RUSHONROCK.COM|CLASSIC ROCK * METAL * THRASH * PROG * GLAM * SLEAZE – IF IT ROCKS IT RUSHONROCKS!

Slovenians Elvis Jackson are building up a big fanbase across continental Europe and now the boys have set their sights on breaking the UK.

Always keen to give new talent a break we’re delighted to bring the band on board and we’ll be watching their progress with interest.

In the meantime read on to discover what mates axe slinger Berto tick when he’s not belting out EJ classics live. Read the rest of this entry »

Faith No More – We Care A Lot (Faith No More) b/w Spirit (Faith No More) 1987

Until this raucous rock anthem splintered the airwaves – cutting through hair metal’s pomp like a knife through butter – Faith No More were a relatively unknown quantity. 

But as soon as this wacky crew of aural agitators got inside your head there was no shaking them. We Care A Lot was part Beastie Boys, part punk, part metal and part something not of this universe.

The pounding chorus alone was more shoutalong than singalong but it somehow did the trick – and catapulted FNM on a journey which would eventually see them become one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Brit blues rock heroes Thunder go out with a bang this month after 20 years and we’ll be celebrating/mourning the event in style. You can read the first review of tomorrow night’s Newcastle City Hall show right here and we’ll be bringing you all the backstage gossip and goings-on.

We’ve also got an exclusive interview with Quireboys‘ frontman Spike – wisely conducted before he opened up for Thunder in Newcastle and Nottingham this week. And we dip into the archives to bring you the song which launched Faith No More in the latest instalment of The Vinyl Countdown.  Read the rest of this entry »

More than 70,000 expectant punters always hoped it would be something special. First came the news that the final day had a Classic Rock flavour, then the big name headliners were confirmed and finally the baking hot sun arrived right on cue. If ever Download was going to deliver a day to remember then this day would surely be it.

In fact it was better than that. Way, way better. This is what watching live rock music is all about and while I admire those who packed in all three days without barely breaking into a sweat, it’s just as well I decided to forgo Faith No More and sidestep Slipknot. Read the rest of this entry »

It is still a little known fact among parents-to-be, even in these times of economic gloom and deepening recession, that there is what amounts to an unwritten rule concerning unforeseen births on shop floors.

Should you or your partner happen to pop out your offspring slap bang in the middle of Boots, somewhere between the frozen fish and French Fancies in Marks & Sparks or in the John Lewis home furnishings department, then you could be in luck.

For these stores and many more have a tradition of lavishing gifts upon parents who divert from their chosen birth plan to set out their stall, so to speak, in a shop – and as a first-time father some four years ago I was only too aware of the bonuses on offer.

But not for me the lure of a year’s supply of free nappies, a basket full of cod or a nice pair of curtains. No, once I knew my original little rocker was on the way the potential birthing pool was strictly limited. Read the rest of this entry »

Fresh from storming Give It A Name 2009, hot US band In This Moment are heading to Japan and expect sales of new album The Dream to soar.

With lead singer Maria Brink showing her softer side and melodic twists mixed with the band’s early metalcore there has never been a better time to catch up with one of this year’s buzz bands.

They’ll be back to play Download in the summer but rushonrock put drummer Jeff Fabb and guitar god Blake Bunzell on the spot before they headed out of Britain. Read the rest of this entry »

@ Newcastle o2 Academy, April 14 2009

Like their endearing frontwoman, In This Moment’s blistering set was short but incredibly sweet.

Second band on in front of a disappointingly sparse Give It A Name Introducing crowd, the US metal stars were clearly the act most fans had come to see and by 9pm a half-full venue suddenly emptied further.

At about this time ITM’s Maria Brink must have been backstage wondering what it will take for her band to break into the UK mainstream. A higher profile gig than this would be a start and a surprising slot on a shoddy tour has done one of 2009’s rising stars no good at all. Read the rest of this entry »

Guns N Roses @ Gateshead International Stadium, June 16 1992

It was a long hot day on Tyneside – and how many of those do we get? But it was also a worrying day for the thousands of North East rock fans who’d forked out £21 to see the most dangerous band in the world only to read of cancellations elsewhere in the UK and Axl’s increasingly erratic behaviour.

In fact not until the moment his royal rockness stepped on stage did any of us really believe this gig was going to happen. But it did and it would go down in history as one of the must-see shows on the magnificent Use Your Illusion world trek.

But it wasn’t all down to the mesmeric Gunners. I still own my Soundgarden T-shirt replete with all of its holes, tears and faded Superunknown imagery and as an opening act they were simply unstoppable. Little did we know that Chris Cornell and his ilk would slowly destroy the music we love as grunge grabbed the attention of media’s tastemakers and consigned good old fashioned rock and roll to history (for a while).

Anyway if Soungarden were superb then Faith No More were fantastic. This was the band we’d come to see just in case Axl’s helicopter did make a U-turn somewhere over Teesside. The hits came thick and fast, the energy burned during a high octane set could have powered Gateshead and as a warm-up act for the main men FNM were damn near perfect. We cared a lot and the band repaid our faith.

Then it happened. Axl, Slash and the gang did, indeed, deign us with their presence and what a night we had. Dipping into the Use Your Illusion records with regularity the biggest cheers were, of course, reserved for the Appetite standards we had been learning off by heart for the best part of five years.

In retrospect November Rain was the spine-tingling highlight but on the night it was impossible to look past Paradise City. Axl came to life like never before for those few minutes when the world belonged to GNR and as for Slash? The kid from the Potteries pounded our eardrums with as emotional a solo as you’ll ever hear – now, then or in the future.

It’s impossible to describe just how privileged we all felt cramming onto the Metro sometime after 11pm drained, dehydrated and dreaming of the next time. Of course that dream became a nightmare and later reincarnations of GNR (I’m thinking Leeds Festival ad Newcastle Arena) have failed to cut the mustard.

But if you were there on June 16 1992 then you don’t really care. And why should you?

Simon Rushworth