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VIEW FROM

From page 15 of Classic Rock Magazine April 2004

Cover of April 2004 issue.

THE BAR

ALL THE GOSSIP THAT’S FIT TO PRINT, AND SOME THAT ISN’T ALTHOUGH YOU MAY NOT immediately associate your humble Bar Steward with philosophy, it has not passed our attention that celebrated thinker Schlegel wasn’t just someone who Monty Python once sang about; he is also believed to have noted that ‘laziness is the one divine fragment of god-like existence left to man from paradise’. And who are we to argue? However, our own version of paradise –

albeit soaked in the finest ales – has recently come under threat thanks to the more strenuous exercise of pursuing the rock’n’roll dream.

One such event to tear us away from our beloved Bar was the launch party for the new album by young British metallers ORANGE GOBLIN.

Said record, ‘Thieving From The House Of God’, is a fine work and was celebrated in style at a central London location with vast quantities of ale and Jagermeister by the band themselves, Cathedral singer LEE DORRIAN, London rockers CAPRICORNS and a slew of members of the UK rock press and PR hordes. Behaviour grew steadily worse as the evening wore on, not least with the discovery that the bar offered a drink known as a JackHammer, simply a shot of Jack Daniels and Tequila. A potent brew that left many a sore head among the debris of the morning after!

Far more sedate was the soirée hosted by rustic proggers JETHRO TULL after they played Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

Various Tull members rubbed shoulders with devotees of the band, many of whom turned out to be from Germany. Quite frankly, Bar reckons that was the very least that Tull could do after the band had requested that the venue closed the bar for the duration of the show.

IRON MAIDEN recently crossed swords with the corporate world and came off a distinct second best. The band had been looking to book New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom for a string of dates, but the venue had been double-booked on one of the nights in question for a corporate event by Rank Xerox. Now in days of old you might have expected the British metal invaders to sweep away any challenge laid before them.

Not so in 2004, and rumour has it that Rank Xerox won out for the night in question...

As expected, Lowestoft’s glam rockers THE DARKNESS swept the board at this year’s Brit Awards (see page 7). Still, the night didn’t all go JUSTIN HAINKINS’s way, when the backstage bar refused to accept his gold credit card when he tried to buy a bottle of champagne. Still, the band’s rise seems unabated as ‘Permission To Land’ continues to rise up the American charts.

But not everyone is happy with the success of The Darkness, including one JON BON JOVI.

Possibly concerned at having his position as undisputed king of soft rock usurped, Jon Boy griped to to NOW magazine: “I hate them. They’re trying to mimic Spinal Tap!” A case of bad medicine, perhaps? And strange things are afoot in the world of MOTÖRHEAD.

Not content with taking the stage at the Opera House in London recently, word reaches us that drummer MIKKEY DEE has been indulging in a spot of Eurovision moonlighting. It brings back horrific memories of failed Scots rockers HEAVY PETTIN’ who once attempted to represent the UK with the ballad ‘Romeo’. Dee has hooked up with Swedish pop superstar E-TYPE (who is actually ex-HEXENHAUS drummer MARTIN ERIKSSON), with whom he toured for part of last year. The track is ‘Paradise’, said to be a thundering metal song, and Dee donned a ‘Head T-shirt during their winning performance while E-Type wore an old MICHAEL SCHENKER T-shirt. Should scare all the other boy bands who are likely to make up the remainder of the line-up...