ONE HIT WONDERS

By johanne James

MARTYR TOUR REPORT

The Dutch Metal Legends heading back to the Far East

A little more than one year ago Dutch Metal Legends MARTYR embarked on a plane to Japan for the first time in their career to play a handful of shows in Tokyo and Sapporo. A dream came true, as gigging in the Far East has always been one of the primary objectives to start the band back in 1982 as MARTYR is strongly influenced by 80’s Japanese metal.During that first Japan tour Rick Bouwman (guitars) visited his old time Facebook friend and owner of “Rock Stakk Records”, Mikitoshi (Miki) Matsuo in Osaka. Miki also happens to be the main guy behind the prestigious international True Thrash Fest, which is held every year (this year with bands from The Netherlands, Germany, China, Australia, Japan, India). Due to mutual respect, which is a very important matter in Japanese culture, MARTYR was invited to perform on day 1 of the festival on February 8th and the Cross Breed Device Heat vol. 24 festivals on February 10th 2019. Japanese thrashers RIVERGE organized the last festival.

BISHOP GUNN

The Sound Of Natchez

If authentic southern soul rock makes your heart beat faster, seek no more because BISHOP GUNN will be your thing. In Natchez, the antebellum mansions may remain, yet many of the city’s native sons and daughters leave in pursuit of better opportunities for themselves and their families. One group of young guys however left for an entirely different reason; to bring their music, the sound of Natchez, to the rest of the world. HeadBanger’s LifeStyle’s Stan Novak was very much taken by surprise by Bishop Gunn’s debut album ‘Natchez’ and decided to hook up with the band during their first trip to Europe. Both forces met in Cologne, Germany where the band performed at the MTC club on March 6th.