duo started to compose songs together and founded the band INDICCO, Indigo Balboa had just returned from California where he was working on his second solo album with the well known musician/song writer/producer Mark Spiro and Paco Cerezo had just left the internationally renowned Spanish Melodic Rock band 91 Suite of which he was the co-founder and guitar player.

Three years in the making, “Karmalion” marks INDICCO’s debut album, a pure Melodic Rock affair of international quality, combining fresh new ideas with the classic AOR trademarks of the bands that inspired INDICCO’s sound, like Survivor, Giant, John Waite, Toto and Bad English.

“Karmalion” unites the Spanish Melodic Rock elite with three iconic AOR heavyweights, underlining the high musical standard the band is aiming for :

Jimi Jamison (Survivor), one of the best vocalists of the AOR genre, is sharing lead vocals with Indigo Balboa on three tracks, did backing vocals and co-wrote a song as well.

Mark Spiro (Bad English, Giant, John Waite, Mr. Big) co-wrote and recorded vocals for three songs of the album. He also played piano and keyboards and took care of parts of the production at his studio in Carlsbad, California.

Tim Pierce (Rick Springfield, John Waite, Eric Martin), one of the most in demand session guitar players on the globe is featured on additional guitars.

The album was produced by Indigo Balboa, Paco Cerezo and Mark Spiro and the band INDICCO is completed by Antonio Muñoz (ex-91 Suite) on bass, Lean Martinez (ex-91 Suite) on drums and Angel Valdegrama on keys.

In their home country where they toured with Jimi Jamison and several other international acts the band already won praise for their powerful live sound. This year INDICCO will be on tour again to promote their album “Karmalion”, on some dates they will be sharing the stage with Jimi Jamison.

release date: 24.05.2013

product: State Cows - The Second One

label: Avenue Of Allies

format: CD

PR: world-wide

promo link (cover, bio, picture): link

When Daniel Andersson and Stefan Olofsson released the self titled STATE COWS debut album (Avenue 1008 0016) in 2010, the feedback from the fans and the media alike was nothing short of phenomenal. The reviewers wrote, “Westcoast music at its best“, “a future classic among Westcoast fans”, “by far the best release in the Westcoast genre in recent years”, “an absolute must for anyone who is seeking a contemporary Westcoast outfit”, “they totally nailed the classic Westcoast sound but they have a unique style all their own”.

And one of the true icons of the genre, Jay Graydon, who contributed a guitar solo to the song “New York Town”, said: “These guys have surely taken West Coast Pop to another level adding the freshness of youth. Great songs, arrangements and performances!“

Accolades galore, raising the expectations for the follow-up to a very high level and with their sophomore album aptly titled “The Second One” the Swedes have definitely managed to live up to their reputation as one of the best Westcoast bands since the glory days of the genre ended almost 30 years ago.

For the recordings of “The Second One”, Daniel and Stefan invited most of the musicians who already conduced to the success of the first album again. Jay Graydon returns for a guitar solo on upbeat “In The City”, but he is not the only one of the former L.A. session cats who makes an appearance, Michael Landau plays the guitar solo on “This Time” and you can listen to Bill Champlin’s vocals on “Finally Fair and Balanced” with the typical arrangement you expect when you hear Bill’s voice. Ian Bairnson of Alan Parsons Project / Keats fame played a guitar solo on “I Got Myself Together”, while the local Swedish guitar talents, Peter Friestedt and Sven Larsson paid a courtesy visit for a guitar solo on “Mister White” and “Hard Goodbye” respectively.

“The Second One” with its stellar song writing, the perfect arrangements, the great harmony vocals and the impressive list of guest musicians is the perfect addition to the CD collection of everyone looking for the classic Westcoast sound along the lines of Airplay, Pages, Steely Dan, Marc Jordan, Michael McDonald, David Roberts, Toto and Chicago.

release date: 31.05.2013

product: Bonfire - Live In Wacken

label: LZ Records/ Sony

format: CD & LP

PR: world-wide

promo link (cover, bio, picture): link

Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck. Because of a funny coincidence the long lost original recordings from BONFIRE’s appearance at the Wacken Open Air have been discovered. This almost historical piece of music has been sonically updated and will now be released officially.

The German rock legend is releasing the album as a teaser before it’s new studio record ‐ planned for the end of the year. Of course, there have been some BONFIRE‐live records in the past, but on „Live In Wacken“ you can really find different versions of the band’s anthems like „SDI“, „Champion“ or „Ready 4 Reaction“ as well as the song „Wake Up“. An anthem the band hasn’t performed live for quite a long time.

Besides that „Live In Wacken“ offers exclusive bonus tracks. Live versions of the songs „Bells Of Freedom“, „Let Me Be Your Water“ and „Black Night“ from the acclaimed rock opera „The Räuber“ (previously unreleased on CD), the exclusive studio track „Thank You“ and an exciting new version of the ballad „Hold Me Now“ from the last BONFIRE‐studio album „Branded“.

„Live In Wacken“ has been mastered by Maor Appelbaum (Yngwie Malmsteen, Rob Halford, Queensryche) and will be released on the 31st of May 2013 on LZ Records/Sony Music.

release date: 14.06.2013

product: Dirt River Radio - Rock N Roll Is My Girlfriend

label: Bad Reputation

format: CD

PR: Germany & Austria

promo link (cover, bio): link

Dirt River Radio are back with another slice of blistering pub rock. The release of the latest album, Rock ‘n’Roll is my Girlfriend, a good old-fashioned Aussie rock romp recorded, like all of the band’s previous efforts, with renowned producer Matt Voigt (Paul Kelly, Midnight Oil, Dirty Three). “Heath (guitar/vocals) and I have made about three or four records over the years with different bands and strangely enough we’ve only ever worked with Matt,” Raunjak explains. “We met him when we were a bit younger, maybe ten years ago, and just went into Sing Sing not realising how much money we were in for. We were on the dole at the time, had no money and some pretty grand plans. It was a bit dumb but looking back on it now we got a great record and once you’ve recorded in a room like Sing Sing you can’t really go anywhere else. It’s just a magic place.”

When the time came to mixing Rock And Roll Is My Girlfriend, Dirt River Radio had some similarly grand ambitions. Initially working with Grammy-winning New York mixer Kevin Beamish, the boys had a last-minute change of heart, preferring to stay closer to home. “We spoke to Kevin in Nashville about mixing the record and he demoed a song for us which actually sounded great.“But then we started talking to Matt about getting that real Exile On Main Street vibe to the whole thing and it was just absolutely perfect. We were a bit nervous about sending the tracks overseas and doing everything via the internet, and when we got the mix from Matt it was just banging.”

Moving into the visual side of things for the first time with this record, the lads have also enlisted the help of filmmaking collective SteepleJack Creative to create their very own rockumentary, titled Too Hot Days, Too Hot Nights.

Taking these riffs into the pubs of the world has never been a tough process for a band like Dirt River Radio. Known as a classic “balls to the wall” live band, they make sure to keep up with their audience whenever they hit the stage. “We used to do this thing where if someone wanted to request a song, they’d have to buy the band a shot of tequila each. It got a bit crazy though and by the end of the show we’d done eight or nine shots of tequila each and we were just falling over. It’s not always a drunken debauchery but it helps.”

Rock’n’roll, roots, blues and alt country five-piece, Dirt River Radio delivers great songs such as Blackhearted (Gin Drinking and Blue) with its haunting vocals, New York City and its driving drum beat, the excellent version of Hard Road by Australian music legends Harry Vanda and George Young (Stevie Wright and Rod Stewart have also recorded it), the superb English Skies, a beautifully crafted airport departure lounge farewell and Tonight, a song filled with wrenching lyrics.

release date: 21.06.2013

product: Lost Weekend - Evermore

label: AOR Heaven Mailorder (EU)/ Irascible (CH)

format: CD

PR: Europe (without UK)

PR link (bio, cover, pics): link

Lost Weekend have been together for 18 years. They are made up of musicians who over the last 35 years have rocked the stages of Britain, Europe and the world.

With the resurgence in guitar based music the band have been in huge demand, indeed  they have  performed  alongside the likes of Gotthard, TNT, Dokken, Magnum, Saxon, Wishbone Ash, Jeff Scott Soto,  Winger, Asia, Quireboys, Thunder, UFO and FM.

It was around the release of their third opus New Religion that legendary Magnum vocalist Bob Catley invited the band to support him on his solo tour of Britain and Europe for which the band again impressed from the start, this resulted in the band being asked to write Bob Catley’s next solo album Spirit Of Man.

The record has received worldwide critical acclaim, once again the band was invited on a tour with Catley. November 2006 has seen the release of the Lost Weekend’s fourth album, the acclaimed forever Moving On. 2007 has been a year spent promoting the latest CD with appearances at some of England’s premier rock festivals to great effect.

With a slight change in personnel the band became a twin guitar based band resulting in a heavier sound more akin to the likes of the Scorpions, UFO and Thunder to name a few.

2008 and a brand new album Fear And Innocence, with this release the added guitar and the re-introduction of keyboards gave the UK group a wonderful platform to create a heavier but also very melodic rock album, which again was widely applauded around the melodic rock circles.

2010/2011 was a time the band gave themselves a hiatus from performing together, in fact they did release a statement saying they were calling time on Lost Weekend, but as people know when you have a break from something you have loved for a long time, you miss those times desperately, and with that the band moved to new premises and decided to start rehearsing initially and just see what happens.

The result was renewed passion and creativity and the next thing they knew was an album had been written and one they are most proud of to date, with the inclusion of Irving Parratt on keyboards(he last worked with the band on Forever Moving On and Spirit Of Man) both of which he contributed the writing of.

The band is primed and ready to unleash their brand new album “Evermore” on June 21st, 2013 via AOR Heaven. Again it was produced by the incredible Martin Kronlund JM studios Sweden.

release date: 24.05.2013

product: Sideburn - Gasoline

label: AOR Heaven Mailorder (EU)/ Irascible (CH)

format: CD

PR: Europe

With a rich history, Swiss quintet Sideburn knows the power of rock well enough. They’ve been there, done that, and are possibly, one of the best-kept secrets in rock'n'roll. With six albums since the change of name in 1995, their discography talks by itself.

So it's no surprise that their song “Six feet under” was picked by 20^th Century Fox Studios to be featured in an episode of the Fox Network TV show “24” with Kiefer Sutherland, or that they opened for some of the biggest acts in the industry (e.g. Def Leppard, Kiss, Krokus, Gotthard, Dio, Doro, Motörhead, Thin Lizzy, Uriah Heep, Meat Loaf and lots more).

Sideburn create that classic rock sound (a mix of AC/DC and ZZ Top) that is guaranteed to make you pump up the volume, dust off that air-guitar & tap your feet.
For the 10th anniversary of the album "Gasoline", a new pressing will be released on the 17th of May in Switzerland (Irascible), on the 24th of May for Europe (AOR Heaven Mailorder)

Originally released in October 2003, "Gasoline" featured 11 songs. Some of them are classics, like: "Gangster Lover", "Never kill the chicken", "Giov in LA" and "Black sheep" which all are still part of the current live set-list. 

The reissue includes 3 bonus tracks recorded live on the 27th of October 2012 at the Brise Glace of Annecy (France):
- Slave to the core  
- Crocodile 
- Get that way

The band says: "For us it was a good way to present the new line-up, before the release of the new album which will be out in October on Metal Heaven".