So I’ve been slacking on the blog post front, but I have still been buying albums each month! The last three kind of give me an interesting thing to talk about actually too; namely, how I discover new bands. So without further ado, let’s break it down shall we?

The Last Internationale – We Will Reign

The Last Internationale are a band that was recommended to me by a friend. Word of mouth I guess is the oldest form of discovery, and probably still the most common.

I daresay the vast majority of bands I’ve gotten into have been thrust upon me by a mate or family member, usually accompanied by an excitable ‘you’ve gotta check this out!’ Nine times out of ten I’m usually on board too. I’m quite lucky in that my friends (and brothers) between them have rather broad taste in music.

I’ve discovered everything from Nick Drake to Pantera through friends over the years. Hell, even just my brothers have got me listening to artists as disparate as John Mayer and Kamelot. Recommendations are easy and free to check out these days too – all it takes is a quick search in YouTube or Spotify and Robert’s your mother’s brother; instant assessment.

Anyway, The Last Internationale, as mentioned earlier, were a recommendation I quite liked the sound of so their We Will Reign album was the purchase for November.

Bad Touch – Truth Be Told

Bad Touch are a band I originally came across about 3 years ago I think. They were main support to The Answer on their Raise A Little Hell tour and I was instantly a fan. I mean, it’s straight up bluesy classic rock and they even did a Led Zep cover, of course I was.

This is far and away my favourite way to uncover new music. I’ve never really understood the people who only turn up to a gig 5 minutes before the headliners go on – you could be missing out on something great!

Led Zeppelin opened for Iron Butterfly on a North American tour in the late 60s, and Humble Pie’s Performance: Rockin’ The Filmore – one of my favourite albums of all time – was also recorded when they were supporting Lee Michaels (yeah I’ve no idea either).

Moreover, as a one-time aspiring guitarist myself, I’ve played countless shows opening up for other acts. It’s always tough if you’re playing to a half empty venue (or worse), and I naturally always wished people would get there for doors so we could try and win them over. I like to afford other bands the opportunity I always hoped for.

And over the years many bands have indeed won me over and then some! Buffalo Summer, SKAM, Black Wolf, The Picturebooks, Black Cat Bones – and they’re just acts I’ve seen open for The Answer, themselves a band I first saw warming up the crowd for AC/DC!

There’s countless other bands to that list, and I’m fortunate enough to call a few of them mates now too, Bad Touch included. Their first album was great, and the second one – Truth Be Told – was a long overdue purchase in December.

Greta van Fleet - From the Fires

This was a weird one, and a total accident too. Back in January I was listening to Spotify in work and hit play on, what I thought, was the Temperance Movement’s first album. As it turned out, it was the artist radio for the Temp, and Greta Van Fleet were the second band on the playlist.

Holy hell are these guys good. The dude’s voice is absolutely unreal and there is more of a touch of the Led Zeppelins about them. In fact, you could tell me Van Fleet’s singer was actually Robert Plant circa 1972 and I’d have a hard time disbelieving you. Given how big of a Zep fan I am, it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with these guys. In fact, I think I ordered the album by the time I was halfway through their second track.

Needless to say, as the one dude on the planet who still regularly buys CDs, I don’t listen to a great deal of Spotify. When I’m at home, I’d much rather put an album on, and when I’m out and about or at work, I have an old-school iPod that holds my entire music library. That said, I may start using the artist radios more often if this is the kind of gold they’re going to throw up.