Thanks to YouTube user TravisBickle1963, a rare TV interview by Phil has turned up, promoting the release of the Always There mini LP. It features a video for single ‘Always There‘, which I had never seen before, so quite the little gem. Shame the interview questions are utter crap, so don’t expect to learn much!
Paul James Berry has just finished a little tour and shared some photo’s and a video. Enjoy
Remember you can keep up with all of Paul’s activity on his website here:
pauljamesberry.com/
Thanks to super fan Richard Head, the video for Never Another Sunset has finally reappeared on YouTube.
Hello, its been a while.
I thought I would bring to your attention that The Rose’s gig at Zeche, Bochum, Germany on 25.01.1987 has been upload to the Dark Circle Blog. If you are into 80′s Goth this site should be a regular destination.
More info and download here.
Hey Rose fans, check out this new cover of Velveteen by Carnival Star. ProducerMark is behind the project, and he’s a huge supporter of the Rose, regularly playing them on his Indie Show - I recommend you check it out.
Taken from the “Era Sessions EP” – Velveteen is one of five covers featuring 5 bands and 5 albums from the late 70′s and early 80′s.
The EP features vocalists and musicians from various countries. Released as a tribute to those bands and musicians who remain a strong influence in the music of others around the world.
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“Just heard Carnival Star’s cover of one of my old songs. At first I thought it was the fucking original…”
“Carnival Star’s version of Velveteen evoked an epoch of good memories that I had almost forgotten… The song was born from one of my simple chord sequence that was meant to go round and round and hypnotise the listener. Live it grew to become a real corker!
Cheers Carnival Star for the trip!”
Paul James Berry 2014
Founder & Guitarist – The Rose of Avalanche
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www.carnival-star.com
https://carnivalstar.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/carnival-star
www.reverbnation.com/carnivalstar
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The “Era Sessions EP” was recorded in various countries around the world with various musicians taking part during a five month period.
Scotland, England, Italy, Norway & USA to be exact.
The original concept behind recording these covers was simply for entertainment and to take a break from the recording and writing of the original album material for future release.
However, it soon became clear that the fun was producing some interesting results and that these tracks should go out for free as a tribute to the bands that many of us in Carnival Star regard as influences and inspirations to all of our music.
Staying true to the arrangements of the originals, our aim was to simply take the tracks and produce an EP that we enjoyed making and performing.
Credits
Released 11 May 2014
Recorded in Scotland, England, Italy, Norway & USA
Music recorded and performed by ProducerMark
Co-produced by Liquid Grey
Remote Engineered by Cruel Britannia
Vocals recorded on location by the performers
Load up for ROA karaoke!
Scans of various press coverage
Scans of various press coverage.
Transcript of an unidentified interview, circa Always There single.
“Touring with The Mission was good for us” nods singer Phil Morris. “The sort of people that will go and see The Mission may never have heard of us but will go for us anyway ’cause we’re a similar sort of band”
So they wear sunglasses after dark?
“Uh, I have done” Phil admits Don’t people laugh? “Uh, only ’cause theres never any sun” Glenn replies. A sense of humour is present, folded neatly on top of an innocence which doesn’t even suspect the ugliness The Rose of Avalanche might have come up against if they hadn’t timed their arrival with the second coming of Led Zep.
“It seems to me The Cult started doing things they wanted to do instead of doing music for an indie scene or goths or whatever”
Fair enough and , thankfully, ROA don’t sound much like the heavy bone crushing dinosaurs they idolise. Always There is a romantically catchy guitar tingling single.
“I think I’m a romantic at heart, and my best songs are about women and all the business. Always There is saying to my girlfriend, even if she died she would always be there and be my friend and all that crap”
Everybody wants to be super human, and thats why rock ‘n’ roll bands that have that escapism element do well” says guitarist Glenn Shultz.
“You’re living out other peoples fantasies. I don’t think people often actually have casual sex… I can’t imagine anybody just having sex with someone they didn’t like! It seems pointless somehow”
“It might to you” Phil splutters, “but…”
Glenn “Okay, I’ve got it sussed now. I think romance is a byproduct of sex. If you have sex with somebody more than a few times you’re going to start liking them”
Sweetness aside, these boys have their eyes fixed on American, on the charts, on the major league. The new single’s b-side is the Doors Waiting For The Sun and the complexity of the song thrills them. “I don’t think it hurts being associated with The Doors or any classic rock band from the Sixties. I think what’s gonna happen soon is people are going to start listening to all these older bands, even further back like Cream. I think its coming back to the stage where being a good musician means you play really well.
Transcript of an unidentified interview, from The Mission World Crusade period.
Andy Liddell and Martin Goodier meet The Rose of Avalanche.
I fell in love with LA Rain, an addictive epic steeped in sleaze a long while ago, and its three equally powerful (and varied) successors greatly enhanced my opinion; from the (apparently) unlikely setting of Leeds had arrived a rock ‘n’ roll band with a pop sensibility and a classic trash attitude – The Rose of Avalanche music revels in the gutter while staring eagerly upwards into the stars.
“They’re the ones with the water pistols” we were informed upon arrival, and after narrowly avoiding being caught in the crossfire we adjourn to Rock City’s toilets so the band can reload and we can ask them where their name came from; “We made it up from a few different names we had and were bandying around; we wanted something powerful yet beautiful”, a name applying equally well to the rush of Goddess or the luscious Velveteen, a good name.
It might have been a good career move for the boys to have been born in Detroit, or somewhere American like that it certainly helps lend any trashy rock ‘n’ roll band credibility, but how does Leeds rate in the sleaze stakes?
“It depends who you hang around with! Leeds may not look a sleazy as all that but there are groups of people who are very sleazy…I was one of them once, but no more. You can’t live like that ‘cos you just become a thief, a liar, and a junkie.”
So are your lyrics based on personal experience?
“Yeah mostly, there’s only one song I made up and that was LA Rain, and I when wrote that I had some friends in Leeds who that could have easily happened to. The songs are personal to me, they don’t make statements like ‘You should do this because its good’ I just say what I feel”
What about the fake ‘Detroit drawl’ you use on stage?
“I don’t do the accent anymore, people took it too seriously – yeah, I thought it was hilarious, and it created a nice thing with the audience…Phil would walk on and drawl ‘Hi, there’ and people used to shout ‘you’re from Leeds you bastards’ so he would say (adopts classic Yorkshire accent) ‘get us pint of bitter then’
The Rose of Avalanche’s music is all about the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, something that tonights headliners The Mission seem intent on bringing back into style, so tell us about sex ‘n’ drugs ‘n’ rock ‘n’ roll…
“Not much sex on this tour, very occasionally I’m afraid, but we’re trying!! I think we’ve been worse than The Mission so far though, we’ve got the drinking down to a fine art now, whereas when we went over to Germany we were just drunk all the time time – what ever we asked for they gave us! The Mission try to get their dressing room as far from ours as possible. Before we actually go on we don’t drink a lot, you can’t really get that drunk before you go on (although we have a few times), but afterwards we’ve got to wait for The Mission to play and the gear to get packed up so its nice to sit down relax and get nicely smashed”
The band may still be somewhat static on stage (not to mention the lead guitarists appalling haircut) , but the songs are magnificent, which is why The Rose of Avalanche are so unremittingly wonderful. With interest from major labels, and a growing (and diverse) following the future looks, ahem, rosy; “The Mission got into the charts” said Phil “so I can’t see why we can’t” …
Neither can I, why “Stay With Me” charted and “LA Rain” didn’t is as much of mystery as whether LA stands for Leeds Area (we forgot to ask).