As far back as he can remember, whenever Chris Tapp opened a music magazine or was introduced by a DJ, the ‘S’ word preceded him. “We were always getting tagged as ‘southern’ something,” The Cold Stares frontman says, smiling. “Y’know, ‘southern rock’, ‘southern gothic’… We just thought of ourselves as a blues-rock band.”
Talking to Kentucky-born Tapp today, the Bluegrass State is present in the singer’s twang. Musically, though, things are a little muddier. The Cold Stares formed in 2012, and the trio’s six albums to date are as much in thrall to the British Invasion as to the Allmans/Skynyrd set texts.
That figures, Tapp shrugs: “When I was thirteen and they needed a guitar player at the Moose Lodge, they’d bring me in the side door. I’d sit in with the old guys. And Skynyrd was part of that – I loved their early stuff, and was always sad they got tied into that rebel-flag garbage. But we also played Zeppelin, Bad Company, Robin Trower. I thought Free were from Alabama, because it sounded southern to me. I was never a bluegrass guy. I always had a rock’n’roll bone in me.”
Bu hikaye Classic Rock dergisinin October 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Classic Rock dergisinin October 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Dream Theater
With friends (and bandmates) reunited for the band's 40th anniversary, it'll be a special night for fans at Wembley Arena.
Royal Republic
Livewire, turbo-harmonised, disco-rocking Swedes get ready for upgraded UK and Europe dates.
GOTTA KEEP MOVIN'
In 1968 the MC5's Kick Out The Jams album was a grenade thrown into the music scene. In the decades since, Wayne Kramer acted as guardian of the band's legacy until he died earlier this year, after making one final album.
THE KILLING FLOOR
Now revered as a linchpin moment in the history of the blues, Howlin' Wolf's London sessions in 1970, with a superstar cast that included some of England's rock royalty, came out of a chance encounter several months earlier at a gig in San Francisco.
ROGUE TRADER
Recording almost everything on his latest album himself and putting it out on his own label, Tuk Smith followed the adage that if you want something doing properly, do it yourself.
BILL WYMAN
WW2 evacuee, RAF airman, Rolling Stone, hit solo artist, bandleader, author, restaurateur, archaeologist, cricketer... Even just his time in The Greatest Rock'N'Roll Band In The World is storied, but there's been much, much more to his life than that.
LIFE IS A JOURNEY
For some people, travelling life's road is easy. For lifelong worrier Myles Kennedy it's anything but. But with his brand new solo album The Art Of Letting Go he's learning just what that title says.
ALL ABOUT BEING LOUD
In an exclusive extract from his Fast Eddie biography Make My Day, long-time Motörhead associate Kris Needs looks back at the making of their game-changing Overkill album and the subsequent killing-it UK tour.
Nikki Sixx
The Mötley Crüe bassist on making new music, replacing Mick Mars, work-life balance, learning when to say no...
Bobbie Dazzle
Meet the West Midlands singer bringing back upbeat music, fun and fashion of the 70s.