The Art of Deep Purple in Cologne

Ritchie Blackmore, Tommy Bolin, Steve Morse

This coming Friday sees me off on my travels for an exciting 7 days. The first few are dedicated to representing my partner Miki’s art at a Deep Purple exhibition in Cologne, Germany this weekend. She has 9 paintings on show, featuring many DP members, past and present, and artists from all over the world will be exhibiting. Miki will be busy working in Spain at the time so I’ll be seeing to her interests at the launch weekend.

Miki’s website:

Miki de Goodaboom

The venue awaits the exhibits

In addition to the many paintings and sculptures, there will also be a collection of Roger Glover’s basses on display, plus signed items from Joe Satriani and Don Airey. Roger also has a number of his own artworks on display.

Opening night sees a Deep Purple tribute band – ‘Demon’s Eye’ performing too, so I’m looking forward to that, and also catching up with drummer Mark Cross (Scorpions, Firewind) on the opening night.

Roger Glover signs stuff for the exhibition

The Exhibition runs from April 14 to May 12 – if you’re in the area, be sure to check it out!

 

THE ART AND HISTORY OF DEEP PURPLE

 

Kev Moore

Granbretan Invasion!

Graham Oliver and Me playing some Saxon classics

Not long ago, Witch Cross were approached by our Metal buddy Bart Gabriel over at Skol records to see if we’d be interested in contributing a song to a new tribute album to the glories of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Needless to say the answer was a resounding “Hell yeah!”

The choice of song was a no-brainer for us. In our live show, one of our encores is the SAXON classic “Strong Arm of the Law”. Luckily I was over from Spain at the right time and we got the track recorded, but there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to have my long time friend Graham Oliver, Saxon axe-wielder extraordinaire on the track!

I drove up to Graham’s place in Yorkshire while I was in the UK and we headed up to Beat Street Studios in Leeds to record his parts. He’s the genuine article, the real deal, and his playing brought the song alive.

Graham working his Metal Magic

We’re really proud of our contribution to this fantastic project and can’t wait to hear what the other bands have done. Besides Witch Cross featuring Graham Oliver, it contains NWOBHM covers from Cauldron, Crystal Viper, Enforcer, Gatekeeper, Helvetets Port, Hitten, Ironflame, Martyr, Savage Master, Substratum, Twisted Tower and Dire. The album will be out later this year – stay tuned! Big thanks to my mate Jase Brooks at Beat Street for fitting in with our tight recording deadline!

L-R Kev Moore, Graham Oliver, Jase Brooks, Oliver Sekunda

Kev Moore

Witch Cross at CHAOS DESCENDS! Part Two

Here’s a fan-shot video from CHAOS DESCENDS of us performing “Rocking the Night Away”. Hope you all enjoy it!

It was a real pleasure to get back to Germany and rock the fans…now we wait for September, when it’s the turn of Denmark and Sweden!

Kev Moore

WITCH CROSS

CHAOS DESCENDS

Witch Cross at CHAOS DESCENDS!

A lot of travelling, and a nightmare to get to my hotel in Berlin after flying in from Madrid on the Friday evening…but hooked up with guitarist Mike Koch the next morning, and we drove down to meet up with the rest of the band in Crispendorf, in the heart of the Thuringen countryside. The setting for the inaugural CHAOS DESCENDS festival was an old East German holiday camp, weird, spooky, and complete with a miniature train, it was absolutely perfect!

Well attended and with an eclectic line-up that ranged from doom, death and black metal through Sabbath/Prog inspired U.S. metallers Danava, and the innovative and hypnotic Swans, there was even room for good old-fashioned early 80’s Danish Metal!

The crowd were amazing to us, singing along to the songs from ‘Fit for Fight’, and we are starting to notice that they are becoming familiar with the newer stuff from ‘Axe to Grind’ too, which is particularly satisfying.

I’ll be doing a follow-up piece on the festival with more pics soon.

Our next shows see us in Denmark and Sweden in September, and we now start to coalesce ideas for the third album.

Kev Moore

WITCH CROSS

Busy week ahead

Got a show coming up with my local band, THE COPS, playing with an old Castillo as a backdrop, down the coast from where I live, in San Juan de los Terreros, on Thursday night. Let’s hope we can deliver some “Spanish Castle Magic”!

Then, on Friday, it’s time to drive to Madrid to catch a plane to Berlin and meet up with my Metal collegaues in WITCH CROSS! Really excited to be playing the CHAOS DESCENDS Festival this year!  No rest when I return though, as I’ll be back with THE COPS again playing in the city of Lorca in Spain on Tuesday – the day after I fly back to Madrid.

Kev Moore

WITCH CROSS

Witch Cross return to rock Germany!

Totally stoked about our upcoming appearance at the CHAOS DESCENDS Festival, which takes place at Ferienland CRISPENDORF between 16-18 July.

We’ll be hitting the stage at 19.50 on Saturday 18th, just before SWANS, who I’m looking forward to checking out.

WITCH CROSS will be making a few more live appearances this year, so keep an eye out on these pages for more news!

Kev Moore

WITCH CROSS

The Very ‘Eavy Festival 2014

I’ve been so busy since I got back from Holland, that I’ve only now got around to writing about our appearance there. Witch Cross have always had a loyal fan base in The Netherlands, and once again, they didn’t disappoint. I flew in from Alicante to Amsterdam Schiphol and waited there for Mike. We then made our way North to the town of Stadtkanaal, where our promoter and friend Hugo Koch was staging the Very ‘Eavy Festival.

Pre-gig Breakfast with The Boys

There was a fantastic array of Metal on display over the two days, including UK newcomers TOLEDO STEEL, who delivered a confident, vibrant set, and my mates PICTURE, legendary Dutch band who I’d caught at Leyendas del Rock here in Alicante last summer. this was their last show before embarking on a South American tour.

Closing the show were NWOBHM legends TYGERS OF PAN TANG. I spent some time chatting to guitarist Rob Weir who confided in me that this is perhaps the best line-up of the band he’s ever had, and I have to say, they really delivered. they’re doing a number of festivals throughout Europe this summer – catch them if you can.

Our Merch stand

For our part, I never fail to be moved by the reception the fans give us. they know every word of every song, even the ones from the new album, and that is very heartening for us as we move forward as a band. Of course, the classic cuts from the ‘Fit for Fight’ album always go down a storm.

Thank you and Goodnight!

This year marks the 30th. anniversary of its release, and we’ll be looking at commemorating that in some form.

Take a look at these Videos filmed on the night, and get a flavour of Very ‘Eavy! Thanks to Hugo, the team and our fellow bands for making it so memorable!

Kev Moore

Witch Cross on the Road – Very ‘Eavy Festival – Holland 2014

2014 Has been fairly quiet for Witch Cross so far, but there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes. As you may have read HERE, we are honoured to have our version of Angel Witch’s eponymous song on the newly released KEEP IT TRUE album, and we also have another tribute track in the works. our studio is currently undergoing a big refurbishment, and later this year we’ll resume work and the large number of demos guitarist Mike Koch and I already have written as a basis for the third album.

But more immediately, in just under three weeks, we’ll be hitting the road again and convening in Stadtskanaal, Holland  to play once again for our amazing Dutch fans at the Very ‘Eavy Festival, which features a host of great bands such as NWOBHM legends Tygers of Pan Tang and Dutch metal band Picture, who I met up with last year at Leyendas del Rock near Alicante.

Tygers of Pan Tang

Picture

Here’s a fun video promo for the festival:

Come along and bang your heads with us as we play songs from the classic ‘Fit for Fight’ and its follow-up ‘Axe to Grind’!

Kev Moore

Keep it True – The Album!

Witch Cross were recently invited to participate in a new Metal compilation album project, and in this instance, we had no hesitation in accepting, and were honoured to have been asked. Entitled Harder than Steel, the new album celebrates the bands that have appeared at the legendary KEEP IT TRUE festival at the Tauberfrankenhalle in Lauda-Königshofen,  Germany, and indeed, the festival itself. This is where Witch Cross performed the first comeback show in 2012 – and was the springboard for relaunching the band, our new album Axe to Grind, and a string of appearances across Europe, so the festival, and its organisers are very dear to our hearts.

Bart Gabriel

Masterminded by our friends Bart Gabriel and Oliver Weinsheimer, the album aims to showcase bands who have appeared at the festival covering other well-known metal bands’ songs who have also appeared, and grew out of an original idea of Bart’s. We chose ‘Angel Witch’ by NWOBHM Stalwarts Angel Witch and are very happy with the result, and feel we are in good company with the other bands that have contributed to this fantastic project. Of course, the cover art is by Dimitar Nikolov, long associated with the festival, whose artwork we admired so much we commissioned him to create the cover painting for our own ‘Axe to Grind’. A festival in its eleventh year, KEEP IT TRUE maintains a special relationship with both the fans and the bands, and it is entirely appropriate that the ethos of the festival be commemorated in this way. This is a VERY LIMITED EDITION. There is a run of  only 500 copies, which can be purchased by attending this years KEEP IT TRUE festival, which runs from April 25th to the 26th….so what are you waiting for? Get yourself over to Germany, bang your head and buy the album!

Me with Robb Reiner from Anvil at KIT XV

TRACKLISTING:

01. ATTACKER – “Fire Down Under” (RIOT)
02. PARADOX – “March Of The Saint” (ARMORED SAINT)
03. CRYSTAL VIPER – “Night Of The Demon” (DEMON)
04. WITCH CROSS – “Angel Witch” (ANGEL WITCH)
05. OSTROGOTH – “Plan Of Peace” (LETHAL)
06. JACK STARR’S BURNING STARR – “Children Of The Storm” (VIRGIN STEELE)
07. SACRED STEEL – “All For One” (RAVEN)
08. NIGHT DEMON – “Axe Crazy” (JAGUAR)
09. WIZARD – “Mind Body Spirit” (VIRGIN STEELE)
10. BORROWED TIME – “Bound To Be Free” (SAVAGE GRACE)
11. SATAN’S HOST – “See You In Hell” (GRIM REAPER)
12. DEADLY BLESSING – “Notorious” (LIZZY BORDEN)

Kev Moore

01. ATTACKER – “Fire Down Under” (RIOT)
02. PARADOX – “March Of The Saint” (ARMORED SAINT)
03. CRYSTAL VIPER – “Night Of The Demon” (DEMON)
04. WITCH CROSS – “Angel Witch” (ANGEL WITCH)
05. OSTROGOTH – “Plan Of Peace” (LETHAL)
06. JACK STARR’S BURNING STARR – “Children Of The Storm” (VIRGIN STEELE)
07. SACRED STEEL – “All For One” (RAVEN)
08. NIGHT DEMON – “Axe Crazy” (JAGUAR)
09. WIZARD – “Mind Body Spirit” (VIRGIN STEELE)
10. BORROWED TIME – “Bound To Be Free” (SAVAGE GRACE)
11. SATAN’S HOST – “See You In Hell” (GRIM REAPER)
12. DEADLY BLESSING – “Notorious” (LIZZY BORDEN)
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/keep-it-true-festivals-official-tribute-album-artwork-and-track-listing-revealed/#avvaUpEm10z1UpyF.99

01. ATTACKER – “Fire Down Under” (RIOT)
02. PARADOX – “March Of The Saint” (ARMORED SAINT)
03. CRYSTAL VIPER – “Night Of The Demon” (DEMON)
04. WITCH CROSS – “Angel Witch” (ANGEL WITCH)
05. OSTROGOTH – “Plan Of Peace” (LETHAL)
06. JACK STARR’S BURNING STARR – “Children Of The Storm” (VIRGIN STEELE)
07. SACRED STEEL – “All For One” (RAVEN)
08. NIGHT DEMON – “Axe Crazy” (JAGUAR)
09. WIZARD – “Mind Body Spirit” (VIRGIN STEELE)
10. BORROWED TIME – “Bound To Be Free” (SAVAGE GRACE)
11. SATAN’S HOST – “See You In Hell” (GRIM REAPER)
12. DEADLY BLESSING – “Notorious” (LIZZY BORDEN)
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/keep-it-true-festivals-official-tribute-album-artwork-and-track-listing-revealed/#avvaUpEm10z1UpyF.99

01. ATTACKER – “Fire Down Under” (RIOT)
02. PARADOX – “March Of The Saint” (ARMORED SAINT)
03. CRYSTAL VIPER – “Night Of The Demon” (DEMON)
04. WITCH CROSS – “Angel Witch” (ANGEL WITCH)
05. OSTROGOTH – “Plan Of Peace” (LETHAL)
06. JACK STARR’S BURNING STARR – “Children Of The Storm” (VIRGIN STEELE)
07. SACRED STEEL – “All For One” (RAVEN)
08. NIGHT DEMON – “Axe Crazy” (JAGUAR)
09. WIZARD – “Mind Body Spirit” (VIRGIN STEELE)
10. BORROWED TIME – “Bound To Be Free” (SAVAGE GRACE)
11. SATAN’S HOST – “See You In Hell” (GRIM REAPER)
12. DEADLY BLESSING – “Notorious” (LIZZY BORDEN)
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/keep-it-true-festivals-official-tribute-album-artwork-and-track-listing-revealed/#avvaUpEm10z1UpyF.99

Interview for the Almeria Life channel

Here’s an interview with me from my studio, The Indalo Cave, conducted by Almeria Life’s Catherine Eleman, in which I discuss my work across the different bands and genres. Enjoy!

Kev Moore