Slade

Odds and sods about the British rock band Slade

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Guv’nors: “The Pint of No Return”

In 2006 I was approached by Danish rock band The Guv’nors. They had a vision of Don playing drums on their next album and could I arrange for Don to play with them? Of course I could and on January 7, 2007 we went to Smart’n’Hard studios in Aarhus, Denmark, where Don recorded a few tracks with the band. Now The Guv’nors have finished the album with the title “The Pint fo No Return.”

“The Pint of No Return” is a co-production between Trueforce Records, Longshot Records and Contra Records and it comes as a vinyl LP (mine is yellow!) with an additional CD. On the LP you’ll find 12 tracks, whereas the CD boasts 15 tracks.

All songs on the album are self-penned except for the 2 cover-songs: ”Striptease” by Lendager/Dehnhardt – a major hit by the Danish seventies glam-band Walkers – and Slade’s ”Raining In My Champagne” featuring Don on drums. You’ll find ”Raining In My Champagne” on the vinyl LP only, whereas the CD offers you 4 tracks that are not included on the LP, namely ”Sorry We’re From Denmark”, ”Ich Tanze Nur Für Sekt” and 2 bonus tracks in Danish: ”Rockband” and ”40, Fed og Færdig”

The Guv’nors consists of Sonnyboi (vocal), Smidt (guitar), Mash (guitar), Rune P (bass) and Jonah (drums) and together they produce a sound that is best described as working class rock’n’roll. This is hard rock with traces of AC/DC. You’ll detect some Angus Young riffs and pretty neat guitar solos and the efficient rhythm section combined with the raucous front vocal makes the music perfect for head-banging!

The album is raw and energetic. “Skiing in Hamburg” sports great guitar-work and “Sorry We’re From Denmark”/”The Pint of No Return” is damn good rock’n’roll. I found it difficult to sit still to “Ain’t Nobody In” and of course it was great to hear Don on drums on “Raining In My Champagne”.

Very fittingly for a rock album Soren Sonne Hald’s lyrics are mostly about sex’n’drugs’n’rock’n’roll (and football!), but you’ll also find lyrics about losing your youth and trying to cope with being a young, rocking soul trapped in the body of a middle-aged man. Quite becoming, I think.

The album is available in Europe at: http://www.contra-net.com and in the USA at http://www.longshotmusic.com. More info, go to: The Guv'nors.

P.S. I’m pleased to see that 2 of the photos that I shot of Don and the Guv’nors at the studio in 2007 have ended up on the inner sleeve of the album. Thanks for the mention, guys. I had so much fun that day!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home