AOR Update – Serpentine / Covered Call / Heartbreak Radio/ Wild Rose

AOR Update – Serpentine / Covered Call / Heartbreak Radio/ Wild Rose

AOR trend-setters Serpentine are busy on the road once again next month. As well as recording for a new record (sessions which have included Ten main man Gary Hughes no less!), the guys have been given a special support slot to the institution that is Brit AOR pioneers FM.

The FM dates will be the first chance to catch an exclusive NEW song by the guys….

The dates are as follows;

Friday 15th March. Muni Arts Centre. Pontypridd

Saturday 16th March. Slade Rooms. Wolverhampton

Sunday 17th March. King Tuts. Glasgow

Monday 18th March. Arts Centre. Bingley

…… After which, the lads will be descending on Hednesford, Cannock, for a triple bill with fellow UK bands Daylight Robbery and Ten, on March 27th.

Hailing from Sweden, Covered Call feature the vocals of Goran Edman, and feature in their ranks Andy Loos, a previous member of ex AFM recording artists Lion’s Share.

The band’s debut album “Money Never Sleeps” was released to critical acclaim in 2009, and the second album “Impact”, recorded at the hugely influential Studio Fredman (where the likes of In Flames and Hammerfall recorded some of their greatest work) is confirmed for Easter Monday, April 1st. It was mixed by none other than Lion’s Share’s Lars Chriss.

Covered Call are;

Göran Edman – Lead Vocals
Joel Carlsson – Guitar
Morgan Rosenquist – Guitar
Andy Loos – Bass
Ronny Svanströmer – Drums

Heartbreak Radio – Producer Claes Andreasson and keyboard player Johan Axelsson (right) have been planning new album “On Air” for some seven years, and this Monday (February 25th) will see this album finally released. Featuring the guitar of Mats Johansson, best known for a solo spot on Asia’s “Aqua” release and Wojtek Goral from Stevie Wonder’s band, the album is a beautiful array of pop, Westcoast melody and rousing AOR, and will be a Spring highlight for devotees of Westcoast music circa 1978-1985.

Released on February 25th in the UK, the album was produced by Andreasson (Last Autumn’s Dream), but also features the production of keyboard player Johan Axelsson, and the band has come along way since those early recordings in 2004 / 5……

The line-up of today’s Heartbreak Radio consists of Mats Johanson (a guest soloist on Asia’s “Aqua” album, on guitar), Berra Holmgren (of Ace Of Base, on bass), the afore-mentioned Strandberg (Jeff Scott Soto, on drums) alongside Axelsson himself and the rousing sax of Wojtek Goral (from Stevie Wonder’s band.) Vocalists invited to attend the recording sessions included Jim Jidhed (Alien), the afore-mentioned Erlandsson and Weinsberg of course, and two other Swedish super-vocal talents, Henrik Baath (Dark Water) and solo artist Martin Gabriel.

Formed by soloist Andy Rock, and featuring the warming vocals of David A Saylor, Wild Rose‘s “Dangerous” is a full on AOR rocker with superb solo work from Rock and vibrant vocals.

During 2012, the band has been much more active and the line up much more stable. Working on new songs for their second album “Dangerous”, and with Rock producing and mixing (at WR Studios, Thessalonica) it could now be argued that this is really the moment Wild Rose as a band really makes a move internationally. The first album to feature new vocalist Saylor, “Dangerous”, is a bold statement from a band that, although clearly having experienced growing pains, now has the tools to begin to forge its career on its own terms.

The crunch has returned, the music taken on a viable power of its own, and with the undoubted talent of Saylor, Rock seems finally to be growing as a songwriter and expressing the strength that lies at the heart of the band. With “talismen” such as Outloud in Greece these days, it could just be the beginning for Wild Rose!!