OMPUnplugged

Fargo Strut is a 4-piece band from somewhere around Nashville, Tennessee. This band formed when two lifelong friends, Jeff Turner and Billy Atkisson, got together to jam. Billy and Jeff both got guitars for Christmas the same year when they were in their early teens. They had played together numerous times throughout the years and had very similar taste in music. Billy studied music at MTSU and earned a Bachelor's degree in classical guitar with an emphasis on instrumental performance. As fate would have it, when they got back together to play some music Billy had a set of drums and became the drummer and singer because that way they could play, write and have more of a full band sound. Their music is a hybrid between metal and hard rock that combines an ’80s attitude with today’s newer sounds. Quoting their own words, they write and play music that they love and want to share, taking their influences and twisting them into something new and heart felt. This is a mix of flash and soul, with their guitar-oriented style. This band released their debut album entitled Across the Sky in October 2016. And currently, they are preparing a new album, Can’t Cool Down, with an expected release in October 2018. Right now, Billy’s back to his first and only love, the almighty guitar, and auditions for drummers is currently going on as the band gets ready to release their latest music and hit the stage again very soon!

Priest Killer is a death metal band from South Africa. They are anti-theist, meaning not only do they not believe in a god (or any gods), but they also oppose all organized religions and the harm they know it causes to society. This band vehemently opposes all religions and openly express it through their music. Founded in 2011, the band has gone through numerous line-up changes with the only constant being founding member, guitarist and main songwriter, J. who’s working now with Buff on drums, Japie on bass and Jaime on vocals. The band does its best to deliver a scull- cracking hammer blow of death-, thrash- and groove-metal riffs with just the right amount of thundering double-bass and blast beats, completed with an intense and aggressive range of high and low death metal vocals.

On this episode of OMP Afterhours Unplugged, we feature Mandy Bo, Jason Kinney Band, Eddy & the Arsons, Hegarty, Joe Symes & the Loving Kind, Ian Prowse with Amsterdam and Michael Sean Allman.

Music... the organic way!

Tribulance hails from Tucson AZ. This is a very talented group of guys making good heavy metal. Like the Phoenix, rising from the ashes! In 2012, this band played its first show in over ten years. Hard hitting no-nonsense metal with a “go big or go home” attitude, this band displays an aptitude equal to any national act on the scene today. Thriving on an energetic live show, dynamic stage presence, complete with stage props, hard hitting music, and an image to boost, they will stop at nothing to prove. They have what it takes to be taken seriously in the metal/heavy metal world. Overcoming trials and life’s tribulations, these guys are on a one-way path to the top of the local food chain. What happens after that, is only fate… But, to tell you the true my organic listeners, after I heard their new album “the Aftermath of Lies,” this band has it all to make it. And make it big!

Brown Eyed Girl by Gabriel Dean

Hyperion comes from the Rhondda Valleys in the South Wales, UK. This is a 5-piece heavy metal band founded in 2011. For this band, the year 2017 was a very active and productive year. Soon, we will be talking about those other years. Just to mention some important events in 2017, they were semi-finalists among tens of bands in the competition at the heavy metal festival “Bloodstock: Metal 2 The Masses”. Also, they opened for important artists such as “The Maenson” in their international tour. They performed during the hole year at important local venues and their music was aired on different radio stations. But the most important thing for the last year, my organic listeners, was that they released their debut EP with 3 original pieces that of course you can find on YouTube, Spotify and iTunes. Nonetheless, these men are humble and when asked about their purpose as a band, their answer is “…we hope to do the Rhondda and the metal scene proud with our music”.

Ian Prowse is an English singer-songwriter whose style can be located around pop, alternative rock and Celtic genres. He was born and grew up in Cheshire-England, and since a young age, he showed his musical incline, performing in school bands, etc. In 1989 as a young adult, he formed the band Pele at Liverpool-UK, releasing 2 studio albums, 1 live album and 6 singles. After 9 tours of the UK, they split in 1996 due to problems with the record company whose efforts to make him record as a solo artist was never accomplished. Then in 1999, this great musician started a new band: Amsterdam. They released one album in 2005 and one more in 2008, along with several singles. In 2009 their song "Does This Train Stop on Merseyside" spent 5 weeks at the top spot in his home country. During this time, the band struck up a friendship with Elvis Costello who used them as his backup band on the Jonathan Ross television show, as well as support act on several occasions. Furthermore, he performed a duet with Costello for EMI Records with a cover of The Searchers' 1964 hit "Don't Throw Your Love Away" for the Liverpool Number Ones Project in 2008. He released an album in 2012 entitled "Does This Train Stop on Merseyside: The Very Best of Ian Prowse." Then, he released his first solo album "Who Loves Ya Baby?" in March 2014, and a second one in 2015, 'Companeros:' project that rediscovered long lost songs from the British Isles. Our dear guest celebrated the 25th anniversary of his first album 'Fireworks' with a UK tour in the Spring of 2017. And a there is a tour announced for 2018, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his second album “The Sport of Kings.” Ian Prowse is also a member of the Irish Sea Sessions, which is described as "Part super group, part colossal session and part festival, all in a single gig” bringing together some of the finest traditional musicians from Liverpool, Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Sea, to explore and celebrate tunes and songs inspired by their shared heritage and connections.

Shun the Raven is an independent, original, three-piece band based out of Greensboro, NC. The band, formed in April of 2015, blends progressive rock and heavy metal. These guys spent some time writing quality songs and polishing their stage skills, preparing everything before getting into Overdub Lane Studios to work with the great recording engineer and producer John Plymale. In 2016 the band released a 3 song EP named "Hotel". They returned to the same studio and cut an additional 2 songs in 2017. All 5 tracks are available on an untitled EP. In 2017 this band shared the stage with many national acts including, Smile Empty Soul, Austin Winkler (formerly with Hinder), October Rage, and even an acoustic evening with Saliva. In September of 2017 the band performed at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Virginia which included performances by Saving Abel, Tantric, Drowning Pool, Everlast, POD, Flaw, Sick Puppies, Scott Stapp, and many more. Also, the band followed that up by winning the 105.7 battle of the bands, earning the desirable job of opening for Saliva and Trapt at the White Oak Amphitheater in North Carolina. This band is headed back into the studio in early 2018 to record again. Bur before recording their new project, they are here in the best place to unplug.

Doubting Thompson is a Crossover/Thrash band from Fox Lake, Illinois. His founder has been an active participant in the music scene in the Midwestern United States since 1988. He made part of bands since high school playing cover tunes from acts from Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Slayer. Those formative years helped to influence his new material that he’s writing and recording today. His first published album was a project called Banshee Swans, a collaboration with vocalist Jezebel Jonez formerly of Chicago based punk outfit Black Market Kidney Runners. The music on that album is dark, heavy, and could best described as Alternative/Doom Metal. (It is currently available on Bandcamp and ITunes.) His current project is a full of metal assault, a Crossover/Thrash EP in the tradition of bands like Coroner, Nuclear Assault, Slayer, etc. where our guest has taken on all songwriting and vocal duties. He’s backed on the tracks by local stalwart Louis Cypher on bass and the incomparable Otis "Firefly" on drums. Using his own words: “the music on this new project takes me back to the early days of sweating it out in basements thrashing out the pioneering metal classics of the day.” This 2nd EP is entitled "Chaos Theory" with the assistance of Big Lee from UnderVerse Records handling executive production and mastering duties. The EP is going to be released on a TBA release date in the Spring.

Baleful Creed is our first guest of this new season of 2018. This is a four-piece band from Belfast in Northern Ireland They started this project in early 2009 when two of their founding members, Fin and John, got together to play some cover tunes, just to blow the dust off the old guitars and amps. The covers didn’t last too long, though, when soon they started to write some original material to try out instead. At their beginning, the band released 3 EPs: “Killing Time” as their debut album in 2009. That lead to a second and third sonically improved EPs: “Buried Beneath” in late 2011 and “III” in 2012. At this stage, all three EP’s were only available on the band’s Bandcamp digital online store. But with increasing interest from fans both online and at gigs asking for a hard copy CD, the band joined Neal Calderwood in Manor Park Studios and merged the last two EPs, remix and remaster them into a full debut album for final release on CD, 29 December 2013. In their own words, this CD packs in the head nodding tunes with a huge guitar tone, the whiskey soaked bluesy vocals backed by powerful bass and drums. With this CD, the band was back out firing on all cylinders touring on the back of the debut album delivering their tunes in fired up performances, and working towards building a new set of songs for the next album. Writing and recording over the 2016 year, the band released a new album: “Seismic Shifter” on 6 June 2017. This band has experienced many highs along the way, having their tunes spread across rock stations from initially Northern Irish DJ’s to around the world. They have been featured in international interviews and reviews in magazine such as Powerplay and Fireworks. A real highlight was playing as support to Bill Steer’s (from Carcass) blues rock power trio ‘Firebird’ in Belfast. Getting to grace the stage in the incredible Mandela Hall venue, Belfast as support to the American Ronnie James Dio tribute, “Rising”.

We are so proud to show you, our organic listeners from around the world, our Top Dozen 2017! Our best 12 songs and bands by popular demand on this year 2017.

Jamie Woodfin Jr. is a solo artist originally from Northern Indiana in the USA. He started playing the guitar at the age of 15 and fell in love with songwriting around the age of 18. He’s always been inspired by and loved Classic Rock and Blues guitar. His life changed in November of 1998 when he attended his first concert, Aerosmith, and he knew that playing the guitar was what he wanted to do with his life, and he’s been on the pursuit ever since. He was a self-thought musician at the beginning, learning everything he could from books and practicing like a maniac. He even dropped out of high school, so he could devote more time to practicing. Oh boy! In 2003, he started to craft his own expression of rock. That work was good enough to become his first CD: “The Realization of Life” released in 2005. And it was that same year when his music started to be aired on a local radio station. Then in 2006, he was featured on an episode of Open Studio on PBS. Of course, there was a second CD: "Innovation Never Phelt So Good." However, talent is not everything so in order to take things to the next level he had to go back to school. That is when he attended college at the University of Indiana South Bend and the digital world unfolded in front of his eyes. Writing lyrics is his favorite stress relief in life and there isn't anything that makes him happier than taking ideas and emotions and turning them into songs. In 2015, he released his third CD: "Tha Jams' Rock" and currently he’s working on his fourth project. Some of his musical influences are Jimi Hendrix, Phish, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Sublime, Santana, and many other big names.

Garrett is an American band and a married couple based in Washington, NC. Their single HERO, released in May 2013 as a tribute to the U.S. military and veterans, has been #1 in the Radio Indie Alliance charts in 2017 and in the Top 10 in the U.K. last year in its first week of release. This project is the musical culmination of a cosmic romance of cinematic scope and proportion. This couple met in a band 30 years ago. When that band broke up, their paths diverged. She proceeded to form the band Snakes-N-Angels with her then husband, JC Stephenson. And he began a career as a solo artist. Tragically, she lost Stephenson to cancer in 2002, but she was determined to keep the dream alive. In 2004, while searching for a new guitarist for Snakes-N-Angels, they reconnected, parks flew and the result is this satisfying blend of 70’s style arena blues-rock seasoned with decades of musical experience. At their show, you’re swept up into the thundering power of the classic three-piece sound. Their songs feel both fresh and familiar, featuring his soaring tenor and formidable guitar skills and her full-bodied mezzo and sinuous basslines. When they sing as a duet, magic happens and the intensity of their shared emotion is undeniable. To experience this band is to witness triumph over sorrow. The band is in the process of recording a new cd, “Believe,” with veteran drummer Jason Patterson. They have released 2 singles, the Island and HERO, and also some older tracks that have been added to many indie stations' rotations, especially in the UK, Australia and Canada.

Goo fish is a very particular concept. This is one-man wrecking crew "Crucial" who emerges from the Piney Woods of Deep East Texas in the US. Their sound is alternative grunge industrial redneck rock stoner. This is a journey through the interior of the soul, necessary in order to navigate the exterior of existence. The band has released three albums so far. First, 7-day drunk on January 25th, 2016 and the day after on January 26th, 4 notch road tapes with a collection of recordings made at Four Notch Road between 2003-2007. Finally, the black river, released on August 24th, 2017.

Operation Neptune spear comes from the bowels of deepest darkest South Yorkshire, England, or to be more precise, they come from Sheffield in the UK. This is a one-piece hard rock-metal band, with a complex sound that encompasses melodic, political, groove and rock ingredients. This project was formed in April 2015, and to date, it has released two self-produced albums: Opening Salvo and First World Chaos, which you can download for free via SoundCloud. The band has reached the #1 place in the Reverve Nation Chart plus some other accomplishments we’ll be talking about in just seconds Their sound has been described as the love child of Rage Against the Machine, Sepultura, Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club, Black County Communion and Nirvana.

Gravehuffer is a 4-piece band from Joplin-Missouri. This band was born in 2008 from the remnants of former projects such as Detonation, H.R.B., Aether Bunny, and Krom. Also, their sound is an amalgamation of Crust, Punk, Metal, Grindcore, and unapologetic down-tuned Sludge-laden Doom. This band proudly shuns the confines of genre, confinements and so-called rules, for the sake of the music itself and their collective creative output. Today, they are celebrating the recently signing with Bluntface Records, being set to unleash their most recent material to be included on the vinyl edition of their latest album, "Your Fault". Always looking to push beyond their own limitations, and eager to give back to their fans, the band recently entered the studio to record two bonus tracks for their upcoming vinyl release. The first track appropriately titled, "Your Fault" sees the band firing on all cylinders and pulling no punches. Featuring a guest guitar solo by Carlo Regadas (ex-Carcass, ex-Black Star, and current guitarist for Monstrance) this track alone will make the vinyl purchase worth it, and can easily be a strong and fitting representation of what this band is all about for newly acquired fans. If you can imagine another worldly beast soaked in heaviness and packed to the brim with filthy grooves and punishing vocals and riffs reminiscent of some hybrid form of early Dismember, Entombed, and perhaps even Bolt Thrower, all with the signature stylings that this unique and relentless band has come to be known for. You might have some idea of what is set to pummel your ear drums. With an assortment of 28 original songs in their repertoire that showcase the vast array of influence the band pulls from, and a fearlessness to never conform or compromise, these musicians are in it for the sake of the songs and the art itself in a world where most are content to follow rather than lead.

In this episode of OMP Unplugged the legendary Powell St. John is back. He started to sing at his home in Texas back in 1940’s when he was still learning to talk. Also, later in his teenage, he learnt to play the flute, and more importantly, the harmonica. His musical career formally began in 1960’s when he was in college at the University of Texas. Then, Powell and his harmonica joined his first band and met the late Janis Joplin, who he worked with and were friends until her death in 1970. Also, he tried his hand at song writing and ventured with a 1960’s trend… the power of electric music: Rock n roll. Some band names associated to this musician back then were ‘The Waller Creek Boys,’ ‘The Thirteenth Floor Elevators’ and ‘Threadgills’ just to mention a couple. In 1966, our guest moved out from Austin TX into San Francisco CA where things grew big, and he, along with a new band, Mother Earth, signed a contract with Mercury records, recording two successful records. However, tiredness from touring and homesickness made him to resign from the band and going back to his home in CA. Then, fortune was unkind with him and this wonderful musician had to take jobs in other fields in order to survive until 2005 when he could retire. Nonetheless, he never stopped his love for music and kept song writing, and eventually, rehearsing with any friend. Being retired and looking for something to do, fortune was kinder this time, and he had a proposal in Austin TX to record all his old songs and playing harmonica. Believe & Succeed! He recorded with first-class musicians, and of course, the result was delightful. Later, he joined the 1970’s band ‘The Aliens,’ working together for about three years. This time things were much different, having lots of support by his side, including his beloved wife Toby who tireless handles that day-to-day work. The result here was a second CD “On My Way to Houston.” Nowadays, Powell St. John works with other musicians with new projects playing his original material, combined with fine arts.

Hegarty is a band from working class town of Bootle-Liverpool in England. This is a five-piece band formed in 2014 that plays acoustic scouse rock. The 5 members of the band are David Hegarty (vocals, rythm guitar) Ian "igga" cousins (lead guitar) Chris "keo" Mckeown (bass guitar) Waka Stafford (drums) Alex Tweedle (piano/keyboard). Things have gone really well for the band so far and the band has had a fair bit of airplay on many radio stations including local Liverpool stations, going national in Scotland and even international in USA and France. Their debut album “Selling your Soul to Sanity” is now complete and their new single “I only dream” was recently released with an accompanying B-side “lonely for too long.” Their first single talks about making the most of what you have in life, taking your biggest weaknesses and using them to your strength...... In that beautiful song, they say "We only came to see the sunrise, instead we stayed and danced all night. Sometimes you have to be submerged by darkness, To be able to appreciate the light.....I only dream " This band also has an “Early Recordings” 4 song EP which is smashing it on iTunes, having received 5-star ratings from buyers and excellent reviews from music bloggers. Their music is influenced by musicians such us the Beatles, bob Dylan, Oasis, Ocean Color Scene, AC/DC… and the best part is that they are here today at OMP Unplugged.

Old James is an old friend of OMP Unplugged, but a young power-trio, from Canada. Their sound is in the vein of 70's Rock 'N Roll when originality was king and finding a unique sound was the mission. This band brings an unrivalled attitude in their intense live performance. And their pounding lives off the floor musicianship in the studio, speaking the likes of early Sabbath/Deep Purple while leaving any "throwback" or "vintage" labels in its inimitable wake. The members that make up this band are the Stephenson brothers, Brian (lead vocals and bass guitar) and Chris (Drums and backing vocals), which brings to the table the brother’s history of influences, such as Dime & Vinnie, Alex & Eddie, Max & Igor, Chris & Rich Robinson… Sir Andy “T-Cat” Thompson completes the trio with his uncanny blues and rhythm guitar approach to contemporary rock ‘n roll. In 2016 these guys were in the studio preparing for their first full length work. And 2017 ushers in the SPEAK VOLUMES era, the band’s debut album. With memorable vocals, distorted tones, pure and honest lyrical themes and a kick ass live show full of power and passion this trio is ready to make the world its own.