If you ever wanted to know what goes on in the rich and varied life of the average rock star, check out guitar whizz Orianthi. In the last month or so she's launched a new amp (her signature Orange Crush R20), appeared with Sebastian Bach in a video (for his Future Of Youth single) and performed on the catwalk (alongside Kate Moss at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show). And now, to top it all, she's won our Tracks Of The Week competition. Like, literally, wow.
Following in her sonic footsteps were Little Strange and Thundermother, but in our eyes, they're all winners. Although, to be honest, Orianthi is definitely the winningest of all the winners.
Here are our our latest eight candidates. Please vote for the one who's best.
Smith/Kotzen - White Noise
Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen have joined forces again, and if White Noise is anything to go by we’re in for a treat with their second album – titled Black Light/White Noise. Hinging on a deliciously low, thick-set groove and a mega-hooky chorus, it swaggers like a lion in lead boots… or something similarly heavy and growly yet majestic. “It was actually a riff Adrian brought in,” says Kotzen. “I then immediately started improvising the melody and the lyric that became the chorus. It had another working title, completely different to what it ended up being and we kind of came up on the spot with that call and answer in the chorus that turned into ‘White Noise’.”
SKAM - Selfish Friend
"Selfish Friend is about that one friend everyone has,” the Leicester power-trio say, of this total banger from their first full-length album in seven years – From The Depths. “You keep this person around even though they repeatedly let you down and only think about themselves. Yet you still keep them around!" Meaty, moody guitars gallop and chop down hard, propelled by singer/guitarist Steve Hill’s soaring melody. Straight-ahead but rich, emphatic and smartly executed in a way that makes them feel like a much bigger band.
Chris Tapp - Old Lady Blues
There’s something of the late, great Louisiana blueser Brother Dege in this first sample of the Cold Stares’ frontman’s new solo album Green – so-called because all the songs were played on an old National Resonator that belonged to another late great bluesman, Peter Green. Imbued with the sort of sparse, haunting atmosphere and hypnotic delta blues that come out so beautifully from a guitar like this (in the right hands, of course) it’s piqued our curiosity for the rest.
Those Damn Crows - Glass Heart
Those Damn Crows have long worn their hearts on their sleeves, in the form of punchy, searing hard rock songs. The first sample of their next album, God Shaped Hole (coming out in April), finds the Bridgend band of brothers leaning into their pop rock side, as they continue to artfully bottle unvarnished human feelings. “The whole premise of that song is, ‘I’m going to tell it like it is, flaws and all,’” frontman Shane Greenhall says. “I can be anxious, I can be unstable when sometimes It looks like I got my shit together, and have all the answers. I’ve been hurt and broken – who hasn’t got a glass heart? But it’s OK, because we’re still here, we’re still fighting.”
Body Count - Merciless
At 66 Ice-T remains invigoratingly committed to big, zero-compromise statements, and this one packs several serious punches. The title track from his new album with Body Count is a massive razor-stab of deliciously crushing metallic riffs with a chilling, Hostel-nodding horror narrative and images of segregation, KKK cross burnings and police aggression. Still pushing the envelope with fusions of rap and heavy music more successfully than just about anyone.
The Sheepdogs - Santa Man
And now for something different (like, completely different). These Canadian canines put the ‘roll’ in ‘rock’n’roll’ on this heartwarming 60s-bluesy festive toe-tapper, with a funky R&B spring in its step and streaks of latter-day Beatles vibes. Plus it has lyrics about reindeer, jingle bells and chimneys and good old cheesy holiday shit like that. And it’s called Santa Man. Frankly, what more do you want from a Christmas single? "There’s a lot of Christmas music out there, but not nearly enough Christmas Rock N Roll,” frontman Ewan Currie says. “So we’re making like Santa and delivering the December goods: a Xmas-party banger for your next holiday shindig."
Fantastic Negrito - Runaway From You
One of the highlights of Fantastic Negrito's recent Son Of A Broken Man album, Runaway From You features a beseeching vocal from the man himself, an unexpected but undeniably epic string part, and a guitar so distorted you'll be checking your speakers to confirm they're not blown. It's the kind of thing you might play to someone to show them what Negrito does best: a thoroughly modern overall of the blues, but with those delta roots kept respectfully intact.
The Yagas - The Crying Room
You might be familiar with Vera Farmiga from her roles in shows like Up In The Air, The Conjuring and Five Days At Memorial, but she's popped up on YouTube singing songs by Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath at music school events in the past, and now she's fronting her own band, The Yagas. The Crying Room was written to "honour the struggles of the Ukrainian people", and is something of a prog metal beast, big on atmosphere, epic of scale and stout of heart. From the album Midnight Minuet, which is due to land next year.
