Thrash/hardcore band War Orphan, featuring guitarist Rich Cipriano formally of Sick Of it All and Reach fame, drummer Dante Renzi (Reach) and vocalist David Bason (Barfbag and Lords of the Drift), have released a new single titled “New Core,” which nostalgically looks back at the bands come up in the hardcore scene.
Guitarist Richie Cipriano elaborates further on the origins behind the song:
New Core is a song about growing up in the hardcore scene and making the decision not to leave it behind as you get older
Richie Cipriano, War Orphan
This song follows their recent explosive statement of a song “F*ck the NRA“, a tribute to fellow hardcore band The Exploited.
War Orphan released their debut in 2020, the politically charged trash punk EP Closer to Death Than Life. The EP delivers as a fearless protest record that doubles down on the angst which defines the hardcore scene with a particular focus on attacking rightwing extremists and the current presidential administration. Bason channels the seething dissatisfaction with the political establishment that has lead to unrest over the past few years, seeking to tackle systemic racism with “Autonomous Zone” and a deceitful president with “Prop up the Polls,” among other topics that have never been relevant and important.
War Orphan began when longtime friends Dante, Richie and David graduated from recording songs just to make each other laugh to taking it seriously. Singer David Bason is based in LA. Missing his New York friends, he would leave guitar player Richie Cipriano voicemails making fun of heavy metal. Richie and Dante would track record metal songs to the voicemails and send them back. Thus, was born Bloodbath and Beyond, what started a just a funny inside joke to kill time.
Afterwards, Richie called and said he had a song they should take seriously this time. Bason was on board and the EP was tracked, mixed and master in a matter of weeks. War Orphan came about organically and their music shows it.
Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear new music from Luminous Crush, Allyson Smith and many more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to an ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
This week EQXPosure puts a spotlight on a variety of local artists from across the 518 and Western New England.
The latest from Luminous Crush, “Radio Kills Zombies” has a haunting refrain with a smooth underlying groove, with imagery of the Cuba Gooding, Jr. film Radio attached. The Vermont band is fronted by Laura Molinelli and Ben Campbell. With Christian Heins (bass), Brad Waugaman (keyboard) and Paul Carroccio (drums), they form a quintet that focuses on original dreamlike pop and rock vignettes. Their music has been hailed as “fearless and original” by Dan Bolles, music editor at Seven Days.
Allyson Smith a singer-songwriter from Albany has recently released “The Waves.” Her songs weave together inner and outer worlds by juxtaposing emotional and spiritual experiences with keen environmental observations. The Collaborative Magazine boasts of Smith having “powerful songwriting, full of goose-bump raising lines and beautifully dark imagery.”
You’ll also catch brand new songs from Jade Relics’ freshly released collaboration between Elder Orange, Iame, and Rico James “With You,” United Crates/The Vinylcologist, Older Zealous AKA OJ, “Vodka and Polar,” and a new release from the Bathrobe Robots, “Alt-War.”
For their first live performances of 2021, the Disco Biscuits have announced a live, two-night run that will be livestreamed from Ardmore Music Hall.
Friday, February 5 and Saturday, February 6 will be the first live performances from the Philadelphia jam titans in 2021, and the first time the Disco Biscuits play the independent venue in Ardmore, PA.
Both live shows will be broadcast for free via Ardmore Music Hall’s YouTube channel & streaming partners nugs.tv. Tips for the band & venue staff are encouraged. Event merchandise and VIP ticketing are also available, which includes a signed custom foil poster, virtual soundcheck access, & both nights of audio recordings.
Ardmore Music Hall will welcome a very limited, socially-distanced & masked audience of 20 guests per night. Fans can enter the “Golden Ticket” Raffles & Silent Auctions for a chance to win tickets to each respective show. At the conclusion of each of the raffle drawings, a handful of winners will receive a pair of tickets per show, and an online silent auction for additional pairs of tickets will go live.
All guests will be required to produce negative COVID-19 test results before confirming their attendance. Additionally, the venue will uphold all safety guidelines and protocols mandated by local governance, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the CDC. More details can be found on the event page below.
Whether you know it or not, you’ve all heard the band Focus. You know that tune they spin on classic rock radio, in films, ads and during NBA and World Cup telecasts, the one with the demented yodeling and amphetamine shred guitar breaks, with the relentless riff that’s as memorable as “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Smoke on the Water?” That’s Focus playing one of the most unlikely Top 10 hits of the 1970s, “Hocus Pocus.” And if you think that playful racket of virtuosity is all there was to this band than you’ve missed out on one of the most distinctive and eclectic bodies of work produced during rock’s progressive era.
That’s something that Focus 50 Years (Anthology 1970 – 1976), the lovingly crafted, amazingly researched nine-CD, two-DVD set from Red Bullet Productions, aims to set straight. But first, a little backstory…
Focus commenced in Amsterdam in 1969. It was built around the massive talents of two main musicians, Thijs Van Leer and Jan Akkerman. Van Leer is a classically-trained flautist, keyboardist and occasional yodeler. He was also a talented composer who raided the classics, the works of Bach, Bartok, Haydn, Monteverdi and the like, to create a cannon of tunes, especially the numbered “Focus” titled instrumentals, that are among the most melodic of the prog era.
Van Leer’s foil in Focus was Jan Akkerman. Still going strong today at 74, Jan was one of the most fearsome and versatile virtuoso guitarists of the Guitar God heavy 1970s. This was a man with a jaw-dropping technical mastery of jazz, rock, blues and classical forms, a talent that powered some of the most emotional and exciting soloing and live improvisation ever committed to tape in the rock idiom.
Akkerman could spitfire fusion licks as swiftly as John McLaughlin or slow down to seductively squeeze every ounce of the melody out of a ballad, just like Santana. He could play psychedelic, blues-fired blasts that glowed as brightly as Hendrix and chromatic smears and screams like late ‘60s free jazz Coltrane. He, too, composed distinctive and maybe even more diverse originals than Thijs. Jan’s tunes reflected his own acumen with the classics, from his five years of study at the Amsterdam Lyceum, something evidenced by his lute playing on several Focus tracks. Then, there were those fueled by his love of balls-to-the-wall rock, like “Hocus Pocus,” and funk, like the latter day single, “Crackers.”
Between 1970 and 1976, the Van Leer/Akkerman Focus recorded seven albums and toured relentlessly in Europe, U.S. and Asia, averaging well over 200 shows each year. Led by Jan’s dazzling guitar work, the fiery drumming of the criminally-underrated Pierre van der Linden, Bert Ruiter’s rock-solid bass and Van Leer’s keys, flute and theatrical mugging, Focus pretty much blew everyone off the stage, wherever they ventured.
The proof was in the accolades. In 1973, Akkerman was named “Best Guitarist in the World” by the U.K.’s top music weekly, Melody Maker, over Clapton, Beck, Page, McLaughlin, etc. This was just a year after the same publication named the band its “Brightest New Hope.” Jan’s smiling mug also graced the cover of Guitar Player and, with his bandmates, Circus Magazine. Akkerman’s legion of fans would grow to include luminaries like Carlos Santana, Brian May, Joe Walsh, Chick Corea, Michael Jackson, the Beach Boys (he did unreleased sessions with them while they were recording in Holland), B.B. King and Frank Zappa to name but a few.
Although they seemed to bring out the best in each other, the Van Leer/Akkerman partnership grew stormy over time. It finally fractured when the road weary guitarist left (or was fired) on the eve of a U.K. tour in early 1976. Since then, Akkerman would go on to record two dozen, genre-leaping solo albums that are the height of the guitar art, all while choosing to remain happily out of the international limelight in Holland. Van Leer continues to revive Focus from time to time, with a rotating roster of guitarists who, while sometimes excellent, can never match Jan’s wholly unique musical aura and skill.
With the dawning of the web, a global cult of “Focus fanatics” coalesced, devotees who trade and post audio and video of live gigs and TV performances, rarely-seen concert posters and other ephemera. Unlike some stars, Jan, Thijs and their bandmates proved more than happy to engage with their fans via social media. For these folks, and anyone who loves great music of original intent, this brick of a boxed set will seem like Christmas morning.
Curated by longtime Focus/Akkerman archivist Wouter Bessels, “Focus 50 Years” starts with 24-bit remasters from the original tapes of the first seven Focus albums, plus single, alternative and raw studio mixes, demos, unreleased live recordings and some real oddities, such as the quartet backing other artists in their early days. Add to this two additional CDs of more unreleased live performances from 1971 – 1975, including the first official release of their fantastic “BBC In Concert” performance from 1973.
The package also boasts two DVDs featuring the complete “Focus At the Rainbow” concert film from the live album of the same name, restored and remastered from the original 16 mm film, two BBC “Old Grey Whistle Test” broadcasts from 1972 and “BBC In Concert” from 1974. There’s also “Focus Live in Dublin” 1973, the “Goud van Oud” reunion from 1990 and the 1997 “Focus II Classic Albums” documentary. To guide you through the riches, Bessels has compiled an 80-page booklet with band history, liner notes, press clips and memorabilia.
The band’s debut album, “Focus Plays Focus,” finds the newly formed band still searching for an identity, with a few vocal tunes like the jazzy “Happy Nightmare (Mescaline)” in the mix. This was something that would be quickly abandoned in favor an all-instrumental approach, along with their original bassist and drummer, Martijn Dressden and Hans Cluever. This version of the album is notable for its opener, the stately instrumental “Focus I,” the first of this numbered series of classically informed instrumentals by Van Leer, and the two bonus tracks. The first, Akkerman’s flute-driven “House of the King,” became their first chart hit in Europe, one often mistaken for Jethro Tull. The other bonus is a sizzling 37 minute live performance from 1970, an in-development version of “Eruption,” the suite which would be the side-long centerpiece to their classic follow-up album, “Focus II/Moving Waves.” It includes some of Jan’s most fiery riffing, and in a spot where the band falls away for six minutes, he dazzles with slashing, quicksilver lines in exotic modes like the Hungarian minor and Indian scales.
The band’s sophomore effort commenced their prime era, with Akkerman’s former partner in the bluesy band Brainbox, the jazz-inspired Pierre van der Linden, now in the drum chair. The album kicks off with “Hocus Pocus,” an Akkerman/Van Leer composition born out of a jam session at the band’s rehearsal home in a Dutch castle. This unforgettable fusion of manic speed metal, yodeling and jazzy drum solos became a surprise hit. It was the first smash for Sire Records in the U.S., pushing global awareness of the band and inspiring legions of nibble guitarists to come like Yngwie Malmsteen and Eddie Van Halen. Akkerman’s “Le Clochard” is a melancholy solo piece spotlighting his Segovia-like technique, while his “Janis,” a gorgeous ballad dedicated to Janis Joplin, highlights Van Leer’s multi-tracked flutes.
The 23-minute, side-long “Eruption” is one of prog rock’s most acclaimed epics, perhaps the most original fusion of classical themes and rock vigor. It is a hard rock version of the myth of Orpheus and Euridice, an update of Jacopo Peri’s opera “Euridice.” An uncredited melody from Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” opens the suite, and a later segment includes the haunting ballad “Tommy,” named after its composer, Tom Barlage of the Dutch fusion band Solution. It’s a show stopping ballad that Akkerman continues to perform in concert to this today. The Zappa-inspired “The Bridge” is an all-out jam session, culminating in some blazing guitar soloing reminiscent of “Hocus Pocus” and Zappa’s “Willie the Pimp.” “Euridice,” penned by Eelko Nobel, is a classical lied which segues into the Gregorian chant of “Dayglow,” then van der Linden’s drum solo, “Endless Road.” The suite ends with a reprise of its opening themes, then concludes with van der Linden’s freeform percussion effectively evoking the sound of fireworks for the finale. In live performance, the band also included quotes from Bela Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra,” something they were denied use of during the recording by his family. Too bad…
The double-disc album “Focus III” followed. It featured more gorgeous melodies including Akkerman’s “Love Remembered” and Van Leer’s “Sylvia,” which spawned another surprise hit, a #4 in the U.K. charts. Van Leer’s “Carnival Fugue” continues the fusion, with a bit of Bach, some cool jazz and even calypso all in the mix. The keyboardist’s “Focus III” and “Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!,” written by Akkerman and new bassist Bert Ruiter, are showcases for Jan’s way with stating a melody and the improvisational dexterity of the whole band. Like “Eruption,” they would become ever-evolving improvisation stoked workhorses of the band’s live sets including their fourth release, the live album “At the Rainbow.” Akkerman’s solo on this live disc’s version of “Answers?…” is one of his finest. It’s a study in melodic development and tension building that I have listened to hundreds of times over the years, one which you can view on the boxed set’s first DVD volume.
More blazing jamtastic is on display in the third album with Anonymous II. This is a re-recording of a track from their debut disc, which covered a side and a half of the vinyl of this release. The album closes with Akkerman’s first showcase on the medieval lute, “Elspeth of Nottingham.”
There’s a New York groove, or at least birthing, in the album that followed their live fourth disc, “Hamburger Concerto.” Akkerman’s rocking refrain in this side-long epic was written while watching cartoons and eating a hamburger and Junior’s Cheesecake at a NYC hotel. It’s a power chord stomp drenched in watery, swirling Leslie speakers inspired by their then touring partner, Joe Walsh. Together with Van Leer, he fashioned another powerful multipart suite, with quotes from Haydn, Brahms and Bach’s “St Matthew’s Passion” and plenty of room for burning flute, organ and guitar soloing. Another chart success, the disc featured a quasi-follow-up to “Hocus Pocus” called “Harem Scarem,” another dreamy Van Leer melody in “La Cathedrale de Strasbourg” and “Delitiae Musicae,” another lute outing by Jan adapted from a work by Dutch composer Joachim van den Hove. By this time, drummer van der Linden was gone, replaced by Brit Colin Allen of Stone the Crows fame, who keeps it all anchored with a firm, rock steady beat.
With the studio album “Mother Focus,” the band sort of heads off track, shedding some of its European classical spice for an almost soft jazz, easy listening vibe. All said, the album still has some standouts. Another New York connection comes with “My Sweetheart.” The upbeat Akkerman tune served as the theme song for commercials for popular NYC radio station WPLJ-FM for years. There’s also the Bert Ruiter penned “Hard Vanilla,” where Akkerman solos at length with a talk box, ending it all, and maybe his time with the band, with a laughing guitar.
The seventh album, Ship of Memories from 1976, is a collection of tracks done for an abandoned studio album around the time of “At the Rainbow,” along with some intriguing singles and leftovers. This album includes more beautiful melodies and spectacular guitar work, on the tunes like Van Leer’s “P’S March,” “Focus V” and the duo composition “Red Sky at Night,” with one of my favorite Akkerman solos on the outro.
The version of this album in the boxed set includes eleven intriguing bonus tracks. Featured are “The Shrine of God” and “Watch for the Ugly People,” where the band backs Van Leer’s onetime employer, Dutch cabaret artist Ramses Shaffy, along with rough mixes of “House of the King.” The former were recorded around the same time that the fledging group was serving as the pit band for the Dutch production of the musical, “Hair.”
Archivist/curator Bessels will spin the heads of the Focus know-it-alls with the two live discs in the package. He has unearthed a truckload of never-before-released radio and television performances and concert board tapes to present this improvisational monster jam band at the peak of its powers.
The version of “Eruption” from Rotterdam in 1971 features the classic Akkerman, Van Leer, van der Linden and Ruiter lineup and clocks in at nearly 47 minutes. Akkerman’s first solo on “The Bridge” is a little more jazzy than usual, pushed by Van Leer’s Hammond organ. But it’s his solo spot starting at 20 minutes in that goes from gentle classical to slashing noise rock to full whirling dervish Eastern exotica. Van Leer almost gets a solo spot that shows his mastery of the classical and jazz forms on his flute, while van der Linden’s drum solo swings as titanically and surehanded as any in the classic rock era. The live discs also present some interesting performances and jams that I didn’t know existed, from tours of Japan in 1974 and 1975. The 1973 recordings by BBC Radio are naturally of impeccable quality, but Bessels has also done a masterful job cleaning up many of the other live rarities here.
The two DVDs of television performances are another thing that sets this package apart. It’s a real thrill to see this unique band of improvisational madmen in full flight, in their BBC and Live at the Rainbow performances. The second DVD includes rarities like a 1970 spot of Dutch TV with the original quartet and an RTE TV performance from Dublin that hasn’t been seen since its initial broadcast in 1973. Also featured are television performances of “Hamburger Concerto” from Danish TV and the 50-minute “Classic Albums” special on “Focus II/Moving Waves.” Unfortunately, the latter is mostly Dutch, excepting the contributions from producer Mike Vernon.
After decades of being wrongly relegated to the backseat by rock’s critical tastemakers, progressive rock, like that plied by Focus, is gaining a much deserved second look. So the time seems right for this battleship of a collection from Holland’s Red Bullet Productions.
If you already love Focus, you can buy this, enjoy much more of the band you thought you knew everything about, and die a happy man (or woman). If you don’t, you should give this purchase some serious thought. You should also put aside some serious time to listen to, and enjoy live of your TV screen, one of the most underappreciated and uniquely talented bands of rock’s most boundary pushing era.
It’s no surprise that the music industry has struggled to stay afloat since the start of the pandemic. Venues have shut down permanently and performers have resorted to online live streaming instead of in-person concerts. There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is giving out its first set of grants to music venues around the country.
A concert attended by a huge audience before Covid.
Music fans, artists and corporations from all over donated to NIVA’s Emergency Relief Fund. This amounted to $3 million in short term relief for independent venues and promoters in need of economic help. The recently passed COVID-19 Relief Law includes provisions from the Save Our Stages Act, to give financial assistance to the music industry. Unfortunately, there’s still time before they see any of the funds coming through. These grants are put in place to help keep the venues doors from closing.
This aid would not have been possible without the help of everyone who has supported NIVA. Thank you especially to the NIVA Emergency Relief Fund Committee co-chairs, Lisa Gedgaudas, Chris Zacher, and Carl Swanson, who dedicated endless hours to making sure this program could assist as many venues and promoters as possible. We’re immensely grateful to them, but the NIVA Emergency Relief Fund is just a temporary life raft for these small businesses.
Rev. Moose – NIVA Executive Director
NIVA came to fruition when the pandemic forced large gatherings to come to an abrupt halt. Since then they have acquired 3,000 members in all 50 states. NIVA’s goal is to preserve the environment of live music and to focus on separate and supplemental initiatives, such as the Emergency Relief Fund.
The Giving Back Fund administered The Emergency Relief Fund through a panel of third party industry experts.
“It’s hard to imagine our futures without the lively spirit and culture of independent music venues,” said Marc Pollick, president of the Giving Back Fund.
The fund is tax-deductible so that individuals, companies and foundations can contribute. They are currently still taking donations with a goal of $11 million to provide essential business relief to everyone who has applied.
With a maximum grant amount of $25,000, this is only short-term help. And we are pained that we can’t provide grants to all who applied, because our industry’s need far exceeds the donations we’ve collected so far. We’re grateful that Congress passed the latest COVID Relief law, but it will likely take months before the grants are received. We’re trying to help those most at risk of going under while they wait.
Rev. Moose – NIVA Executive Director
For now, NIVA will use these critical grants to help hold suffering businesses over until the COVID-19 law provides more permanent economic stability. This allows them to maintain their current payments in hopes that the industry does not flatline and when everything goes back to normal they can prosper ahead of this economic disaster.
NYS Music’s Best of 2020 series concludes with a look at the best Tours and Drive-In shows of a year we’d all like to forget. When the music industry shut down in mid-March, it was sudden and continues to last into 2021. Few bands got to go on a ‘real’ tour, given there were roughly 11 weeks in which to tour, and the coldest months of the year, at that. Still, a few bands went out on a Winter 2020 tour, making stops in New York State and surrounding areas. Be sure to check out the best Streams, Covers and Jams.
photo by JD Cohen
Goose announced shows in Williamsburg for late January, 2020, and immediately added a second, and smaller third show, due to demand. Their shows at The Music Hall of Williamsburg were two of the best of their tour.
One band, Twiddle, celebrated their 15th year as a band with a Roots Tour of their own, streaming the multi-week event that looked at the venues they got their start in across Vermont, wonderfully recalled by Ryan Dempsey. In addition to these shows, Twiddle performed at multiple Drive-In shows across the Northeast, including New Jersey and Essex Junction, VT.
All that after a cross-country tour running from January through early March. The band had an impressive 2020, performing shows in Colorado to start 2020 with “Somewhere on the Mountain” in Frisco, CO and connecting with platform LiveXLive for their July Roots Tour.
photo by Dave Decrescente
When it came to Drive-Ins, there were quite a few across the Northeast – Drive-in-Live in Swanzey, NH, Jericho Drive-In in Glenmont, NY, South Farms in Morris Farms, CT, Fingerlakes Drive-In in Auburn, NY, Silver Lake Drive-In in Perry, NY and Radial Park in Astoria, Queens.
Live at the Drive, featuring Buffalo’s Aqueous, was one of the first and the most successful series, with three weekends between Lockport’s Transit Drive-in and Perry Silver Lake Drive-In. Buffalo Iron Works produced the shows, with Josh Holtzman and Grace Vesneske’s new company Twenty6 Productions garnering credit for putting on shows that set a standard for socially distanced shows that were safe, well-run and comfortable for fans and staff alike.
photo by Paul Citone
Goose also hosted numerous Drive-Ins across the Northeast and even ventured safely to Ohio, North Carolina and Maryland, as well as Swanzey and South Farms. Located in Morris, CT, South Farms was centrally located to the Hudson Valley from Albany to NYC, Western Massachusetts and Connecticut itself. As such, Goose, moe., Warren Haynes, Grace Potter, Allman Betts Band, Dark Star Orchestra, Citizen Cope and even comedian Bill Burr. Due to a recent Zoning Board ruling, South Farms won’t have live music for the time being, but they made some memorable moment in the time they were able to, in a key location in the Northeast.
photo by Chad Anderson
moe. and Disco Biscuits each hit the new Drive-In circuit, streaming online and giving fans thirsty for live music the remedy they sought. Shows in Yarmouth, MA became regular stops, with both bands heading to Cape Cod in October. Lafayette Apple Festival Grounds, just south of Syracuse, brought in Dirty Heads and Disco Biscuits, the latter of which performed three nights, culminating their Drive-In shows with a Halloween show and an audience well-prepared for the cold and mud but still got down to dance.
What will come in 2021? Drive-In concerts will surely be a regular feature starting in the Spring, until the pandemic is under control, the population is inoculated with the vaccine, and venues are able to manage crowds of slowly increasing size. Will Drive-In concerts be here to stay? The collective effort to stem the spread of COVID-19 this year and into 2022 will determine the speed at which we can return to having live music back to where it was in early March of 2020.
Dr. Dre was hospitalized late Monday night at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles following an apparent brain aneurysm. TMZ reported that Dre is stable and lucid, and doctors are continuing to figure out what caused the brain bleed.
The 55-year-old legendary rapper and producer, whose real name is Andre Romell Young, updated fans on his well-being on social media, speaking out for the first time since his hospitalization. “Thanks to my family, friends, and fans for their interest and well wishes,” said Dre via an Instagram post made late Tuesday night.
Dr. Dre first climbed the ranks of the West Coast hip hop scene with N.W.A, soon rising to fame in the music industry, arguably becoming one of the top music producers of all time. He co-founded Death Row Records and produced works by Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Eminem, among many others.
Not long after Dre’s initial Instagram post, celebrities took to social media, wishing the music industry mogul well.
“Send your love and prayers,” Tweeted fellow N.W.A member and West Coast icon, Ice Cube.
The Brain Aneurysm Foundation notes that ruptured brain aneurysms are fatal in about half of all cases, and survivors have a 66 percent chance of permanent neurological deficits.
