Wow, you guys are amazing! So much feeling in this song. Dark, but hopeful, a statement of faith even in the face of death. Inspiring, thank you. Just found you on Bandcamp. All the best to you.
Really ove this song! Thank you guys for Berlin concert (6.3.2020. if my memory serves me well). Got a nice shirt and fantastic concert! Anyway, I hope for old albums will be reissued on vinyl again. The awakening is classic.
Thank you for that hilarious video! I've rewatched this at least 5 times now. I am a 20 year old who studies for my mechanical engineering classes while listening to Squier's catalog (& occasionally to Zeppelin). If I had to push it, I choose Billy Squier over Zeppelin for repeated listens. Though really, I am thankful for and admire the orchestration and craft from both Led Zeppelin's and Billy Squier's music and other performances, for both sides' bandmates are proficient and put on great engaging shows. So yeah, I'm pretty thankful that Billy chose to work on albums & tour with Bruce Kulick (worked with Kiss, too), Cary Sharaf, Doug Lubahn (worked with The Doors) Bobby Chouinard (one of my fav drummers) (also rest in piece & much respect to each bandmate who passed away). Squier and his bandmates have stated before that Zeppelin along with Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Mott the Hoople, Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc have inspired them. Both Zeppelin & Squier have been professionally active since the 1960s, yet Billy's big break happened much later in 1981 ("Don't Say No" was his 2nd solo album yet it was almost like an opposite of a sophomore slum) vs. Page, Plant, Bonham, and Jones in the late 60s. I have a grand respect for Billy. Unlike the Zeppelin personnel, Billy Squier roasted the music industry, other people in suits, "backstreet boy selling you sin", and people immorally taking advantage of each other. He's tackled those kind of topics in his songs (e.g. Emotions in Motion, Everybody Wants You, The Stroke) at a level other musicians would risk even more controversy/backlash. "The Stroke" in particular has "Reverse snare" effects during its bombastic snare drum beat (special thanks to drummer Bobby Chouinard) which an homage and enhancement to Zeppelin's "drums-do-the-talking" attitude while drummer John Bonham was alive. This catchy, edgy song includes multi-entendres in most lines that can be interpreted in sexual other other dirty ways even though Billy is graphically describing his perspective of the recording/promotion process, Rockstar lifestyle, and encounters with sleazy executives. I.e. it's about ego-stroking. "Everybody wants you" & "Emotions in Motion" also tackle similar topics to "the Stroke" minus the multi-entendres. Both songs focus moreso on the rockstar/crowd/street experiences and feelings versus just the way venue/record company personnel strokes the artists' ego so that the record company/venue can focus more on profit/artist exploitation and less on integrity, creativity, etc. Many deep cuts also have snippets of musical/lyrical proficiency that are authentic if not still unique (e.g. Wink of an eye, Whaddya want from me, Don't say no (one of my fav album closers) Nerves on Ice, Powerhouse, Rock Out (Punch somebody), Fall for Love (Especially the guitar break two-thirds into that song)) So I gotta give a thumbs up & a belly laugh to the comedian/Billy Squier supporter in the blue chair. hahahaha Also shoutouts to Hazemaze's kuksugare comment.
In his day Robert had a far better range than Billy. As far as being a better guitarist than Page, that is not even realistic since Billy had a LEAD guitar player on every album, as well as live, and had few solos in his songs in the first place. Billy is a rhythm guy. He focused on pop songs which were great. The thing about that though, is that Zeppelin had more hits than Billy did, more big albums than Billy, more albums sold than Billy. My old guitarist used to say that Billy ripped off Zeppelin. I'm not sure if that is true. I love Billy's music, but in no way is he superior to Zeppelin.
we were supposed to play maryland doom fest last june (then october) and now they are shooting for june again. will be recording a new record, likely later this year.
Just a heads up if your a fan of the stuff on spotify, check around other places, they have a large catalog of stuff and unless something has changed recently a lot of it isn't on Spotify. "To kill and be king" being a prime example of that
Nice Somewhere in Time poster in the back \m/. Looking forward to see you play The Burial at Hell Over Hammaburg festival in march!!! Cheerz from Germany
