Out now is a special live video performance of Lore with Claus Larsen of Leaether Strip bringing “Take Me Down Tonight (Leaether Strip remix)”. The video was shot during a Leaether Strip live show in Las Vegas, NV on January 25, 2024 where Lore joined Larsen on stage.

The original track is featured on the “Take Me Down Tonight” EP which was released on June 20, 2023. This live version however features music which is 100% different from the original song.

Below is the remix as it was released.

Lore has been featured on Side-Line in the past thanks to her work with London After Midnight, her own work, including her debut album “My Soul Speaks” which also featured Sean Brennan on the track “Haunting”. Later on she released “Deadly Sessions (Live)”, including 3 songs and videos which was self released on her own label, Into Bliss Music.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Interview by Evan South) In a candid discussion with Side-Line Magazine’s Evan South, Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber of Delerium and Front Line Assembly shared some insights into their recent tour with Ministry and Gary Numan. The duo also talks about the logistics of sharing resources like lighting and equipment, which contributed to the tour’s success. You’ll further hear more about Matthew Setzer joining the lineup, the revival of Cyberaktif with a new album, “EndGame”, and the potential for a Delerium tour. Lots and lots of info.

SL: It’s the final date of the Ministry/Gary Numan/FLA tour, how has your experience been?

BL: It’s the tour of a lifetime!

RF:  It really is, it doesn’t get much better. These kinds of bands and this kind of tour…

BL:  It’s almost impossible to get three bands to do a tour like this, because most bands at this level, financially it doesn’t work. But on this tour everyone was willing to make it work, hence all the shows have pretty much sold out.

RF: And there’s a lot of camaraderie. Everyone gets along. It’s what we established on the previous tour just carried over, everyone knows each other.  Compared to most tours I’d say it’s a really good group.

BL: It’s a family.

RF: And everyone helps. We get a lot of leeway from Ministry and their crew.

BL: They let us use their stuff, their projector, which is an amazing one! It just doesn’t happen with most bands, you know, everybody’s trying to outdo everybody. But this tour everybody wants everybody else to succeed!

RF:  Everyone knows who they are and where they fit in, and it’s great!

SL:  So you didn’t have to pack in as much equipment, you were able to share?

RF: They let us dip into their lighting production and things that a lot of times would not happen on package tours.  They realize we set the table too, so if we have a good night, they have a good night.  It’s a real cool system.

SL:  Any of these three bands could headline on a given night.  How do you like the supporting role compared to headlining?

BL:  There’s no question, both these artists are much bigger than we are, but it’s the perfect hierarchy, right?

RF: You can’t argue with Ministry, Al’s an icon, he’s a national treasure, Ministry established themselves over the years, and we’re not going to get in front of those kind of crowds on our own! And we’re in front of crowds that seem to like what we’re doing, so it’s just great for everybody, it’s like a win/win.  I personally like going on playing a quick set of all bangers, I like it!  The pressures not on us!

BL: And Gary’s an institution as well!  His history and his amount of hits he’s had…

RF: Everybody knows “Cars”!  Everyone knows that song.  Just to be part of that, it’s hard to believe sometimes.  We remember when that record was new.  And now we hang out with Gary Numan everyday, it’s wild…

SL: Expanding on what you said about a tight, “banger” type set…

RF: We keep our energy level up, so it hits hard the whole time.

SL: Rhys, during this tour you had your own “Tour within a tour” afterparty DJ sets…

RF: Those were just…  Some of them were great, some of them were… eh! (laughs) Sometimes you’re playing on a Tuesday night in the Midwest, so… The weekend ones were all pretty good!

SL: I was hoping there would be an Afterparty tonight, like a “wrap” party, being the last date of the tour!

RF: Honestly, we’re pretty tired… and doing both of those was… yeah.

BL: Gary (Numan) has booked a room in LA for an afterparty for when we play our last show there, it’s going to be a sold out show.  So there’s lots going on.  For Rhys it made sense to do those afterparty DJ gigs, because we were done at 8pm. So from 8 to midnight what do you do, right? Might as well be spinning…

RF: A couple of parties were really good… Montreal, Toronto…

BL: And a lot of fans came and would talk to us, and all the other bands would come down after.  Ministry would come down, Gary Numan’s crew.

RF: Yeah, Ministry’s band and Gary’s band would always be there. I think the first show in Portland even Al was there. Everybody was there, it was great!

BL: It was like an all night exclusive!

SL: You have a new guitarist on this tour, how did Matthew Setzer (Skinny Puppy, London after Midnight) come into the fold with you?

BL: We had Tim Skold for two years and we thought we had built up a really good rapport with him, and then all of a sudden he became unaffordable.  Me and Cevin (Skinny Puppy), had been pretty tight and lifelong friends, and we just finished the new Cyberaktif album, so we were talking every day for a full year. Puppy just finished their tour, so it was just natural, “Let’s ask Matthew,” he’s in our family.

RF: He stepped in pretty easily, he’s a great musician.

BL: And all our fans are Puppy fans, and vice versa, so it seemed like a perfect fit. And he’s skilled, right?

RF: I don’t think people realize he’s a very good musician, multi-instrumentalist.

BL: And he’s a tour guy. He goes on his own, he’s got friends everywhere… it’s amazing.

RF: He’s a real infectious, positive personality, and it’s great to have people like that on tour.  Matthew hasn’t had a bad day, he’s always upbeat, he’s always ready to go. He’s a good fit for us, he’s working out really well.

SL: Bill, you brought up Cyberaktif.  It had only been 33 years!

BL: At least 31 for sure… We go at this rate the next one we’ll be dead! Like Cevin said, the album is called “EndGame”.  Doesn’t sound very hopeful for the future, right?

SL: How did the new Cyberaktif come together? Was it a result of the end of Puppy?

RF: When Cyberaktif started (the new one) there was no end of Puppy.

BL: No, that’s true.

RF: We actually kicked stuff around a few years ago, so Puppy was not over at the time. It seems like it now, but when we started it…

BL: It was a lot of back and forth.

RF: Yeah, it wasn’t “Hey, Puppy’s over”, we just started doing it.

BL: And when Cevin sent tracks initially, me and Rhys looked at each other and we’re like “Well…”

RF: At first we had a hard time figuring it out, and then we just kinda isolated certain parts, and then all of a sudden it all came together really quickly!

BL: Rhys made it for me the way we understand each other, and how I know where I can sing, and what I can do, because at first they were these long jams…

RF: Cevin sent all these really interesting grooves and jams and ideas, so it was a question of taking those and giving them some structure so Bill can go “I got this part here and this part here” because I know that’s how Bill works and that’s what he’s comfortable doing, that’s sort of the sound of Front Line. So what we did was put a structure together and then Bill put the vocals on top of that structure.

BL: It was a real three-way collaboration.

RF: Cevin sent these, there were varying degrees of composition, but they’re all unique sounds and drums, then I put them to arrangement. It was Cevin→me→Bill. It was like a filter.

SL: At what point did you decide it was going to be under the Cyberaktif name?

RF: Pretty much right away.

BL: Yeah, it was definitely going to be Cyberaktif. Cevin just loves the project. He even talked about maybe doing it live, if we figure out how, when and what. He said it’s his favorite thing right now.

RF: Cevin’s very big on it right now. Not that we aren’t, but he’s already big on it.

SL: You think Cyberaktif might become a live project?

BL:  Maybe one time. Cevin wants to make it interesting. He said “I don’t just want two guys and a keyboard and a mic,” whatever that means. But right now we’re letting the album get out there and we’ll see…

RF: The (live) idea has been discussed.  That’s what we can say.

SL: It feels like the Cyberaktif album came together very quickly…

RF: Honestly, the Cyberaktif record we made quicker than any other record in recent memory. It came together really fast. Once we got an idea of what we were doing, we just banged it together. I don’t know why… I think everyone honestly was inspired by just working together.  It wasn’t hurried, it just rolled and fell into place. That doesn’t happen very often, but it happened on this one.

SL: Bill, was it surreal for you thinking this was going to be a Cyberaktif record after 3 decades?

BL: I think me and Cevin both felt like we just completed a big circle. We started Puppy 35-40 years ago, and everything that’s happened in-between, it felt like some kind of closure. It just felt right and good and something that we left unfinished now feels finished. If we don’t do another one, if it (Cyberaktif) doesn’t do anything else, it feels like it was the right thing to do at the time.  With Puppy calling it quits, for now… I’ve heard so many bands do this now. Front 242 has been doing it for a couple years now. I told Al, and he goes “Richard, he says that every year it’s the last tour.” (laughs) Motley Crue has done 4 of them (final tour) now, and now they have a new singer!

RF: Never say never I say…

BL: It was just the right time at the right place, Cevin had some things, Me and Rhys had time, we were all on the same page.  Maybe that will never happen again, but the energy was right, Greg Reely was available… It was like “Silence” (Delerium single), everything had to fall into place. It will probably never be like that again. So it’s a magic record for us, and people love it, and that’s all that matters, right?

SL: Since the Front Line tours have been going so well, what are the chances of another Delerium tour?

RF:  A tour is tough, a tour is way more complicated, especially for acts like that.

BL: That first Delerium tour we did was two tour buses, three singers…

RF: It was the right time, too, I don’t know if that’s possible now.

BL: It was kind of a money losing scenario, but the production was great! I just don’t think labels are willing to do that anymore.

RF: No, it’s a different time now.

SL: It’s been 30 years since your monumental releases “Millenium” and Delerium’s “Semantic Spaces.” You took risks in adding guitar to the FLA and vocals to the Delerium. How important were those releases?

BL: When we released “Millenium,” we did an online thing and people were calling in and it was pretty divided. People were going “What, they picked up guitars!” Remember?

RF: Yeah.

BL: But we knew we did the right thing. We felt like we had to change and do some different things, and no regrets, right?

RF: It expanded the fan base. Regardless of what those people had been like… When we did the Hard Wired tour we had double the audience! We got metal coverage, we were on a metal label that knew how to handle that kind of music… Metal and industrial is pretty interlinked now. A lot of metal heads love industrial music, and that maybe wasn’t the case then. It definitely is now.  Between Fear Factory and that record…

BL: And now “Millenium” is getting re-released by ArtofFact records! Picture disc, the whole thing, as of yesterday they announced it!

RF: It was the right move, because we had to progress. And like I said, when we did the Hard Wired European tour, especially in the UK, we had significantly more people. Also, I think it’s the biggest selling Front Line record. Again, people that don’t like the record they might not realize that was probably our biggest record! I know a lot of people that maybe wouldn’t have been listening to us that listened to that record, so it’s all good. And it all makes more sense now in the whole repertoire.

SL: What did you think of the changes of Delerium, taking it from old world instrumentals to adding the pop element and blowing things wide open?

RF: You can’t even compare the differences…

BL: We didn’t really plan it, either! The first Delerium was just a home project with a few synths and a tape recorder and Dossier records and I was just happy twiddling away and doing stuff, there was no concept of it ever being… with Puppy and the whole Nettwerk contact and we knew people and they were next door. We couldn’t plan it, and then Kristy (singer) showing up…

RF: Again it was just right time, right place. And then it took Delerium into the mainstream, in Canada at least. It completely changed everything. In Canada it really opened a lot of doors for us. It put us on the video channel, places that we had never been before.

BL: That’s the great thing about music and art. You just don’t know who you’re going to affect, who you’re going to reach. We enjoyed the process of making all that music, and then it just came back like that. We had no expectations. We weren’t trying to make singles or trying to be on a major label, we just had carte blanche on everything, right?

RF: Yeah, and it all came together! Anytime you force something, anytime you go out of your way to make a commercial record or commercial song it usually doesn’t work. It has to be a serendipitous event. That’s another example of that.

SL: So to wrap up, what’s next?

BL: The picture disc re-release of “Millenium” is pretty exciting. Rhys has a solo album coming out, right?

RF:  Yeah, more of the techno type stuff.  We got some more shows. We got Mexico with Front 242, we have some European festival dates…

BL: We’re playing the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas in 2 weeks… I’m excited about the 2 shows with Front 242 in Mexico!

RF: Yeah, more live shows and then I think we’re not really going to know until we get home and figure out what’s next. But we still have live shows booked even into November in Europe, I think.

SL: Anything as far as upcoming music?

RF: Not yet, we need to get off the road.

BL: I think we want to do a Delerium album.

RF: Yeah, we talked about that.

BL: And again, you always think you have to re-invent the wheel, because just the way the world is, I think we’ll try to find some sort of group, because everything’s been done now.  I think when we started Delerium, and with Karma, we were one of the first to do that kind of music. But now, if you go on internet radio, there’s channels with that music, right Rhys?

RF: Oh yeah, chill out music forever…

BL: So hopefully you can find your niche, but our sound, whatever that is, people respect that so we’re good with that.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Gothic, Goth-Rock, Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Five years after their previous full length album and one year after the excellent “Leitbild Angst”-EP we finally get the new opus by German Goth veterans Still Patient? The album deals with love, pain and melancholy.

Content: Still Patient? brings an album without true surprises but totally in the vein of the band. The songs are holding on the heavy Goth-Rock influences carried by solid guitar play and catchy elements in the choruses. The softer cuts are totally expressing the theme of melancholy although evolving into an outburst chorus.

+ + + : Still Patient? no longer has anything to prove. This band is just playing the music they like mixing different elements together although based upon a solid Goth basis. They sometimes remind me of the uncompromised approach of London After Midnight. The songs have been meticulously built up but always carried by impressive guitar play and deep, resonating, vocal lines. Songs like “Looking Glass”, “Sacrifice In Paradise”, the very Sisters Of Mercy-like “All Dead” and the EP-song “Trees Falling II” are great exposures of the band’s genius. And I also have to mention the opening cut “The Beginning” which sounds a bit different although being a master piece for its mysterious sound atmosphere.

– – – : There’re less songs to throw away which says enough about the high qualitative level of the album.

Conclusion: Still Patient? bring us a new master piece and according to me one of their best albums ever.

Best songs: “Looking Glass”, “Sacrifice In Paradise”, “All Dead”, “Trees Falling II”, “The Beginning”, “Firefly”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/stillpatientt

Label: www.darkdimensions.de /  www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Dimensions-Label-Group/486014725206

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Set up in 1990 by Sean Brennan, Californian (USA) based London After Midnight never stopped to increase their success and popularity. After having conquered the West Coast they progressively started to play world wide becoming a true phenomenon at the wider fields of Dark-Wave and Gothic music. While Sean Brennan is working on a new opus for several years now he this year unleashed the album “Oddities Too” featuring rare songs, alternative edits, cover versions and demos. The album has been released on Sean’s own label Darkride Records and is a true, artistic, creation mixing heavy Goth-Rock passages together with a Cinematic style. I talked about it all with Sean Brennan.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: The odyssey of London After Midnight started more than thirty years ago now. Can you draw up the balance sheet of this amazing and successful story?

Sean: LAM has experienced a great deal, both good and bad. In the end when reflecting back I mostly think of the music I was able to create and the people who it mattered to, rather than the struggles.

Q: Over the past thirty years you for sure have seen things changing/evolving. I’m thinking to aspects such as internet, streaming platforms vs. physical sales, new technologies and equipment, more and more labels closing doors, the growing importance of image, etc… What’s your perception of this entire evolution? What are the pros and cons?

Sean: In some ways it’s a devolution. But yes, a lot has changed with our culture in a relatively short time span. The internet brought about many problems- from impacting peoples’ mental health with toxic social media, the spread of disinformation and conspiracies, to the collapse of the music industry, but it has presented opportunities, too, like for people who are normally without a voice -some social media has provided a platform to challenge the powerful or raise awareness.

But it’s hard to gauge the pros versus cons because things have changed so radically and tumultuously in that time span -maybe now we’re so accustomed to tragedy and disaster and corruption and conspiracy that our standards have been lowered, so we accept the small benefits that come from the internet without questioning the costs. But I think generally, with a few exceptions, there are greater costs than benefits.

Q: How much of the ‘young’ musician you were early 90s do you still recognize in your approach today? And are there specific aspects you would have done differently?

Sean: Things have changed from that time, obviously, how I feel about it and how I view it now from external influences- forced upon me by the world. There’s still a passion and drive to create that’s always been there. How that might manifest itself in the future is unknown to me, but I will always love music.

Q: I think to remember you were working on a completely new album, right? How are things evolving and can you already reveal some details?

Sean: The all new album is about half recorded. It would have been much further along if not for the pandemic. I recorded some drum tracks before I moved out of Los Angeles to the east coast of the USA, where I planned to finish the albums. But then the pandemic hit (lucky timing for me, because being in over-crowded LA during the pandemic was reportedly a nightmare). So the pandemic delayed everything by at least 2 years.

I feel the all new album has my best work on it so I am very eager to get it released. I just have to finish up some lyrics and then do some final recording. There will be one cover song on it, the rest are all original, new songs. But the cover song is pretty special as it turned out quite nicely. It will probably be another unexpected cover-song like Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”-cover from “Oddities Too”, but quite emotional.

Q: In a previous question I was mentioning the streaming platforms. (Younger) people are no longer listening to an entire album but are making their own playlists featuring separate songs. So do you think  releasing an album still makes sense today?

Sean: In one sense you have to release a full album to earn enough to make it worth recording, to make the process pay for itself. Just a drum session in a real studio, for example, can cost a few thousand dollars. And then mixing and mastering will cost several more thousand dollars. If you release a 4 song EP then you sell it for far less than a full album and aren’t really able to earn those costs back to make the practice sustainable. And there are a lot of people who also still buy physical product, CDs or records, which my new record label I started in 2019 is releasing -Darkride Records.

And pressing CDs and LPs is another huge cost. So making physical products with fewer songs means lower pricing and a harder time earning back what you’ve invested. You can lose money releasing music, which is clearly not sustainable. But yes, it’s sad that people’s attention spans are so short now. Too often the music is just a playlist, background music, and people don’t even know who the artists are, despite all the effort and work the artists put into their creations.

Q: In the meantime you released “Oddities Too” which became a mix of rare songs and alternative edits, surprising cover versions, demos and new material as well. How did this album saw the daylight and how was it working on it? And tell us a bit more about this amazing new song “October”?

Sean: “Oddities Too” started out as a 10 song sequel to the 1998 “Oddities”-album, featuring unreleased, re-imagined, and new material. But it has transformed into a double album including everything from “Oddities”. With my label, Darkride Records, I want to reissue all my past albums that are out of print, but make them better than they were by remixing them from the original multi-track master tapes. Doing this I am able to included missing audio elements cut from the original mixes due to limitations at the time, and even forgotten recordings. I always planned for another album like “Oddities”, and the time was right.

The song “October” is probably the first LAM song. I wrote it when I played keyboard for another band when I was a kid, just months before starting LAM. It was someone else’s band, but it fell apart after its first concert. So I started LAM and used the song as a starting point. A really rough recording appeared on LAM’s first 4 song self-titled demo cassette tape in about 1990 or 91. Then it was removed off the tape as I had just recorded “Selected Scenes From The End Of The World” in 1991 and I replaced “October” with the new song “Revenge”. Some people never understood “October”, so I just buried it. It was meant to be like a Goth-Punk version of “Timewarp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show, not literally but just a thing that wasn’t in any way serious. But people looking for a reason to attack me used the song to try and say I was claiming to be a vampire, or that I thought I was God’s gift to women or something. They wanted to pretend it was serious just so they could talk shit. I was shocked at how utterly stupid these people were, that they couldn’t understand a silly song. The humor and fantasy of the song was lost on them. But it’s always been popular with fans, I would still get requests for it even now, so I decided to include it on “Oddities Too” and see what happens. Hopefully the naysayers won’t resort to more insane accusations of me being a vampire this time around.

Q: There’s an important ‘Cinematic’ side featured at the album. Do you have concrete plans to release a Soundtrack and do you’ve favorite soundtrack composers?

Sean: I’d love to score film, but I’m actually getting more interested in making films rather than music for them. But we’ll see what happens. My first love was film Soundtracks and Classical music. I have records and CDs from childhood of film scores from Max Steiner, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Ron Grainer, John Barry, John Williams and tons more. That’s the music I listen to most frequently.

Q: I really have to mention two cover versions featured at “Oddities Too”. I wasn’t surprised by the David Bowie cover but you took me by surprise covering Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”. I guess you covered “Hot Stuff” because of the lyrics? Does the BOWIE song have special meaning to you?

Sean: I covered “Hot Stuff” because I’ve always liked some of the music from that era, and I thought that song had a very cool guitar riff melody (which I play on keyboard in my version). I thought it could make for a sort of creepy, weird, dark song that might contrast in a funny way with the lyrics. “Scary Monsters” is a song that LAM used to perform live starting in maybe 2006, or so. So that’s just a little history of LAM. I was quite shocked after I released “Hot Stuff” that the guy who wrote the song for Donna Summer, Pete Bellotte, sent me an email saying how much he loved my cover. He said of all the covers he’s heard mine stood out as original, hypnotic, dark, and ‘great’. I was utterly floored, as he’s a sort of legend in the song writing world, having written songs for big artists.

Q: The ongoing pandemic seriously affected all artistic activities. How did you experience this situation and how does it feel to be back on stage again?

Sean: It was very difficult- LAM had some tour plans for 2020 to promote the re-release of “Selected Scenes From The End Of The World: 9119”, but those obviously had to be cancelled. Touring now is even harder than before because this readjustment period, when shows are starting to come back, is exposing the weaknesses of the music industry. Even major, top 40 bands, are posting to their social media about how they cannot sustain touring any longer due to costs or harsh schedules required or problems with cancellations, etc. So it’s kind of difficult at the moment.

Q: Any concrete plans for the coming months/year?

Sean: In regard to concerts LAM will perform at the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas in 2023 with Sisters Of Mercy, System Of A Down, Korn and many other bands. Then there should be a festival scheduled in Germany later in summer and maybe a few other shows. We’ll see. And I will continue with recording the all new album, as well.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

 Genre/Influences: Gothic, Gothic-Rock, Post-Punk.

Format: Digital, 2CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Legendary formation London After Midnight strike back with a ‘new’ album. Sean Brennan assisted by David Lawrie (mixing), Michael Areklett and Pete Pace bring us the second chapter of “Oddities”. The work features the original edits of “Oddities” released in 1998 plus cover versions, alternative versions and a previously unreleased song.

Content: The work takes off with the new cut “October” which sounds like LAM at its best. Pure, powerful, Post-Punk and glamorous Goth-Rock music with elevating guitar playing and charismatic vocals. That’s the essence of the band which you’ll also find back at other cuts. But they’re also moody, slower, passages next to acoustic versions, demo Neo-Classic interpretations and cover versions of “Hot Stuff”, “Scary Monsters” (David Bowie) and “Sally’s Song”.

+ + + : Listening to “October” it sounds like LAF never really stopped. This track reminds us of the genius of this formation; Goth-Rock with a great solo guitar at the final part. Charismatic vocals and elevating guitar play with speed rhythms remain the absolute trademark of the band; danceable and dark! But there’s also something to say about the more Cinematic part of the work which sounds as pure Neo-Classic interpretations. A double disc which will enchant the numerous fans of this legendary formation.

– – – : There’s a serious discrepancy between both discs. You sometimes don’t get the sensation of listening to the same band. It also reveals the band’s diversity. 

Conclusion: It would be cool getting a totally new album by this formation but “Oddities Too” is a great gift. London After Midnight rocks and I’m not surprised the work already got massive, enthusiastic, reactions. Respect!

Best songs: “October”, “I’m No Angel”, “Better Off Dead (Be My Guest)”, “Your Best Nightmare – O2 Mix” + “October – Radio Edit”, “Sally’s Song – O2 Mix”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.londonaftermidnight.com / www.facebook.com/LAMofficial

Label: www.darkriderecords.com /  www.facebook.com/DarkrideRecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

The American goth rock act London After Midnight has just released a brand new video for “Better Off Dead (Be My Guest)” from their new album entitled “Oddities Too”.

The new album is the follow-up to 2020’s “Live from Isolation” and features all new recordings, unreleased songs, reimagined classics plus the original 1998 “Oddities” album remixed from the original multi-track master tapes.

The album is out on Darkride Records – the record label created by the band’s founder Sean Brennan – and is available on both LP and CD along with all streaming and digital platforms.

Here’s the video for “Better Off Dead (Be My Guest)”.

You can check the new album right below.

About London After Midnight

London After Midnight (LAM) was formed in the 1990s by Sean Brennan in California, USA. Live members vary but include Sean Brennan, Michael Areklett, Pete Pace and Jeremy Kohnmann.

Songwriter, instrumentalist, producer and founder Sean Brennan is known for his strong stances in favor of animal rights, pro-environmental and human rights issues, and progressive politics.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The UK industrial act The Royal Ritual have released a video for the B-side of the new single “Pews In A Pandemic”.

The single itself will be released as a digital download and streaming on all platforms, as well as on the Bandcamp store. Also available is a collectible, laser engraved wooden USB, containing the two songs from the digital version, as well as an additional piece of music, video content, promo photos, and more. The USB is presented in a hand numbered, laser engraved wooden box, and is limited to only 50 units. You can see the item below, excellent finishing we must say!

The B-side is is a cover of Phildel’s “Glide Dog” and where the original song was analyzed by a wavetable synthesizer, The Royal Ritual’s version turns out to be a vast departure from the sparseness of Phildel’s original arrangement, resulting in a much heavier, industrial affair.

Here’s the video for “Glide Dog”.

Here’s what David Michael Lawrie says about the decision to cover “Glide Dog”: “I have been working closely with Phildel on her new material, and as I moved from being a casual fan of her music into a more analytical realm, this song really, really struck me. It was one I kept revisiting. Even though the words have a strong meaning for her, they also seemed to have the scope for an interpretation that mirrored the sentiments of The Royal Ritual. We both admire each other’s music, and when she showed enthusiasm for me to do my own take on it, I pushed forwards without hesitation.”

Check out the title track “Pews In A Pandemic” below.

About The Royal Ritual aka David Michael Lawrie

David Lawrie is an internationally renowned music producer and sound designer. Classically trained on the piano from the age of 7, he began exploring the tech side of music in his teenage years.

After gaining a distinction award upon completing his Master’s degree in Music Production from Leeds Conservatoire, he went on to produce for independent artists in the UK, Europe, and the USA in genres spanning from folk and pop, all the way to goth and industrial. Notable associated artists include London After Midnight, CocoRosie, Phildel, and many others.

As a multi-instrumentalist, with a fascination with unusual world instruments, synthesizers, and sound design, his arrangements and production style have attracted the attention of artists and filmmakers alike. His compositions have been used in nature documentaries (notably the award-winning “Of Shark and Man”), horror shorts, and art installations, as well as television shows around the world. He has lead and executed audio post production for a wide variety of films – feature length and short.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Darkride Records announces the imminent release of London After Midnight’s first live album, “Live From Isolation”. The new album contains 10 performances; classic LAM songs plus some rarely performed fan favorites. Sean Brennan: “The album shows the power behind the live performances and gives the fans a chance to hear the band perform together, live, during a dark time when most people were in isolation”.

The album also includes 6 very rare radio promos and commercials, unheard since the early 1990s. One of the radio commercials is for LAM’s 1991 record release concert for the first album, “Selected Scenes from the End of the World”, which originally aired on the famous Los Angeles radio station KROQ. The commercials, produced by the radio stations, were probably the first times that music related to the gothic rock scene was even mentioned on these mainstream radio stations.

The year 2020 was supposed to be a year of heavy touring for London After Midnight, with festivals and events in the UK, Europe, Mexico, and the US. But the pandemic shut down live performances worldwide. So, during the summer of 2020 a ‘live’ album was recorded- where the band got together online and recorded and mixed live performances, thousands of miles apart from each other and in isolation, performing the songs as they would in concert. The goal wasn’t a perfect studio album, but rather something that captured a live concert experience.

“Live From Isolation” will be available on CD and digital.

New studio album postponed

The next studio album, “Oddities Too”, was scheduled to be released in Autumn of 2020 but finishing that album required travel in order to mix and do final recordings.

The “live” album didn’t have the same demands, as the band members could perform in their own studios and the final mix could be done online in real time between California and Sean’s new headquarters on the east coast of the USA.

“Oddities Too” will be postponed until later in 2021.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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London After Midnight would have been touring extensively throughout 2020 in the UK, Europe and the USA in support of the release of
“Selected Scenes from the End of the World: 9119”, LAM’s first album completely remixed from the original master tapes with never before
heard audio and a lost recording from the original 1991 sessions. The album was released at the end of 2019 on LAM’s new label Darkride
Records. But the pandemic had other plans.

In lieu of the tour LAM is releasing a series of live performance videos recorded while in quarantine over the summer of 2020. The band recorded their live performances remotely, each member in their own home studios (Sean newly relocated in Virginia, Michael and Pete in Los Angles, and David in Northern California).

One song, “Your Best Nightmare”, premiered last month, and 3 more will premiere this weekend on August 29th at the Stay InFestUK on Twich.

More live videos will follow on LAM’s official YouTube and Facebook pages and the audio will be released as a live album on LAM’s own label, Darkride Records.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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It’s been quite some time since ze posted an update on Lore, the singer who first got internationally reknown in the trip hop scene before collaborating with London After Midnight and exclusive appearances on the SAW movie soundtrack albums.

Lore premiers a brand new, never before heard song, for the Infest Festival’s, Stay-In-Fest 2020, a streaming version of festival from England, on August 29th from 12pm to 12am BST. The song is called “Until the Day I Die (Gothic Wedding Song)” that she co-wrote with her band mate, Chris Egert. Her streaming set will open just before that of London After Midnight. Everything you need to know is available right here on the Infest website.

Lore will perform three songs in total with her band consisting of Chris Egert and Vincent Cabagnot; The set was recorded live from Chris’ rehearsal / recording studio in Los Angeles. These live raw recordings may be released later on as a live EP.

Lore: I’m very proud of these performances and audio recordings because they are what we sound like in concert, raw and real!”

In further news, Lore has a new album just about ready, more news on where or how it will be released will be announced soon.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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From Darkride Records comes the news that London After Midnight is set to re-release their 1991 debut album as “Selected Scenes From the End of the World: 9119” on December 13th. It is not just a remastered version of “Selected Scenes…”, rather, it has been completely mixed from scratch, from the multi-track master tapes, along with previously unreleased material. The bonus material for instance holds a never-before-heard recording from the original 1991 sessions.

“Selected Scenes from the End of the World: 9119” (referring to the year of original release and year of re-release), will be available Friday, December 13, 2019 – the original album was released on Friday, December 13, 1991.

The reissue will be available on digital, CD, and 12” heavy-weight double vinyl and will feature the long out of print original cover art from the first German CD release in 1995, plus numerous previously unseen photos, along with personal notes and commentary from Sean Brennan.

And there is more…

After “Selected Scenes… 9119” there are 3 more albums waiting to be released, including “Oddities, Too” (an album of rarities and unreleased material), a complete remix of London After Midnight’s sophomore album, “Psycho Magnet”, and an all new album of never-before-heard songs.

London After Midnight – the story

London After Midnight was formed in the 1990s by songwriter and instrumentalist Sean Brennan. In the early days London After Midnight had various temporary members who joined Brennan when performing live, but did not perform on the albums. Tamlyn is credited on the first cassette recordings, co-authored the opening track “This Paradise” on “Selected Scenes From The End Of The World”, contributed an instrumental called “Ice” for the 1998 release of “Oddities” at Brennan’s request, and an instrumental entitled “Perversion” on the 93′ “Ruins” demo tape released as a preview of what was to become their second album, “Psycho Magnet”.

The last London After Midnight album, “Violent Acts of Beauty”, was released in 2007. The band however re-released (in 2003) two of the past three releases in Europe and the Russian Federation, adding previously unreleased bonus tracks. In 2006 a new London After Midnight song was released on the “Saw II” motion picture soundtrack.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Post-punk, gothic rock.

Background/Info: Third full-length album for Mychael Ghost (vocals), Illia Tulloch (drums), Howard Melnick (guitar) and Danny AE (keyboards) from Miami – Florida, including a cover of ‘Til Tuesday (“Voices Carry”). The first 5 tracks were produced and mixed by Tom Shear (Assemblage 23) while the last 4 tracks were earlier released as an EP “Dreams Of Majesty”, mixed by Rees Bridges.

Content: Highlights: first track and previously released single “Sunday Queen” is a worthly opener full of dark atmospheric vibes. The very danceable and melodic “Unfulfilled Promise” could become for sure a dancefloor classic in goth clubs. “I Am Nothing” is built on a nice synth-bass with a very melancholic and bombastic chorus including piano. The uptempo “Rosary Society” is another dancefloor filler in the traditional gothic rock style. On “Divination” Mychael’s voice sounds very good and deep while on “The Girl Who Tried” especially the synth-melodies play an important role.

+ + + : The sweet and warm voice of Mychael Ghost directly reminded me on the voice of Rozz Williams (Christian Death) and also of Sean Brennan (London After Midnight).

– – – : You might get the impression that after a while all songs start to sound a bit the same because of the way Mychael sings.

Conclusion: Astari Nite brings modern post-punk/gothic rock songs full of sensitive lyrics about love and despair in a soft and fragile way.

Best songs: “Sunday Queen”, “Unfulfilled Promise”, “I Am Nothing”, “Rosary Society”, “Divination”, “The Girl Who Tried”.

Rate: (8) WH.

Band: www.officialastarinite.com / www.facebook.com/astarinitemusic

Label: www.cleopatrarecords.com / www.facebook.com/cleopatrarecords

On 11th and 12th August 2018 the annual M’era-Luna festival takes place in the area of Hildesheim-Drispenstedt, Germany. M’era Luna exists since 2000 and is one of the biggest Gothic festivals in the European scene. Gothic, new wave, electro, EBM, industrial and medieval bands are featured on 2 stages.

Besides watching concerts you can also visit parties, markets, artist signing events, gothic fashion shows, readings by David Grashoff, Markus Heitz and Christian von Aster. The Gothic Garden, an oasis of calm right in front of the festival infield, offers demanding festival-goers comfort, space and conveniences to make your stay more exclusive, pleasant and more relaxing. At the M’era Luna Academy you can follow special workshops which will be announced soon on the official website.

The last years the festival was every time sold out and had about 25.000 visitors. This year some of the confirmed artists are: The Prodigy, Front 242, Ministry, Eisbrecher, In Extremo, Saltatio Mortis, Apoptygma Berzerk, Peter Heppner, L’Ame Immortelle, London After Midnight, Clan Of Xymox, Das Ich, Lord Of The Lost, Hocico, The 69 Eyes, Atari Teenage Riot, In Strict Confidence, Rotersand, Nachtmahr, Tanzwut, …

The interactive M’era Luna app can be downloaded here and tickets can be ordered here.

PIG promoted the UK release of his current studio album ‘The Gospel’ with a recent UK tour where the band jointly headlined with Mortiis. PIG mainman Raymond Watts and Mortiis have also recently reworked one of each other’s songs for new remix records, Mortiis’ remix album being called “The Great Corrupter” (more info here).

Appropriately entitled “Swine & Punishment” (available right here), PIG’s latest record will contain reworks by Skold, Marc Heal, Android Lust, Kanga, London After Midnight, Indradevi, Mortiis, Chris Vrenna, Pull Out Kings, Inertia, Joe Haze. Even Watts himself joins in for a special remix.

The album also holds the track “Violence”, previously only obtainable on the vinyl format of “The Gospel”.

For now you can enjoy the Mortiis remix of “Viva Evil” by PIG.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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