Aldora Britain Records Issue 16 (2020) Interview with THUNDER AND RAIN! We catch up with the Colorado Americana quartet fresh from releasing their Passing in The Night album; a masterpiece! (Pages 2-5) A track-by-track guide to our ROCK AND ROLL SONG compilation album! A write-up of the album with each track reviewed! (Pages 6-11) Interview with THE LONESOME WILDERNESS! Arizona’s favourite indie psychedelic rockers tell us all about their desert-influenced sound and what music means to them! (Pages 13-16) Interview with THE BREED! Frontman, Wayne Crisp, returns to our pages to delve into The Breed’s back catalogue! We discuss their 2016 long player, Play My Game, and 60s pop culture! (Pages 20-23) Interview with the BLACK MOON BOYS! Our very first feature with an artist signed to Rebel Music Records, here are the Canadian neo-rockabilly men, the Black Moon Boys! (Pages 26-29) Interview with THE HIGH AND WIDES! Get to know this Maryland based Billboard charting bluegrass group and hear all about their not so difficult second album! (Pages 34-37) Reviews of JOHN DONEGAN (page 17), JENNY WREN & HER BORROWED WINGS (page 24), RYAN CHRYS & THE ROUGH CUTS (pages 30-31), and THE SMART FOLK (page 37)! Aldora Britain Records Est. 2013 | “Tomorrow’s Music Today” | AB15 | Page 1 Passing in The Night This issue’s cover feature comes from the brilliant Colorado Americana quartet, Thunder and Rain. These guys have already featured their brilliant track, ‘No Darlin’, on our 20/20 Hindsight compilation and with good cause. Their unique brand of the most traditional of American music is world- conquering and hopefully, with time, this is exactly what will happen. Fresh from releasing their third studio effort, Passing in The Night, a modern country and folk classic, these young, fresh-faced outlaws stop by to talk to us about a seismic change in the band’s line up, dealing with big name comparisons, and the supremely talented Colorado music scene. Enjoy and be sure to pick up your very own copy of Passing in The Night; you can thank me later! Aldora Britain Records: “Hi guys, how are you? It’s great to be talking. Could you start off by telling me a bit about Thunder and Rain? How did the band come to be?” Erinn Mae: “Thunder and Rain formed after I moved to Golden in September 2013 to start a band with my music partner at the time, Pete Weber. Together, we found the rest of the band, and since then it’s gone through more than a few member changes. One of the biggest was when Pete and I ended our professional and romantic relationship in 2018. A lot of the new songs on our album are inspired by that.” Aldora Britain Records Est. 2013 | “Tomorrow’s Music Today” | AB15 | Page 2 Aldora Britain Records: “Erinn, you have received comparisons to Linda Ronstadt and Alison Krauss, and both comparisons I’d say totally hit the nail on the head! How does this feel? Is it quite gratifying and humbling or do you find it to be added pressure?” Erinn Mae: “It’s extremely humbling and gratifying. I don’t feel pressure because if I just keep singing the way I do, hopefully those comparisons keep coming! It encourages me that there is an audience for our music, because both of those women have millions of fans and would sell out a show anywhere they play.” Aldora Britain Records: “Your album is superb, I’d be hard pushed to find an independent Americana album of such calibre. It’s called Passing in The Night, could you tell us a bit about the album and how it came to together?” Erinn Mae: “I started to write the album after Pete and I split in 2018. I had a few short “I was in a really relationships right after that one ended, and I raw place where I was in a really raw place where I was able to was able to write write very honest songs. I was also doing massive amounts of self discovery, since my very honest songs.” identity was tied to Pete for so long. We wanted to make a record where we were the producers, and we only used our acoustic instruments so that we could recreate everything live. We really wanted to stay true to our sound and go back to who we were when the band started.” Aldora Britain Records: “There’s a track hidden away towards the end of the album called ‘Nobody’s Darlin’. I think it is an absolutely magnificent country track. What is the story behind the song and what is it all about?” Aldora Britain Records Est. 2013 | “Tomorrow’s Music Today” | AB15 | Page 3 Erinn Mae: “I wrote that song for the short period of time when I was single in 2018. I was always trying to make a relationship work, and suddenly not having one was incredibly freeing. I finally appreciated how much I’d been through in my life all on my own and wanted to recognise that my own story is the greatest one I have to tell, as opposed to a love story. I also wanted to have a track on the album with a killer old time melody that all the instruments could play together. I got the inspiration for the melody from a song off Disney’s Pocahontas, one of my favourite movies.” “I finally appreciated how much I’d been through in my life all on my own and wanted to recognise that my own story is the greatest one I have to tell, as opposed to a love story.” Aldora Britain Records: “I’d like to ask about the Colorado music scene at the moment. There’s so many great musicians, songwriters and artists coming out of there just now. Could you tell us a bit about what it’s like to be a part of it?” Erinn Mae: “I love the Colorado music scene because the line between fan and artist is incredibly blurry. I am both. Often huge fans of the music end up picking up instruments and forming their own band, and then their ‘heroes’ in Aldora Britain Records Est. 2013 | “Tomorrow’s Music Today” | AB15 | Page 4 the scene will go to their show. It’s such an amazing, supportive place that honestly has too much talent. I now understand that every famous band came from a whole scene of bands, artists and friends supporting each other.” Aldora Britain Records: “What’s up next for Thunder and Rain?” Erinn Mae: “A tour to the UK in May, many more shows after, and mostly, to quote a famous toy astronaut, ‘to infinity and beyond’.” QUICKFIRE ROUND AB Records: “Favourite artist?” Erinn Mae: “Don’t think I could choose, but I really love Tyler Childers and Phoebe Bridges.” AB Records: “Favourite album?” Erinn Mae: “Graceland by Paul Simon.” AB Records: “First gig?” Erinn Mae: “First show I ever saw was NSYNC. I was six and the loud music scared me. I spent most of the show hiding under the seat.” AB Records: “Style icon?” Erinn Mae: “Again, so hard to choose. It’s people I see in real life. Sometimes I’ll see someone wearing something and it just clicks, ‘I need that, that’s my style’, and I’ll hunt for it.” AB Records: “Favourite film?” Erinn Mae: “The Lion King. I have a tattoo of baby Simba above my left elbow.” AB Records: “Favourite up and coming artist?” Erinn Mae: “There are some amazing up and coming bands in Colorado. I really like Pick N Howl, The Wooks, and Jackie and the Racket.” Aldora Britain Records Est. 2013 | “Tomorrow’s Music Today” | AB15 | Page 5 ROCK AND ROLL SONG Rock and Roll Song is the eleventh compilation album from independent music e- zine and label, Aldora Britain Records. It is a collection of fourteen songs by fourteen different artists. The songs may not necessarily be rock and roll in terms of musical style, but every artist here has the rock and roll attitude. The artwork references the greatest rock and roll band of all time, The Beatles. The shot is taken from the site that inspired ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. I’m sure some of these acts will become integral parts of the history of rock and roll. This compilation sees the return of Maze, The Theme, The Breed, and B.R. Mount & The Doubt. New arrivals to AB Records are: Mini Meltdowns (Ramones-styled pop punk), The Lonesome Wilderness (expansive psychedelic indie rock), Tattletale Saints (fun Americana country), Gareth Leach (Australian southern rock), Anth Purdy (instrumental blues balladry), Eddie 9V (bluesy Tennessee soul), Daisy Chain (hard and heavy rock and roll), Robojom (new wave post punk), The Green Zoo (cinematic chamber pop), and Josue Kinter (mysterious Gothic Americana). So… as always, we have a right mix. Would we want it any other way? Enjoy! Tom @ AB Records Aldora Britain Records Est. 2013 | “Tomorrow’s Music Today” | AB15 | Page 6 “Gonna Miss You” by Mini Meltdowns Jon Phillip’s new duo, Mini Meltdowns, perform a soaring punk rock anthem that crash lands somewhere between ‘Rockaway Beach’ by the Ramones and ‘Denis’ by Blondie. It has all the rock and roll attitude and swagger that provides the perfect opener for this full-steam ahead collection. The pop sensibility behind the track is undeniable and it has a chorus capable of replacing a whole host of mainstream radio. “Heading Out of Nowhere” by Maze Gary Davis and Paul Bassom are no strangers to anthemic, modern indie rock and roll and that is exactly what they deliver here.