Midlands Rocks – The best and worst of 2015

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The end of any year is a time for looking back over the previous 12 months, and with that in mind we asked our writers and photographers exactly what had rocked them, in good and bad ways, in 2015. We wanted to know their favourite albums and live sets from the past year, and personal highlights and low points, as well as a look forward to what might happen in 2016, even if it was One Direction getting back together. After a lot of head scratching and brow furrowing, these are the results.

We put these lists together before Christmas, and as a result, before the announcement of the sad passing of Lemmy on Monday 28th December. At any other time of year, the loss of such an iconic figure in rock would, I’m sure, have figured highly in anyone’s list of low points, but instead, I’d like to respectfully dedicate this article to the great man’s memory. To paraphrase his own stage intro ‘He was Lemmy, and he played Rock’n’Roll”.

. . . . .

Paul Castles

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Weigedood – De Doden Hebben Het Goed
  2. Dodsheimgard – A Umbra Omega
  3. Horna – Hengen Tulet
  4. Conan – Revengeance
  5. Temple of Baal – Mysterium

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. Mono – Damnation Fest, Leeds Uni
  2. Earth – The Oobleck
  3. Anaal Nathrakh – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
  4. Satan – Asylum, Birmingham
  5. Downfall of Gaia – Rainbow, Birmingham

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Alunah

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Damnation Festival, Leeds Uni
  2. Bloodstock
  3. Regular gigs at the Rainbow, great venue

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  1. Sad to see Fear Me hang up their promoters hat after staging innumerable great gigs, in particular at the Birmingham Asylum
  2. Bloodstock headliners… Within Temptation??
  3. Motorhead struggling to fulfil dates through ill health

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Debut album from Midlands black metal band, Conjurer (hopefully!)
  2. Discovering new Doom bands
  3. Catching my daughter’s band Revolution in Paradise live for the first time (check ‘em out!)

 

Nathan Daniel

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Enter Shikari – The Mindsweep
  2. Bring Me The Horizon – That’s The Spirit
  3. Neck Deep – Life’s Not Out To Get You
  4. Twenty One Pilots – Blurryface
  5. While She Sleeps – Brainwashed

(I promise I haven’t just pulled a few albums from a list of Kerrang’s favourites, seriously).

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. Foo Fighters – Rock AM Ring 2015 – There’s very little better than the Foos playing to that many people…
  2. Slipknot & Korn – Prepare For Hell UK Tour 2015 (Nottingham – Capital FM Arena) The live return of the Knot with brand new material. Need I say more?
  3. Bullet For My Valentine & While She Sleeps – Venom UK Tour 2015 (Lincoln Engine Shed) It might just be the nostalgia, but this was so, so intense.
  4. Enter Shikari – Rock AM Ring 2015 – They didn’t take to the stage until 1.45am, but the amount of energy in that tent was insane!
  5. Limp Bizkit – Brixton Academy – (R&L warm up show) No comment

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Bring Me The Horizon – we can stretch to Sheffield being Midlands, right? Haha.

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Dave Grohl’s persistence in performing with Foo Fighters following his leg break
  2. Rock AM Ring Festival 2015 – My first festival experience outside of the UK – absolutely phenomenal!
  3. Not one specific, but the sheer amount of gigs showcasing both forthcoming and established talent at Rock City, Nottingham.

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015.

  1. Eagles of Death Metal – Bataclan, Paris terrorist attack
  2. The Ghost Inside – bus crash resulting in 2 fatalities and a number of casualties
  3. Blitz Kids break up – this is much more a personal lowlight!

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Red Hot Chilli Peppers headlining Leeds Festival – this is something I’ve been waiting for for years!
  2. Slipknot at Alexandra Palace – Their performances are always special, but that venue, too
  3. Deaf Havana’s fourth album – My favourite band – judging by the exceptionally matured Cassiopeia they recently released, it should be a treat.

 

Claire Frays

(Apologies in advance for the mega 5FDP fangirling!)

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Five Finger Death Punch – Got Your Six
  2. Trivium – Silence In The Snow
  3. Stellar Revival – Love, Lust & Bad Company
  4. Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody – Prometheus, Symphonia Ignis Divinus
  5. Southern Gentlemen – Quarter Life Come Up (EP)

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. Five Finger Death Punch – Wembley Arena (28th November 2015)
  2. Trivium – Bloockstock Open Air Festival (August 2015)
  3. Andrew WK – Download Festival (June 2015)
  4. Lamb of God – Download Festival (June 2015)
  5. Within Temptation – Bloodstock Open Air (August 2015)

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Awake By Design

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Download Festival 2015
  2. Bloodstock Festival 2015
  3. 5FDP Headlining Wembley – having followed the band since their first album playing in a small room of people to THE Wembley Arena was incredible. And they smashed the roof of the place! The atmosphere was electrifying.

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  1. UK concerts cancelled and line-up changes to gigs due to the tragic events in Paris. :-(
  2. Justin Bieber is still a “thing”! (LOL)
  3. On a personal note, not being able to attend Friday at Download – still crying over that one!! :-((

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Download Festival 2016! The line-up looks A-MAZ-ING!
  2. Avantasia’s Debut (??) UK Headliner club show – Power Metal fanatics will back me up on this one! And after the amazing performance at Bloodstock in 2013 this promises to be out of this world.
  3. New Killswitch Engage – Looking forward to hearing Album 2 with Jesse Leach on vox!

 

Tony Gaskin

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Gehtika – A Monster in Mourning
  2. Clutch – Psychic Warfare
  3. Eradikator – Edge of Humanity
  4. Killing Joke – Pylon
  5. Ossiyan – Hardrada

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. Eradikator @ Bloodstock Open Air
  2. Killing Joke @ O2 Institute
  3. Clutch @ Wulfrun Hall
  4. Hirax @ Asylum
  5. Burden of the Noose M2TM Birmingham Final

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Eradikator

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Bloodstock Open Air
  2. FearFest @ The Asylum
  3. Evil Scarecrow @ Download

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  1. Underwhelming album from Slayer
  2. Overall a disappointing Download
  3. Adele

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. A bigger and better M2TM
  2. New album from Dakesis
  3. Bloodstock 2016

 

Debbie Gough

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Tremonti – Cauterize
  2. Lamb of God – Sturm Und Drang
  3. Enter Shikari – The Mindsweep
  4. Parkway Drive – IRE
  5. Cancer Bats – Searching for Zero

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES

  1. Slipknot @ Download Festival
  2. Marmozets @ Leeds Festival
  3. Enter Shikari @ Download Festival
  4. Lamb of God @ O2 Academy
  5. A Day To Remember @ Download Festival

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Stone Broken

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Chris Adler drumming for Megadeth
  2. Thumbs up for Steve Sutton @ Download
  3. Puberty hitting Justin Bieber mildly

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Death of Scott Weiland
  2. Randy Blythe attack
  3. Jill Janus of Huntress’ cancer diagnosis

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Carnival of Madness Tour and new album from BSC
  2. Black Sabbath possible Birmingham final date
  3. Marmozets’ new album

 

Allan Jones

5 Bands I Hadn’t Heard of Before This Year and Now Adore:

  1. Colour Of Noise
  2. Cats In Space
  3. Orchid
  4. We Hunt Buffalo
  5. Federal Charm

Musical Lowlight of the Year

  • Operation Mindcrime: The Key – I would write more, but that was such a car crash it blots everything else out in comparison.

5 Bands I’m Ecstatic to See Return With New Music:

  1. Ugly Kid Joe
  2. Iron Maiden
  3. Gentleman’s Pistols
  4. Fear Factory
  5. Danko Jones

 

Brian McGowan

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Beauvoir/Free – American Trash
  2. St.Prostitute – Glorified
  3. Mark Slaughter – Reflections In The Rear View Mirror
  4. UFO – Conspiracy Of Stars
  5. Backyard Babies – 4 by 4

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. New album from the Backyard Babies after a 5 year wait
  2. New album from Jean Beauvoir after a 7 year wait
  3. “Hateful 8” soundtrack (new stuff from Morricone!) / also news of new material from Trent Reznor in 2016

 

Dean Pedley

BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Jeff Lynne’s ELO – Alone In The Universe
  2. Blackberry Smoke – Holding All The Roses
  3. Kid Rock – First Kiss
  4. Cadillac Three – Peace Love & Dixie (EP)
  5. Zac Brown Band – Jekyll & Hyde

BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. Fleetwood Mac @ Genting Arena, Birmingham
  2. AC/DC @ Wembley Stadium, London
  3. Judas Priest @ Civic Hall, WolverhamptonNight Ranger @ HRH AOR, Wales
  4. Queen + Adam Lambert @ Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • ELO

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Return of ELO
  2. Ritchie Blackmore returns to Rock
  3. Springsteen ‘The River’ Box Set

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  1. No Rush R40 UK Tour
  2. Chris Squire RIP
  3. Whitesnake’s The Purple Album

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow in Birmingham
  2. ELO Tour
  3. Cadillac Three / Whiskey Myers Tour

 

Paul Quinton

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Riverside – Hope, Fear And The Time Machine (One of THE best Prog Bands around)
  2. FM – Heroes And Villains, (UKs Greatest Ever Melodic Rock Band just gets better and better)
  3. Steven Wilson – Hand. Cannot. Erase (Amazingly, Mr Prog 2015 releases an even better album than his previous one)
  4. The Von Hertzen Brothers – New Day Rising
  5. The Gentle Storm – The Diary.

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. Steven Wilson @ Royal Albert Hall (his show at Wolverhampton Civic in February was sheer brilliance, but this was as good as anything I’ve ever seen)
  2. FM @ The Robin (possibly the single best performance I’ve ever seen at the venue.)
  3. Magenta @ The Robin (so good to see Tina Booth back to full strength)
  4. Dan Reed and Danny Vaughn, ‘The Snake Oil and Harmony Tour’, The Slade Rooms, (one of the warmest, funniest, most relaxed gigs I’ve ever been to. They’re touring together again this Spring, not to be missed)
  5. The Von Hertzen Brothers @ the Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton (sensational live band, living up to high expectations)

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • IO Earth

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. The Dames of the Darkness @ The Robin, brilliantly organised festival, packed with a great, knowledgeable crowd and so much great music to hear.
  2. Steven Wilson, a prog artist, in the mainstream album charts.
  3. Leaves Eyes quoting my review of their show at the Slade Rooms, and posting a link on Facebook. Oddly chuffed about that.

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  1. Paris – people like us, massacred for the crime of enjoying live music.
  2. Bands who only play shows in London or leave the Midlands out of their tour schedules completely. Yes, I’m looking at you, David Gilmour,
  3. Toto, Nightwish, AC/DC etc, etc, ad nauseam Teamrock Radio leaving DAB and Planet Rock abandoning broadcasting in FM. That little bit more difficult to access Rock Radio in the UK.

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Heart returning to play the UK for the first time in years, and playing Brum to boot.
  2. Wolverhampton Civic reopening next autumn with an increased capacity and new facilities. I know I’m biased but there is no better medium sized venue in the Midlands.
  3. After a fairly quite year in 2015, the 2016 gig diary is filling up nicely.

 

Ian Savage

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Backyard Babies – Four By Four
  2. Eureka Machines – Brain Waves
  3. Danko Jones – Fire Music
  4. Skindred – Volume
  5. Fear Factory – Genexus

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. Fall Out Boy, Baclaycard Arena, Birmingham, 6th October
  2. Backyard Babies, Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton, 22nd November
  3. Dave McPhearson, Victoria, Derby, 18th July
  4. Less Than Jake / Yellowcard, 02 Academy, Birmingham, 5th March
  5. Eureka Machines / Hey You Guys / Tropical Contact, Marrs Bar, Worcester, 20th November

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Liberty Lies

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Backyard Babies’ reformation / album / tour
  2. Degeneration Festival Nottingham
  3. ‘Midlands Rocks Presents’ (even though I couldn’t make it!)

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  1. Eagles of Death Metal at The Bataclan, November 13th
  2. Ginger Wildheart’s battle with depression
  3. Scott Weiland’s untimely (but not wholly unexpected) demise

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Rescheduled Hey! Hello! and Ginger Wildheart dates
  2. Tropical Contact debut album ‘XS’
  3. New Skunk Anansie album & tour

 

Rob Stanley

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Ahab – The Boats of Glen Carrig
  2. Tom Kilmer – Hard Road
  3. Jarun – Under a sky woven from ashes
  4. Marilyn Manson – The Pale Emporer
  5. Chron Goblin – Backwater

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES IN 2015

  1. Seasick Steve @ Civic Hall
  2. Wille & The Bandits @ The Robin 2
  3. Broken Chords @ The Robin 2
  4. The Levellers @ The Civic Hall
  5. Ugly Kid Joe @ The Slade Rooms

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Awake By Design

MUSICAL HIGHLIGHT OF 2015

  • Midlands Rocks Presents gig @ The Robin 2, Bilston.

MUSICAL LOWLIGHT IN 2015

  1. The death of B B King
  2. Paris
  3. People who think Ghost are a decent band!

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Bloodstock
  2. Midlands Rocks 2 (Methinks I need to be nice to Woody) :-)
  3. Getting back on the Beermagedon dandwagon after a year away

 

Martin Stanyer

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Ryan Adams – 1989
  2. Shinedown – Threat to Survival
  3. Third Eye Blind -Dopamine
  4. Michael Monroe – Blackout State
  5. The Dead Daisies – Revolution

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. Michael Monroe – The Institute
  2. The Dead Daisies – Slade Rooms
  3. The Darkness – Download Festival
  4. Billy Idol – Download Festival
  5. Motley Crue – The Farewell Tour @ LG Arena

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • This Elegant Chaos

3 MUSICAL HIGH OF 201LIGHTS5

  1. Singing on The Last of our Kind Album by The Darkness,
  2. The release of the Dead Daisies ‘Revolution’
  3. The release of WEAK13 s album ‘They Live’

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  1. The passing of Scott Weiland
  2. No new Guns n Roses album
  3. The passing of Local guitarist Gaz Devreede of Hartheim (Local Band)

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. The hope of a new Guns n Roses album,
  2. A follow up to Naked Sundays last E.P A Dozen Red Roses and a bottle of Jack,
  3. Left For Red gigging again (great midlands band)

 

Rich Thompson

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Paradise Lost – The Plague Within
  2. Lamb of God – VII: Sturm Und Drang
  3. Napalm Death – Apex Predator-Easy Meat
  4. Outer Gods – Ascend Unto The Seventh Throne
  5. Hate Eternal – Infernus

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. Asphyx, Damnation Festival, 7/11/15
  2. Obituary, Wulfrun Hall, 23/10/15
  3. Anaal Nathrakh, Hare and Hounds, 23/8/15
  4. Pallbearer, Rainbow, 2/6/15
  5. Sick of it All, Rescue Rooms, 29/1/15
    (could have easily doubled or even tripled this list…)

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Burden of the Noose (with special mention for Conjurer)

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Damnation Festival
  2. Deathcrusher Tour
  3. The strength and depth of the Midlands extreme music community

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  1. The tragedies in Paris and Romania
  2. The realisation that even Lemmy is mortal
  3. The end of ‘Fear Me’ promoted shows at the Asylum

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Venomous Concept at the Rainbow, January 2016
  2. The bands I haven’t heard yet…
  3. The chance to do this for another year

 

Russ Tierney

BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

Year of the Fanclub by Ginger Wildheart
Venom by Bullet for my Valentine

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. The Wildhearts @ the Wolverhampton Civic
  2. Backyard Babies @ the Wolverhampton Slade Rooms
  3. Danko Jones @ the Wolverhampton Slade Rooms
  4. Marmozets @ the Birmingham Institute Library
  5. The Mahones @ the Birmingham Academy

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Liberty Lies really held my attention with Danko Jones, hopefully a return to form for the guys.

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. The triumphant return of the Wildhearts to Wolverhampton after a poor showing the year before and after interviews alluding to an unsettled sinking ship leading up to the tour… but hey, that the Wildhearts.
  2. The triumphant return of the Backyard Babies to Wolverhampton. As a fan for a while, easily the best I’ve seen them as previous shows had left me cold.
  3. Finally getting to catch Danko Jones live and not being disappointed by the preacher of love and self obsession and his funky ways.

MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  1. Undoubtedly the Paris shooting
  2. Ginger back in hospital with depression. Talented and interesting souls unfortunately tend to be self destructive and troubled ones, and his desire for Hey!Hello! to be what the world is missing over the fan fair and proven asset of the Wildhearts I can imagine is a complete head fuck.

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  • One Direction getting back together… yeah, i don’t know, i’ll cross those bridges when they arrive.

 

Rich Ward

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Thunder – Wonder Days – a superb return to form for a revitalised band that easily matches their debut and Judgement Day albums
  2. UFO – Conspiracy of Stars – Mogg & co turn in another solid album with some standout tracks
  3. The Waterboys – Modern Blues – Another well rounded Waterboys album finished off with an epic in the Long Strange Golden Road.
  4. Blackberry Smoke – Holding All The Roses – Altlanta’s finest continue to lead the pack of modern Southern Rock bands
  5. Michael Schenker – Spirit On A Mission – some superb tracks with exemplary playing and tone from one of the finest guitarists

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. David Gilmour – Royal Albert Hall
  2. Blues Pills – Nottingham Rescue Rooms – Enthralling blues rock put on a captivating show in a jam packed Rescue Rooms
  3. Ramblin Man Festival – superb line up with great food and ale selections at this medium sized family friendly festival.
  4. Judas Priest – Bradford St George’s Hall – One of my all time favourite bands put on a near faultless memorable show in a wonderful theatre
  5. Robert Plant – Westonbirt Arboretum – It’s Planty! Showcasing his new album and adding in plenty of reworked Zep classics.

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Dead Sea Skulls

MUSICAL HIGHLIGHT OF 2015

  • AC/DC at Wembley – great to see the band again after a break of over 20 years

MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS IN 2015

  • No Midland dates for Lynyrd Skynyrd or ZZ Top

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. Rainbow at Genting Arena – Grateful of a Brum gig for this short reunion – hopefully it will better than the debacle last time he played there with Deep Purple.
  2. New music from Diamond Head
  3. Some interesting festival line ups starting to emerge

 

Paul Woodward

5 BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

  1. Issa – Crossfire
  2. Corvus – Chasing Miracles
  3. FM – Heroes and Villians
  4. Romeo’s Daughter – Spin
  5. Degreed – Dead But Not Forgotten

5 BEST LIVE PERFORMANCES OF 2015

  1. FM & Romeo’s Daughter @ The Robin, Wolverhampton 2nd May
  2. HRH AOR – Somewhere remote in North Wales
  3. Danny Vaughn & Dan Reed @ The Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton 1st April
  4. GUN @ The Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton 25th March
  5. Halestorm @ Wolverhampton Civic Hall 9th March

MIDLANDS BAND OF THE YEAR

  • Corvus

3 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Hanging out and getting drunk with the Vega lads at HRH AOR
  2. Gun’s Dante Gizzi jumping off stage at The Slade Rooms to specifically come and shake my hand mid way through ‘Steal Your Fire’!
  3. Putting on and enjoying the Midlands Rocks presents gig at The Robin in the Summer

3 MUSICAL LOWLIGHTS OF 2015

  1. Rockingham Festival announcement
  2. Wolverhampton Civic/Wulfrun Hall closing for refurbishment
  3. Missing FM and Vega at The River Rooms in November due to ill health and then been double gutted when I learned FM have put my favourite song ‘All Or Nothing’ back in the set!

3 THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2016

  1. VEGA’s fourth album (obviously)
  2. New music from Alyson Avenue with Anette Olzon back on vocals (Hopefully!)
  3. Wolverhampton Civic/ Wulfrun Hall re-opening in November

1 COMMENT

  1. Nice one Rob Stanley for the hands up to Awake By Design – totally self supporting band with huge potential for next year! Seen some fab acts in 2015 – top three bands live would be IQ, The Zombies and The Tubes – but really spoilt for choice! It’s been a great year for music, both live and on record! Am looking forward to some fab sounds in 2016 too! keep supporting live bands & wherever you can buy a tee shirt or a CD as it helps the buggers live and god knows in this Tory ridden landscape, we need live music! As Lemmy would say ‘you know it makes sense!’ ROCK TILL WE DROP!

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