Motorhead guitarist and founding member ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke is no more. He died aged 67 due to pneumonia. Clarke was the last original member of the UK based band which formed in the mid 1970s. He passed away in hospital yesterday. The news was confirmed via a statement posted on the band’s official Facebook page.

Clarke was working on re-fitting a houseboat, when he met drummer Phil Taylor. Taylor had recently joined Motörhead and introduced Clarke to Lemmy. Clarke left Motörhead in 1982, whilst on tour of the United States, becoming unhappy at the results of the “Iron Fist” album. The recording sessions with the US punk outfit Plasmatics were the final straw. Clarke was replaced by former Thin Lizzy and Wild Horses lead guitarist Brian Robertson after Anvil frontman Steve “Lips” Kudlow turned down the offer to play with Motörhead.

Clarke would perform a cameo on the later Motörhead album “Live at Brixton Academy”, released in 2003, on which the band featured many guest appearances from other guitarists. Clarke was one of the guests playing on the songs “No Class”, “The Chase Is Better Than the Catch” and “Overkill”.

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: Industrial-metal.

Background/Info: Treponem Pal is one of those ‘dinos’ who are invincible. “Rockers’Vibes” is an album celebrating the French band’s 30^th anniversary.

Content: I think there’s no better way celebrating an anniversary than having fun and simply doing what you like. Treponem Pal released album with cover versions of famous artists: B-52’s, Thin Lizzy, Lee Hazlewood, John D. Loudermilk, Tom Waits, Ten Years After and Dead Boys. They also released 5 new songs. The sound of the band remains for sure driven by industrial-metal music, but they assimilated their own sound with the original versions of the songs they covered as if they were written by Treponem Pal.

The new songs are also very efficient, somewhat harder and reminding me of a fusion between Metallica and The Young Gods.

+ + + : An album with cover versions always is something special, but the way Treponem Pal covered legendary cuts such as “Planet Claire” from B-52’ and “Some Velvet Morning” from Lee Hazlewood is absolutely great. You immediately recognize the original songs, but they have been reworked with power and ‘metal’ getting transposed into the tough universe of Treponem Pal. That’s exactly the same for the vocals. I remain an addict of the heavy guitar riffs this band is playing. Among the new songs I especially want to mention “Freedom Or Suicide” and “Sounds On Fire”. Treponem Pal hasn’t lost their power and the magic of the early years!

– – – : You can always discuss cover versions, and not many bands can do better than the original songs (especially when it features legendary hits). I’m not into this kind of release, but there are always exceptions to the rule…

Conclusion: This album is a great birthday present for a band, which clearly hasn’t lost its passion to compose powerful music.

Best songs: “Freedom Or Suicide”, “Planet Claire”, “Some Velvet Morning”, “Hear Me Calling”.

Rate: (8).

Band: http://treponempal.com /  www.facebook.com/TREPONEMPAL

Label: www.juste–une–trace.com / www.facebook.com/justeunetrace

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.

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Here’s a release which should please many gothic rock fans. Out in Summer, but available in pre-order now is the solo debut album of Mark Gemini Thwaite. That name will ring a bell with many readers as Mark Gemini Thwaite (aka MGT) has recorded and performed with a large variety of goth rock acts over the years.

The list includes a long tenure with UK gothic rock act The Mission, Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), 3 albums and various tours with trip hop musician Tricky and Gary Numan next to collaborations with Ministry, P.J. Harvey, Combichrist, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Revolting Co*ks, Young Gods, Prong, Primitive Race, etc..

On “Volumes” you’ll find a bunch of collaborations including Ville Valo of Finnish Love Metallers HIM (on cover-version of the Abba Hit “Knowing Me Knowing You” – see the video below), Wayne Hussey (The Mission), Miles Hunt & Erica Nockalls (The Wonderstuff), Ricky Warwick (Thin Lizzy), Raymond Watts (PIG/KMFDM), Saffron (Republica), Julianne Regan (All About Eve) and goth legend Andi Sex Gang, Ashton Nyte (The Awakening), Carlo Van Putten (Dead Guitars).

In short it features the who-is-who from the gothic rock scene. The CD can now be ordered right here.

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!

side-line.com