Category: 2019

Young ones of the British blues boom who go off to discover the New World ? Unaware yet courageous ! This is in fact what guitarist Lonesome Dave Peverett and drummer Roger Earl, good pilgrims of a promising Savoy Brown, actually did. Rod Price of the Black Cat Bones also joined in. The air of the Big Apple did them a world of good. However, they came back to their motherland in 1972 for a few concerts, but were quickly considered pariahs. Foghat will forget the old country now and forever.

 

Americans do not care about the band’s origins. They delight in this group of brilliant simplicity that served up a unique mix of bluesy, rock ‘n’ roll, with a red boogie BBQ sauce. Albums such as ‘Energized’, ‘Fool for the City’ and ‘Night Shift’ send them off to stadiums and the live album of 1977 will remain a cult object with a hot ‘Honey Hush’, copied from the famous ‘Train Kept A Rollin’/Stroll On’. After a few lesser moments, Rod Price threw in the towel in 1999 and, worse, Lonesome Dave Peverett definitely bowed out in 2000.

 

This double blow should have meant the end of this fantastic Anglo-American group, but no! With science and stubbornness, Roger Earl rebuilt a Foghat with some pink tones. Lonesome Dave irreplaceable ? Well no ! Charlie Huhn, a performer from Michigan, reared on British blues boom Cream and Hendrix, beings a new dynamic to the group. His resume is impressive: Ted Nugent, Gary Moore, Victory and Humble Pie. What could be better ? Bryan Bassett, slide expert, ex Molly Hatchet, had a blast in Rod Price’s shoes.

 

In 2019 Foghat remain Foghat. The peak of rock/blues/boogie, but also an unfading quartet that does not need to show off its virtuosity to gain smiles, admiration or foot tapping… In a few words, world-class !

At the start, it was quite improbable for Belgium to have an international class heavy metal band. There was Irish Coffee in the 1970s, Cyclone and a few other outsiders in the 1980s, but the lack of means invariably kept coming back as a common denominator.

 

In 1990, at the “expiration date” of our festival, Channel Zero from Brussels got formed in a chaotic musical landscape. With an eponymous album in 1992, ‘Stigmatized For Life’, produced by the late Vinnie Paul of Pantera in 1993 and especially the very heavy ‘Unsafe’ in 1994, Channel Zero gave itself the means of its ambitions and became the number one Belgian heavy metal band. Already having hit rock bottom in 1996, Channel Zero chose 2010 as a redemptive force. On the cards, six sold out concerts at the Ancienne Belgique, the first three in 49 minutes. After memorable gigs at Graspop and Rock Werchter, drummer Phil Baheux died in 2013, the eve of their performance at Alcatraz. That’s when the group reinvented itself with drummer Seven Antonopoulos and American guitarist Mikey Doling, finally fully integrated. Singer Franky Desmet-Van Damme and bassist Tino De Martino remain the pillars of a group that matured terribly well as attested by ‘Exit Humanity’ (2017), a jewel in their crown.

‘The days of big tours from city to city with the tour bus is over. I’ve given enough. It’s the reason why I stopped Twisted Sister,” says Dee Snider, big mouth of American rock who has never seemed more petulant and motivated since the end of the group that made him world famous. “I’m still in great shape and I can still set the stage on fire, but only at times”, explains this eternal bragger always very sure of himself.

 

The four years of Twisted Sister and the farewell tour that followed managed to frustrate the fans in a certain way. The group bowed out at the peak of their fame and this time around, the New Yorkers will be more honest than the majority of the so-called retirees.
Twisted Sister is a varied group whose path was never very easy. At the beginning, they had a tough time, then gained cult status for a category of Americans who fawned over the circus of hard rock glam boom in Los Angeles. However, JJ French was the boss of the group and Dee Snider the songwriter and image of this priceless Twisted Sister that entrenched itself into the American school system.

 

“I became a singer to make the crowds howl,” Dee boasts, one of the most gleaming and baffling frontmen and entertainers in hard rock history. And the guy is trying to put his money where his mouth is with a solo career where he doesn’t owe anything to anyone.
The Dee storm promises to destroy everything in its path on 25 August in Liège. He’s the dream headliner to close our festival, not without having yelled until hoarse ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’, a veritable hymn in Belgium. You can’t stop rock ‘n’ roll, don’t even try !