Burning Rain @Count’s Vamp’d
Burning Rain CD Release Party @ Vamp’d 3/29/19
By: Leah Burlington
Burning Rain has been around since 1998 and was the brainchild of guitar God Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Dio, Dead Daisies, Revolution Saints) and vocalist Keith St John (Montrose). At the time they had Alex Makarovich (ex-Steelheart) and Ian Mayo (ex-Hurricane Alice) on bass. With this line-up Burning Rain released two albums in Japan, “Burning Rain” in 1999 and “Pleasure to Burn” in 2000, but because of Doug’s hectic schedule with Whitesnake and Dio, and Keith joining Montrose they went into hibernation until 2013 when they released “Epic Obsession” with Sean McNabb and Mike Starr. I was able to see this band at Count;s Vamp’d in 2014 and they really were tight and rocked the place down! I loved that line up and they were killer!
Jump ahead to 2019 and Doug and Keith came out of their hiatus from the band and brought on Y&T’s fantastic bassist Brad Lang and world renowned drummer Blas Elias (Slaughter), with this excellent line up of some of the best musicians in rock, they have released an amazing new CD called “Face the Music.” This album just rocks!! I have played it non- stop since I bought it at the show.
The show was just insanely good from start to finish. As everyone knows Doug is my all time fave guitarist and he never fails to blow me away, with his tasty licks and solos you gotta love Mr Aldrich. This album is very blues based rock and it shows that Doug is loving his new creation. Then you have Keith St John who is just an incredible singer and performer. He keeps the girls up front mesmerized. I was so happy to see our friend and one of the coolest bass players out there, Brad Lang just smiling and grooving the whole night. You could see the joy on his face while he played. I adore this man as I do all of these guys. Last but not least you have the mighty Blas Elias hammering those drums like there’s no tomorrow. He has not aged and he can play as hard as the kids out there today and not miss a beat.
This was their only USA date on this tour until after their acoustic tour in Europe. They totally killed it and this show was exciting and a blast!!
Some of my fave songs off of “face the Music” are “Nasty Hustle”, “Face the Music”, “If its Love” and “Hideaway.” This album kicks ass all the way through! Zero filler here guys! One of the best albums of 2019 for sure! If you have a chance to see this killer band, do it! These four musicians are some of the most talented out there. You cannot go wrong with this line-up!! Get “Face the Music” and rock your face off!!
