Music For The Road

As previously announced, Frontiers Music Srl is pleased to welcome Finland's Rust n' Rage to the label's ever-growing stable of exciting new young talent. The band will release its label debut "One For The Road", produced by Jimmy Westerlund (One Desire). Through lots of hard work and gigging, Rust n' Rage has been starting to make a name for itself in home country Finland…

Homesick for the Road provides a showcase for three fine blues singer/guitarists. The recording is clean and crisp, as is typical of the Telarc label, and the music cooks from start to finish. This disc provides an excellent introduction to each performer, with ample opportunities for each to shine. Debbie Davies brings to mind Bonnie Raitt, with her appealing vocal timbre and bluesy delivery. The youthful Benoit sings with an authority beyond his 31 years, making Screamin' Jay Hawkins' classic "I Put a Spell on You" his own. Kenny Neal has the scruffy, soulful delivery of a man who knows what the blues are all about. His "I've Been Mistreated" sounds like a late '60s slice of Muscle Shoals soul. All three of the co-leaders are excellent guitarists, and the band is solid and tight. Homesick for the Road rolls down the car window for an enticing look at three relatively young performers carrying the blues torch into the future.

Formed in the spring of 2014 under the name No Man’s Land, King Company is a band featuring cream of the crop Finnish Hard Rock scene members. Drummer Mirka "Leka" Rantanen (Raskasta Joulua, Warmen, Thunderstone, Kotipelto) had been thinking about forming a new Hard Rock/Melodic Metal band for a long time. He wanted to play with people with whom he had worked before and who he knew both as good musicians and as friends. First, he contacted guitarist Antti Wirman (Warmen) who immediately joined the band. Singer Pasi Rantanen was in Mirka's mind from the beginning, as they had played together in a couple of bands before (Thunderstone, Warmen). After keyboardist Jari Pailamo (Kiuas, Ponies To Kill) and bassist Time Schleifer (Enfarce) joined the band, this super group of sorts was finally ready to start working.

One of those uniquely '70s groups, Middle of the Road were a Scottish pop vocal group whose singles "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep," "Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum," and "Soley Soley" were huge European hits, selling in the tens of millions. Formed by Sally Carr (vocals), Ian McCredie (guitar), Eric McCredie (bass), and drummer Ken Andrew in 1970 (the group had been playing together since 1967, but under the moniker of "Part Three") Middle of the Road had trouble finding success until they uprooted from the United Kingdom and settled in Italy. There they met famed producer Giacomo Tosti, who revamped the group, and molded them in the sound and image that would take them to pop heights.