MelodicRock Records is excited to announce the release of one of the finest melodic hard rock records for 2018 – JK Northrup & David Cagle’s first collaboration together, titled ‘That’s Gonna Leave A Mark’.
There is no doubt whatsoever that this record is gonna leave a mark on fans of hard rocking, guitar driven melodic rock, with a production to die for and songs dripping in hooks and melodies.
JK Northrup & David Cagle ‘That’s Gonna Leave A Mark’ arrives March 30 worldwide.
PRE-ORDER JK NORTHRUP & DAVID CAGLE - 'That's Gonna Leave A Mark'
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MARCH MRR DEAL - TOTO TRIBUTE & JK NORTHRUP & DAVID CAGLE
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MRR’s Andrew McNeice: “I’m immensely proud and excited to finally be releasing this killer record from JK and David. I’ve worked with JK since the very first MR.com compilation over 15 years back and he’s been there for me as a mastering engineer every time since. His work with me remastering some important archive releases in the last couple of years has only further emboldened my respect for him as a first rate professional and someone who can bring out the very best results in any situation. On top of that, he is a Grade A gentleman who I value as a friend and college.
Everyone I have recommended Jeff to as an engineer or producer has ended up using him and continuing that relationship. But I’ve long felt that his name is undervalued as a writer and guitarist and I think this record is his finest achievement to date and a truly stunning release – in all facets – the guitar playing, the writing and production and David Cagle is one hell of a vocalist who I think we need to work with again ASAP!”
Jeff Northrup: “David Cagle and I had worked together in the past and started this album back in 2014. Unfortunately, it was shelved due to 'circumstances'. We knew we had something special even then, and the time was right to pull out this great collection of songs, dust it off and polish it up. The result is 12 of the best songs put together on any album I've been a part of!
Fast forward to 2017… After rewriting some of the lyrics, some arrangement changes, re-recording guitars and vocals, then bringing in the powerful rhythm section of Larry Hart - bass (Montrose, Gypsy Soul, King Kobra) and Steve Brown - drums (Montrose, Oleander-and Mick Brown's younger brother), the album has truly come to life!
Larry and Steve have been playing live together for a couple years and are TIGHT. I've played on a few albums with Larry including King Kobra, Shortino-Northrup and Gypsy Soul, which began in 1987.
When you hear the opening track 'The Night Is Mine', you'll know right away that you are going to Get Rocked HARD!!! David's modern approach on vocals is a breath of fresh air and I pull no punches on guitar!! With some heavy, powerful rock songs, to more main stream rockers and a couple killer ballads, it's all here!!!
Although a predominately guitar driven album, Eric Ragno does a masterful job playing keyboards on 6 songs.
The title track, 'That's Gonna Leave A Mark' was written by myself several years back, but sounds as fresh and powerful as if written today. Some of the lyrics are based on true life experiences about love, hate and a relationship gone bad, which is reflected in the artwork that was done by the great Nello Dell'Omo. 'The Siren' cuts out your heart and leaves you still alive, clutching your chest. Been there, done that!!! I truly am excited for everyone to here this album!! Cheers!" ~ JK Northrup
Produced, Recorded, mixed and mastered by JK Northrup at Alien Productions Music Studio
MelodicRock Records is excited to announce the release of one of the finest melodic hard rock records for 2018 – JK Northrup & David Cagle’s first collaboration together, titled ‘That’s Gonna Leave A Mark’.
There is no doubt whatsoever that this record is gonna leave a mark on fans of hard rocking, guitar driven melodic rock, with a production to die for and songs dripping in hooks and melodies.
JK Northrup & David Cagle ‘That’s Gonna Leave A Mark’ arrives March 30 worldwide.
A very early demo form of this album was on select digital platforms under the Liberty & Justice banner, but ‘That’s Gonna Leave A Mark’ is a whole new ball-game from the ground up.
MRR’s Andrew McNeice: “I’m immensely proud and excited to finally be releasing this killer record from JK and David. I’ve worked with JK since the very first MR.com compilation over 15 years back and he’s been there for me as a mastering engineer every time since. His work with me remastering some important archive releases in the last couple of years has only further emboldened my respect for him as a first rate professional and someone who can bring out the very best results in any situation. On top of that, he is a Grade A gentleman who I value as a friend and college.
Everyone I have recommended Jeff to as an engineer or producer has ended up using him and continuing that relationship. But I’ve long felt that his name is undervalued as a writer and guitarist and I think this record is his finest achievement to date and a truly stunning release – in all facets – the guitar playing, the writing and production and David Cagle is one hell of a vocalist who I think we need to work with again ASAP!”
Jeff Northrup: “David Cagle and I had worked together in the past and started this album back in 2014. Unfortunately, it was shelved due to 'circumstances'. We knew we had something special even then, and the time was right to pull out this great collection of songs, dust it off and polish it up. The result is 12 of the best songs put together on any album I've been a part of!
Fast forward to 2017… After rewriting some of the lyrics, some arrangement changes, re-recording guitars and vocals, then bringing in the powerful rhythm section of Larry Hart - bass (Montrose, Gypsy Soul, King Kobra) and Steve Brown - drums (Montrose, Oleander-and Mick Brown's younger brother), the album has truly come to life!
Larry and Steve have been playing live together for a couple years and are TIGHT. I've played on a few albums with Larry including King Kobra, Shortino-Northrup and Gypsy Soul, which began in 1987.
When you hear the opening track 'The Night Is Mine', you'll know right away that you are going to Get Rocked HARD!!! David's modern approach on vocals is a breath of fresh air and I pull no punches on guitar!! With some heavy, powerful rock songs, to more main stream rockers and a couple killer ballads, it's all here!!!
Although a predominately guitar driven album, Eric Ragno does a masterful job playing keyboards on 6 songs.
The title track, 'That's Gonna Leave A Mark' was written by myself several years back, but sounds as fresh and powerful as if written today. Some of the lyrics are based on true life experiences about love, hate and a relationship gone bad, which is reflected in the artwork that was done by the great Nello Dell'Omo. 'The Siren' cuts out your heart and leaves you still alive, clutching your chest. Been there, done that!!! I truly am excited for everyone to here this album!! Cheers!" ~ JK Northrup
JK Northrup's professional career began in 1982 when bassist-songwriter Bruce Turgon (Lou Gramm, Foreigner) heard his demo tape and asked if he would like to record with him in Los Angeles. That offer was accepted and the next thing that happened was they were in the studio at Pasha Records being produced by the legendary Billy Thorpe (Children Of The Sun). In the next room, Quiet Riot was mixing their debut album 'Metal Health'. Billy asked JK, Bruce and Frankie Banali to tour for his new release and that's how it all began!
Since then, JK has recorded with, toured with and produced some of the biggest names in music and that list continues to grow today. Not only known as an elite guitarist, songwriter and producer, but also as a recording engineer and mastering specialist. In 2017 alone, JK produced, mixed and/or mastered some of the top-rated rock albums for a who's who of recording artists.
Having written songs that have been recorded by artists such as Foreigner, King Kobra, Great White, XYZ and including television and movies, the list continues to grow.
JK has appeared on over 30 albums over the years as a songwriter, guitarist and producer, and has mixed and mastered many others.
Now in 2018 comes a new album called JK Northrup & David Cagle, 'That's Gonna Leave A Mark'. This album showcases all of JK Northrup's skills as a songwriter, guitarist, producer, recording and mastering engineer.
In JK's words, 'I'm just getting started! Enjoy the ride folks'.
Award-winning international singer David Cagle has recorded vocals on more than 1000 songs over the past 10 years for clients all over the world, covering multiple genres of music. Although a singer of many styles, Cagle is most known for his melodic, soulful rock voice. A few of Cagle's credits include:
- February Fallen: Black and White (all lead and backing vocals)
- Marty and the Bad Punch: Moon Over Baskerville (all lead and backing vocals) *Winner of 4 awards at the 2015 German Rock and Pop Awards
- Brannon: Welton St. and The Road Less Traveled (all lead and backing vocals), and many individually released singles *Winner of multiple international songwriting competitions
- Majestic: V.O.Z, Epsilon 1, Epsilon 2 (lead and backing vocals on select tracks)
- Fiction Syxx: Tall Dark Secrets (backing vocals on Given Sight and Your Promised Land)
'That's Gonna Leave A Mark' guest performers:
Gunnar Nelson - backing vocal on ‘Forever Starts Tonight’
Richard Kendrick - backing vocal ‘Can't’
Kelly Keeling (MSG, Blue Murder) - backing vocal ‘For Sure Thing’
You’d have to be almost dead not to get caught up in the infectious fun that is Tokyo Motor Fist. The name might conjure up thoughts of an ancient form of Japanese bondage, but at least they didn’t name themselves Trixter Danger.
Yes, the most talented Steve Brown (Trixter, Guitar) and the always flamboyant Ted Poley (Danger Danger, vocals) team with the rhythm section of Greg Smith (Ted Nugent, Rainbow, Alice Cooper) and Chuck Burgi (Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Lynn Turner) for what amounts to a meeting of the New Jersey chapter of the Melodic Rock Mafia, to create an infectious slice of classic 80s melodic rock that you just have to rock along with.
While the album may not have the polish of a major 80s budget, it does pass the crankability test and shines when at maximum volume.
Following his great recent solo album, Ted Poley again delivers a powerhouse vocal while Steve Brown provides the backbone of the sound, his soulful guitar playing filling the air between hooks and choruses. The album is also a tribute to his songwriting prowess.
For the most part this delivers exactly what you’d expect – a mix of modern day Trixter’s smart melodic rock and Danger Danger’s hands in the air party anthems.
Look no further than the opening salvo of Pickin' Up The Pieces, Love Me Insane, Gimme Your Good LovinShameless and Black And Blue to deliver plus the moody feel good ballads Love, Get You Off My Mind and Don’t Let Me Go work to balance the record and provide breathing space between the rockers.
You're My Revolution brings out the double kick drums for a rousing tempo boost, but its Put Me To Shame and Done To Me where Steve Brown’s connection to Def Leppard seems to get dialled up. For a minute I thought I was listening to Sweden’s Leppard loving Grand Design.
How could fans of the two principle artists not be happy with this? It delivers exactly what you might have been hoping for, perhaps exceeding expectations with the strong hooks and great performances.
No complaints here and given the positive fan reaction so far, one would have to think that this will develop further just as the ‘other’ D2 side project The Definants has.
You don’t need to be a die-hard '80s metal fan to know that the fruits of an artistic alliance between Danger Danger singer Ted Poley and guitarist/producer Steve Brown of TRIXTER is going to make melodic rock fans rejoice! The two musicians from New Jersey have recently created TOKYO MOTOR FIST and the new band is ready to unleash on the world their self-titled debut album on February 24, 2017 via Frontiers Music Srl.
Indeed, Tokyo Motor Fist is exactly what you would expect: catchy and uplifting hard rock, the way is should be! You want big – we mean, BIG - hooks? You got ‘em. What about major guitar riffs? Of course there’s plenty of those. Killer rhythm section? Well, with Greg Smith (Ted Nugent, Rainbow, Alice Cooper) and Chuck Burgi (Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Lynn Turner) you simply can’t go wrong!
Ted and Steve have been friends for a long time. They were playing the same club circuit with their respective bands, Danger Danger and Trixter, when both bands were starting their careers. Over the years, they've had a great personal relationship and the idea of doing a record together has been in the cards for many years. Now, thanks to Frontiers this concept has become a reality.
“To say that I’m excited for the world to hear TOKYO MOTOR FIST would be an understatement,” says Steve Brown. “Working on this project with my Rock and Roll Brothers Ted Poley, Greg Smith & Chuck Burgi was a total blast….We had fun and it shows in the performances and in the music! As a songwriter I couldn’t be happier with the way the songs came together. Fans of TRIXTER, DANGER DANGER, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi and Cheap Trick will get the best of all those worlds.”
Ted Poley adds: “Working with guys of this caliber was amazing. I was excited to collaborate with my long time friend Steve Brown, who is not only a really great songwriter and guitarist but also an insanely cool producer! The band sounds great and very high energy. The vocals of Steve and I along with his SHREDDING guitar, combined with the World Class rhythm Powerhouse section of Greg Smith and Chuck Burgi is amazing, what a cool band - the sound is HUGE. But it’s the songs that drew me into making this album in the beginning and the record is full of catchy songs with massive choruses and great melodies and sounds BIG BIG BIG! I am beyond THRILLED with the final result and I hope you will be too.”
Beefy and energetic, “Tokyo Motor Fist” is sure to please not only Ted Poley, Danger Danger, and Trixter's fans, but all fans of melodic hard rock. Don't miss this superb release!
In the show's only interview, TRIXTER's Pj Farley discusses his new solo album Boutique Sound Frames, the ups and downs of Trixter, touring with KISS, Steve Brown & Def Leppard, and much more.
Quote from the interview:
On his new album Boutique Sound Frames (time - 1.25): "I've been going through my catalogue of songs and just decided that it was time to stop sitting around on them. I'm already in studio mode with finishing a new Trixter record. I wanted to go in a bang out and really tie in eleven songs that kinda fit in the same ballpark."
In episode 129 of One On One With Mitch Lafon, TRIXTER's Steve Brown joins Mitch to discuss the band's latest album Human Era, Def Leppard, his Mojo Vegas studio, the KISS Revenge tour, Trixter's history and more.
This Episode of One On One With Mitch Lafon is brought to you by the Heavy Montreal Festival taking place on August 7th, 8th and 9th at Parc Jean Drapeau in Montreal. This year featuring Lamb Of God, Slipknot, Korn, Faith No More as well as '80s artists Dokken, EXTREME, Lita Ford and Warrant. Visit: http://www.heavymontreal.com
This is just one of those albums that is set to please just about everyone. Fans of old-school 80s melodic hard rock, fans of great anthemic, kick-ass tunes with a good production and fans of great classic era music that doesn’t sound dated.
Trixter follow up the success of New Audio Machine with arguably one of the best ever records.
It’s just a whole lot of fun to listen to.
Huge production, big guitars, big songs and big attitude.
The guys just get better and better. Taking the party rock vibe of their early days and mixing it with a more mature retrospective attitude to their songwriting, Human Era mixes the best of both worlds, giving you some kick-ass hands in the air tunes that a 40 year old wouldn’t be embarrassed pumping out of the car stereo.
Rockin’ To The Edge Of The Night and the riff heavy, double timed Crash That Party are two fist pumping hard rockers to kick off this album in big style.
Not Like All the Rest mixes Steve Brown’s penchant for modern rock with old-school 80s rock for a sweet anthemic hybrid.
For You is 80s Van Halen before a contender for Song Of The Year blows my mind. The sentimental melodic rocker Every Second Counts features everything I love about this music. Modern, classic, melodic…
The following track is just as essential. Beats Me Up is a beautiful new-meets-old, hands in the air stadium ballad.
And it just continues with the harmony drenched mi-tempo melodic rock anthem Good Times Now and the moodier, darker Midnight in Your Eyes and the rapid fire 80s rock of All Night Long.
Soul of a Lovin' Man is a cool edgier, gritty rocker and then the album is closed in perfect class with the moodier, more melodic and reflective title track Human Era.
Others may have a more sentimental attachment to the band’s debut or earlier work, but for me – this is their best album to date and shows a refined maturity mixed with the classy side of 80s melodic hard rock.
It’s a super fun and thoroughly enjoyable album and the band deserve big credit for the results.
Fans from all walks of life are going to enjoy this – it might even be the first ever Trixter purchase for some.
Frontiers Music Srl is thrilled to announce the release of the new studio album from good-time rock n’ rollers, TRIXTER entitled “Human Era” on June 5th in Europe and June 9th in North America.
Following on the heels of the successful comeback album, New Audio Machine - a record chock full of rocking anthems -, TRIXTER are returning stronger than ever. “After the success of our last album, New Audio Machine, we felt more confident than ever in making another top notch album. I’m so proud to say that after more than 25 years of making records, TRIXTER is getting better and better. "Human Era" will show the world this band at it's finest,” says lead guitarist Steve Brown.
The new album sees TRIXTER sticking to their guns and delivering 11 new choice cuts, with a sound reminiscent of their earlier work which they were well known for in the ‘90s. For fans new to Trixter, their sound fits in nicely to an album collection next to Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Van Halen, AC/DC and even 70's classic rock mainstays.
Northern New Jersey’s TRIXTER’s self-titled debut album (1990) spawned three monster hit singles/videos with “Give It To Me Good”, “One in a Million” and “Surrender”, as well as an RIAA-certified Gold album. TRIXTER has toured extensively in the United States, Canada and Japan. They have performed in arenas and amphitheaters and have appeared live on numerous television and radio programs such as Entertainment Tonight, Pay-Per-View, VH-1, MTV, Z-Rock and MetalShop. TRIXTER has shared the stage with such rock heavyweights as Kiss, Boston, Scorpions, Poison, Cinderella, Warrant, Slaughter, Winger, Skid Row, Firehouse, Stryper, Dokken and more. The band recently nabbed the #29 spot on VH-1’s “Top 40 Hair Bands of All Time” countdown.
“Almost 30 years together and the band is tighter than ever! We are family and that makes everything we do more and more special. The title track HUMAN ERA really sheds insight into our story,” concludes Steve Brown.
Enjoy the first video single and album opening song “Rockin’ to the Edge of the Night” – a true and instant classic from the band:
HUMAN ERA track listing includes:
1. Rockin' To The Edge Of The Night
2. Crash That Party
3. Not Like All The Rest
4. For You
5. Every Second Counts
6. Beats Me Up
7. Good Times Now
8. Midnight In Your Eyes
9. All Night Long
10. Soul Of A Lovin' Man
11. Human Era
12. Always a Victim (Acoustic version - bonus track iTunes)
13. Road of a Thousand Dreams (Re-recorded version - bonus track iTunes)
TRIXTER is Pete Loran (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Steve Brown (lead guitar/harmonica/backing vocals), P.J. Farley (bass/backing vocals) and Gus Scott (drums/percussion/backing vocals).
TRIXTER "HUMAN ERA" TOUR 2015:
Fri May 1- M3 FESTIVAL, Columbia MD
Sun May 3 – STANHOPE HOUSE, Stanhope NJ
Fri July 3- WILDWEST FESTIVAL, Hays KS
Sat July 4- BUFFALO ROSE, Golden CO
Sat Aug 8- ROCKIN' THE RAILROAD FESTIVAL, Sheridan WY
Sat Aug 15- IRVINE MEADOWS AMPHITHEATER, Irvine CA
