Take one bass guitar, a drum kit, and a singer who can channel the best of what punk music should sound like, blend well with a healthy dash of electronic wizardry, and you will be listening to a band called No Captains.

Based in San Francisco, No Captains consist of Danny Sando (bass and back vocals), Vince Shore (drums and percussion, he is a doppelganger of my friend from Russia, Anton) and Alex Shonkoff (vocals). I admire bands that can pull off minimalism; Japandroids immediately come to mind when I think of bands that can pull off sounding more extensive than they physically are.

No Captains can get a groove going and ride it through multiple genres. I won’t even hazard a guess as to where they fit in the dictionary of music genres. https://www.musicgenreslist.com. I prefer just listening to the music and taking it for what it is without trying to force it into a box or, in this case, boxes.

Just listening to the music on their newest album, Friends Like These, what did I hear? I heard some funky bass playing. Is this a funk band? No, Danny Sando gets funky on the bass, but No Captains are not a reincarnation of Parliament. I listened to some punk on Friends Like These, but No Captains are not confined to being a punk band. Alex Shonkoff can growl lyrics with the best of the punk movement without being limited to that genre. She also triggered memories of Annie Lennox as I listened to her singing. My ears also feasted on some choice psychedelic morsels, such as the song 13th Moon. No Captains are not the 13th Floor Elevators but they are an excellent example of getting a trippy groove going and working it. There are also elements of indie rock, progressive rock, metal, and probably more, more than enough to give you an idea of what No Captains have going on.

Without getting all analytical and pretentious, I sat down at my hobby workstation and relistened to this album without an agenda while I puttered about my latest project. I liked Friends Like These so much I listened to it yet again. I will probably spin it one more time before this day ends. Is it that good, you may ask yourself. I think it is, and I am a reasonably well-informed listener. This album twists and turns and adds flavour here and there that keeps me coming back for more because I keep hearing new bits and pieces and re-enjoying other parts. This recording deserves to be on end-of-the-year lists, which reminds me, I need to start compiling mine.

I am giving Friends Like These a solid 8.5/10.

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Album order / Bandcamp https://nocaptainssf.bandcamp.com/album/friends-like-these

Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/nocaptains/sets/friends-like-these

Previous album ‘The Next One https://soundcloud.com/nocaptains/sets/the-next-one

’13th Moon’ ft. Emily Palen https://soundcloud.com/nocaptains/13th-moon 

‘2 Left Feet’ https://soundcloud.com/nocaptains/2-left-feet/s-jbIMFRI0hA2

If you have any questions, contact Shauna McLarnon from Shameless Promotion PR  at contact@shamelesspromotionpr.com

I suppose an argument could be made that Deep Purple had turned to crime a long time ago with some of their less than classic albums. I enjoyed Deep Purple up to the Mark IV version (Wikipedia), with some reservations about the Come Taste The Band album in 1975. Then the wheels fell off for thirty years. And then their new album, Turning to Crime, came out on November 26, and I fell in love with Deep Purple all over again.

I liked the original Deep Purple and still have most of their early albums, which I occasionally go back and listen to, Shades of Deep Purple, Machine Head and Live in Japan in particular. Those albums captured an era in both my life and in the history of rock and roll music. They are considered one of the founding father bands of heavy metal music.

Back to the future, Deep Purple released Turning to Crime, and it grabbed my attention right off the bat with the first track, 7 and 7 Is, a retake of the classic rocker from Arthur Lee. The current lineup of Deep Purple, Mk VII, amazingly retains three members from their earliest years as a band. Ian Paice has been on percussion since 1968, Roger Glover and Ian Gillan have done their work with Deep Purple since 1969. Steve Morse is a relative newcomer not joining the Purple parade until 1994, and Don Airey has been on the keys since 2002, an impressive run in its own right of close to 20 years. I never had a single job for 20 years in my career; 14 and 16 were the longest I was at any position. Kudos to all the members of Deep Purple for hanging in there as long as they have.

The Deep Purple attack track #2, Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu, they don’t just do a cover; they pull out the jams with this number.

The next song is a bit of an outlier from Fleetwood Mac, Oh Well. This song never featured on an album and was initially released as a single. Peter Green was the writer and singer, and this is a bit of a forgotten gem that makes it an interesting choice as a cover for the Deep Purple lads.

Next in the queue is Jenny Take A Ride which was initially a medley by Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels‘ built around the blues standard See See Rider. The Deep Purple are giving us a history lesson with their choice of songs on Turning To Crime.

Continuing the blues feeling, we have Watching The River Flow, yet another song initially released as a single; this one is by Bob Dylan. Watching The River Flow eventually found an album home on the 1971 Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II. Deep Purple ramps up the energy and breath new life into the song.

Track six takes us into twelve-bar blues with the song Let The Good Times Roll, originally the B side of a release by Louis Jordan, Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens. The Hammond organ sounds Deep Purple had in their early years, through the contribution of Jon Lord, are featured on Let The Good Times Roll, played by Don Airey on their cover of this all out rock and roll tune. It still amazes me that the original versions of these songs are seldom recognized as being early versions of rock music. Yes, they had jazz, blues or even big band sounds but they still rocked.

On the topic of chickens, the next track is Dixie Chicken, arguably the signature song for the band Little Feat. I need to get a copy of this and the rest of the Lowell George era albums by this often overlooked band. Fortunately, Deep Purple didn’t ignore them, and they give us this energetic cover of Dixie Chicken.

Next up, we have the song Shapes of Things which The Yardbirds initially recorded. I like the Deep Purple version better myself.

The next track is The Battle New Orleans, written and originally recorded by Jimmy Driftwood but popularized by Johnny Horton. There have been umpteen covers done of this song, and Deep Purple have recorded a respectable job of it, but the Johnny Horton version is so ingrained in my brain that I find it hard to get my mind around alternate versions. Just for the fun of it, give the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band‘s performance from their album Symphonion Dream a spin on your virtual turntable.

Lucifer, by Bob Seger taken off his third studio album, Mongrel, is a deep-cut cover. I must have handled hundreds of copies of Against The Wind, but I don’t remember ever holding a copy of Mongrel. Apparently, Deep Purple had because they do a cover of it on Turning To Crime. Heck, Apple Music didn’t even have a copy of it. I had to listen on YouTube to hear what the original sounded like, which reinforced why I don’t own any Bob Seger albums.

The second to the last track is my favourite cut on this album, White Room. Cream, of course, did the original, which is a staple of any rock and roll collection. Yes, I do have a copy of it in my collection. Deep Purple do an excellent cover of this iconic song, which I applaud because the original is so deeply embedded that hearing a new version can be jarring. Deep Purple pull it off with great aplomb.

The album Turning To Crime ends with a medley that they title Caught in the Act. The listed songs are thus, Going Down, Green Onions, Hot ‘Lanta, Dazed and Confused, and Gimme Some Lovin’. Caught in the Act an ok closer, but I feel it is too scattered and doesn’t have enough glue holding it together to make it a strong closing statement.

At the end of the day, I consider Turning to Crime a good album. I would give it 8 out of 10. A better closer would have brought it up to 9, and the last digit is scattered through the album. Congrats to Bob Ezrin for suggesting this project to Deep Purple, and congrats to them for pulling it off as well as they did. Just because we are old don’t mean we’re slow, rock on Deep Purple, rock on.

Swedish-Australian indie-pop outfit Tiny Fighter presents their new single ‘Rewind,’ the first taster and the title track of their new album of the same name, slated for release in the first week of December. Filmmaker Christian Rutegård and Therese Karlsson created a relaxed grounding video for this track. Formed in 2017, Tiny Fighter grew from a collaboration between Therese Karlsson (a truck driver from Kalmar in the deep south of Sweden) and Tim Spelman (a doctor from the deep south of Australia) into a full band with members from all over the globe (Poland, Israel, UK, Australia, Sweden). They have released a string of singles and EPs, a live album, a remix collection and the full-length debut album ‘Going Home.’

After racking up 1 million views on YouTube, over 700,000 Spotify streams and successful tours through the US, Canada and Europe, Tiny Fighter were on the brink of a small but significant slice of world domination. Then came COVID, effectively putting the brakes on the whole machine. Faced with an extended period of no touring, a fan campaign led by a collection of locked-down Tiny Fighter supporters began to follow up the band’s celebrated ‘Loft Sessions (Live in New York)’ album. The problem –there was no live music, much less any touring. The solution –record an entirely new record combining brand new songs with re-interpretations of some of their fan-favourites. Thus, the ‘Rewind‘ album was born.

Different times call for other methods. The ‘Rewind‘ recording sessions saw the band bring in a whole sack full of new instruments, including mandolins, dobro, trumpets, flugelhorns, pedal steel and drum machines. In their most Scandinavian moment to date, Tiny Fighter recorded vocals in the studio sauna (arguably because of the excellent sound-proofing and bonus warmth. Tim Spelman comments, “This record represents somewhat of a departure from our previous pop-rock-based releases, with a heavier reliance on acoustic instruments and bringing in new layers including brass, mandolins, pedal steel and drum machines. The pop is still there, but it’s more intimate and stripped back –that’s why we recorded the vocals in our sauna”. This long player again sees Tiny Fighter team up Swedish metal legend and multi-Grammy award-winning producer Thomas “Plec” Johansson. Tiny Fighter recorded Rewind at The Panic Room Studio in Skövde and Stockholm, Sweden.” Our new album is a more acoustic take on our songs that already exist, except for one cover and a Swedish version of one of our songs. It has been fun looking into our own rearview mirror and now bringing some of our songs to light once more with an acoustic touch. So for this album, we are rewinding time, and, at the same time, we look forward to seeing what lies ahead of us,” says Therese Karlsson.” Usually, I receive the music from Tim, so first, I get particular feelings from the music, and that feeling turns into words and, in the end, it becomes a story. The lyrics are inspired by other people, their life stories or my own inner feelings or observations about society. This ‘Rewind‘ album sees a mix of all of that.”

On December 3, the ‘Rewind‘ album will be available via Bay Terrace Records and everywhere, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp, available for pre-order.

Norman, a WeatheredMusic co-founder, adds, “This album piqued my interest due to the unlikely pairing of a Swedish truck driver and an Australian doctor. Somehow or another, magic happens, and they have created a splendid album. Therese Karlsson has a mesmerizing voice, and the music envelopes that voice and brings life to the lyrics. Rewind is good music, all day, any day, and it is just plain good listening.

‘Rewind’ https://youtu.be/EskCxxqGM9M

Album pre-order / Bandcamp https://tinyfighterz.bandcamp.com/album/rewind

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Shameless Promotion PR at contact@shamelesspromotionpr.com.