Stone Axe, Grifter, and Iron Claw Ready for the Official North American Release of New Albums in the Wake of their Triumphant Appearances at Desertfest

By all accounts, the crowds were blown away.  Rocking the Midlands hailed Stone Axe's recent route through the U.K., as "the best kept secret in rock!"  The Obelisk called Grifter's Desertfest show "no bullshit rock n roll" and "the destination I'd been running to all day."  And famed rock critic, Mark Taylor, from Touchline Live Music andMetaltalk.net, claimed that finally seeing Iron Claw live as they took the Desertfest stage was a "skullcrushing joy."

So, after planting the flag of hard-driving retro rock firmly in the heart of the U.K., what do the trifecta of Ripple bands do for an encore?  They ready themselves for the official North American release of their latest albums!  Officially released on April 10, Ripple Music is proud to unleash Stone Axe II Deluxe Edition 2 CD set, Stone Axe Captured Live at Roadburn, Grifter's self-titled debut and Iron Claw A Different Game. 

With the blazing resurgence of true retro-rock taking hold all over the world, these four releases will be at the top of every heavy music lover's lists.  Fans are ready to bask in the guitar heroics of Tony Reed, the gritty biker rock of Grifter and the true retro-resurrection of legendary U.K. doom-sayers, Iron Claw.

Released through Nail Distribution across the U.S. and Canada, with world-wide digital distribution through the Allegro Media Group, you can expect to find these releases at a record store near you, and as always through the Ripple Music Store.  Add to this onslaught the critically-hailed Trucker Diablo album The Devil Rhythm and Mos Generator's 10th Anniversary Deluxe reissue LP, and it's clear that the time has finally come for real rock and roll to reclaim it's rightful place upon the throne.


Here’s what the press is saying:

"This one helluva album, and with all the revived interest in 60's - 80's rock and metal going on at the moment this set will help mark out Stone Axe as one of the very best in their field. and long may they continue. Hell if you have already got this album its worth getting again for the bonus disc alone. 5/5" -- The BCFM Sunday Rock Show

"Grifter is the best classic rock band around" - Captain Zen Beyond

"Scotland's Proto-Metal pioneers, Iron Claw, return with a long-awaited album of gritty, blues-based melodic heavy rock that is already garnering album-of-the-year accolades." - Puregrainaudio

 

Great interview with Rising Star, Trucker Diablo from Culture Northern Ireland. Org

 

Who/what/where/when/why are Trucker Diablo?
We are Tom Harte on guitar and vocals, Simon Haddock on guitar and backing vocals, Glenn Harrison on bass guitar and Terry Crawford on drums. We are a Northern Irish hard rock band from the Craigavon area: Moira/Lurgan/Portadown. We started the band at the start of 2008. And why? When you have been playing music most of your life, it is hard to stop...

What does your name mean?
The name is a trucker handle. When truckers contact each other on the road, they use a handle. Something like Trucker: Diablo over and out.
Your song 'Drink Beer, Destroy' was recently picked up by Kerrang! Radio and TV in the UK and MTV Headbangers Ball in Australia, and is now available on the computer game Rock Band. How did that happen?

We contacted a couple of authoring houses for the game. One of them, Alt Strum Pro, loved the song 'Drink Beer, Destroy' (watch the video, produced by Redcap Productions, above), so we decided to partner with them.
After that the song still had to go through testing and an approval process before it could be released onto the game. Thankfully we didn't hit any bumps along the way, so now it is out there for everyone to play. When we heard the news, we were over the moon. It is an amazing achievement for us.





Was it a point in your career when you thought, 'Right, now we've made it'?
Nope. We haven’t got there yet. We have achieved some amazing things, though, things that other bands dream of, like playing the Download Festival. We are really grateful for that, but we are still working hard towards the day when we can say 'we've made it'. Until then though, we’ll keep on trucking.


Do any of you play Rock Band?
I'm more of a Guitar Hero man myself, but now that we're on Rock Band I'll definitely give it a go.
What's the one song you would most like to beat on the game that isn't your own?
Actually, I suck at these kind of games, so it would need to be something easy. 'Holy Diver' by Dio would be good.
If you had to be a video game character, which would you be?

Eddie Riggs – a roadie, modelled on Jack Black, transported into a fantasy world based on heavy metal album covers – from Brütal Legend. He rocks.

Do you have any tips for fans who are gearing up for a go at your song on Rock Band?
They should play together at parties to maximize skills. Oh, and they should go and tell everyone they know about it. That way we can get millions of downloads and I can say that 'We’ve made it'.

So, now that you have cracked the world of musical gaming, what's your next big goal?
We just want to increase the band's profile as much as we can over the next few months. We love playing, especially live, and we want to be able to do it full-time. This year we are really pushing to do a big tour. So I hope we get to do that. If we do, then see ya out there!