In the second chapter of the Amazing Rock Show blog, presenter Aaron Philips explains why rock isn’t dead, especially not on Amazing Radio.

Are you ready for a rant? No? Well, sorry to spoil what is a rather pleasant, almost spring like day today, but you are going to get one: Both barrels.

You may or may not have noticed that the national charts are lacking in quality rock music and there’s all this talk about ‘the death of rock’. To me, this seems a ignorant slap in the face to all fans of ‘real’ music.

Without boring you too much, I would like to put my view across about why rock certainly isn’t dead.

In every inch of this fine nation you will find a radio station with incredibly dull and copy-cat presenters playing an endless barrage of mundane, uninspired, unimaginative, (and quite frankly dull) ‘music’. Now, there is no doubt a market for this bilge; but I do not believe that the reason for this blatant snubbing of rock music is down to listener demand.

It’s entertainment, NOT music

The culture of celebrity and all it’s fake attachments has transferred to music and created a demographic of listeners that are more bothered about the manufactured, ‘artists’ (read ‘products’) than the music itself.

The managers of radio stations have to follow trends and make sure the whole of the country wakes up to Kylie before filling their afternoon playlists with a relentless onslaught of awful ‘R ‘n’ B’. And then we have TV, and more importantly, the X Factor…

The ‘phenomenon’ of X Factor is not down to people loving what is basically a glorified karaoke contest, but the fact that they are sat in on a Saturday night with nothing better to do, so they may as well send a text in and vote for the latest desperate wannabe with a sob story.

“Rock is the most inventive, creative and everlasting musical form on the planet”

You only have to look at gig attendances for rock music. Look at Iron Maiden. They have been at the top of British Metal for over 30 years, and they still fill up huge arenas across the country year in, year out. They rarely fail to reach the top 5 of the charts with every album and single release. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Mr Cowell.

You also have to look no further than our chart here at Amazing Radio; three of the artists in the Top 10 are rock bands; Vukovi and Thisfamiliarsmile and A Band Called Mithras. Amazing Radio represents real music, not celebrity culture, manufactured artists or trends.

You would have to be ignorant to think that rock music is dead. It is quite simply the single most inventive, creative, and everlasting musical form on the planet. You have to ask yourself; will they still be playing Flo Rida in 30 years? I doubt it, but I can bet my bottom dollar rock will be.

There we have it. You go to any rock concert or festival and you will find thousands upon thousands of like-minded souls sharing the love of ‘real’ music. Sonisphere and Download festivals sell out almost every year. Why do think that is? Simple. The media’s blatant ignorance to show rock music on mainstream schedules means fans have to go to gigs and festivals to get their fix. If you are still not a fan of rock music and all the glorious sub-genres it holds, then listen to Deep Purple, Iron Maiden or one of the many great rock bands in a darkened room for ten minutes and tell me that doesn’t put the fire in your belly. If not, you don’t deserve to listen.

Join Aaron Phillips for the Amazing Rock Show every Saturday night from 6pm on Amazing Radio. He’ll be doing his best to educate, inspire and open your ears very best of new and emerging rock from amazingtunes.com.

Amazing Rock Show presenter Aaron Philips takes us through his 2010 highlights in the first chapter of the brand new Amazing Rock Show Blog.

Well here we have it; the very first edition of the Amazing Rock Show Blog with your resident record spinning purveyor of all things hard and heavy.

Tis’ the start of a brand new year, where resolutions are broken and gym memberships go through the roof. Although why people bother I have no idea. (I suppose I am kind of lucky to be blessed with an Adonis physique.)

2010 then: How was it for you? The highlight for me has got to be the summer festival season. Back in July I had the very lucky opportunity to review Sonisphere festival which included a press pass and media camping. Nice. Believe me, the chance of a decent and relatively clean place to offload your bowels is worth its weight in gold (pardon the pun). The fact that the weather was typically ‘un-British’ made the perfect start to my weekend, which started with a amble through the natural amphitheatre that is Knebworth park to find a cup of black gloop that resembled coffee.

Once that had lined my stomach, it was off to catch some live music. Now if you’ve never been to Sonisphere before you’re in for a treat, as they’ve planned it so that you never miss any music from either of the two main stages (they leave a ten minute gap between each performance you see, very clever). First off to rock my eardrums were the excellent Firebug; a great new Grunge-esque band from the US, which featured a very attractive female singer! If, like me, you love discovering new music, there are three smaller stages where you can catch the cream of new music from across the world. But there was only really one band that I was excited to see…

As the sun set on the Saturday evening a huge German flag was draped across the stage, and you could feel the anticipation and excitement flying from the crowd. The next 80 minutes literally blew my mind. German industrial metallers Rammstein put on a stage show that is simply unbelievable; more pyro than a small army, rockets into the crowd, flames, “setting fire” to band members, songs heavier than an anvil, and to finish? Covering the front row with the finest German “foam” from a phallic cannon. Just brilliant.

Here’s hoping this year is just as good!

Happy New Year metal ‘eads. Horns up.

Catch Aaron present the Amazing Rock Show show on Saturday from 6pm and then again on Mondays from 7pm. Don’t forget, you can easily keep up with Aaron’s rock-themed ramblings by subscribing to this blog.

Here at Amazing Radio we’re always looking to find you brand new and emerging talent to grace your ears and our airwaves.

Over the next couple of weeks the Amazing team will be revealing who they think you’ll be hearing more of throughout 2011. Today the new music tips come from Aaron Phillips, presenter of the Amazing Rock Sbow.

Aaron’s first act vying for your attention in 2011 is metal act Lost in Wonderland. Amazing Radio‘s resident rock DJ has high praise for the metal act and saying;

“Their song ‘Enough’ is simply one of the best modern metal songs I have heard in a long time. If they are not filling arenas alongside the likes of Alter Bridge and Nickleback, it will be a travesty.”

Lost in Wonderland

Aaron’s second tip for musical greatness this year is ‘multilingual’ punk rock act Internationale:

“Brilliantly eclectic, mad and eccentric yet somehow mesmerizing, Internationale will not fail to make you jump around and lose yourself in swathes of arm waving.”

Sounds like 2011 is going to be a heavy one, Aaron!

Hear Aaron in action tonight from 6pm as he presents the Amazing Rock Show, only on Amazing Radio.

On today’s action packed edition of The Afternoon Show we’ll be bringing you a stonking live session from one of Newcastle’s finest live acts, Boy Jumps Ship, recorded recently on a rainy Sunday in September.

Local filmmaker and photographer Ruth Kilpatrick joined the band and the team from Amazing Radio.

Ruth writes:

The weekend before last was a busy one here in the North East. Not only was there some sort of ‘fun run’ happening, but while all those 54,000 ‘fun running’ energetic types were crossing the Tyne, local lads Boy Jumps Ship could be found stowed away with the lovely folk at Blank Studios – recording the very first Live Session for Amazing Radio.

After a thorough set up and some much needed sustenance for a Sunday morning, The Afternoon Show‘s producer Frankie Ward kicked things off as interviewer by getting some background info on the boys. Having all been in various bands before joining B.J.S they each bring a slightly different set of influences when it comes to writing and recording – all of which seem to have amalgamated pretty damn well if their current popularity is anything to go by.

Boy Jumps Ship

First track of the day Backstays and Halyards goes down a treat but does highlight a small problem with lead singer Si Todd being ever so slightly electrocuted repeatedly throughout! After some in depth detective work, engineer Sam breaks the news that an earthing issue in Si’s new Fender amp is the culprit, leading to a Peavey 5150 taking it’s place – and with Si no doubt searching for his receipt…

With everyone’s immediate health now in order the lads cracked on with the rest of the set – their mixture of well thought out melodies over cleverly constructed songs expose the fact that they’re all accomplished musicians in their own right, while the group vocals that hold it all together will no doubt incite some mass sing-alongs come their live dates in November.

After some more interrogation from Producer Frankie and a few cups of Beechams for the bassist, the band blitz through fan favourite Good Ol’ Sin City and follow it up with A Wilmington Dream to finish things off. As a cheeky side note the boys did record an as yet unreleased fourth track entitled Suck Brick Kid, an exclusive for Amazing Radio.

Five O’clock on Sunday evening and that’s the session over with. Packing away the gear everyone seems pleased with the outcome – hot, tired, but happy. Well done to Boy Jumps Ship for being our session virgins and a big thank you to Chris and Sam at Blank Studios for being so hospitable.

You can see the photos from the day below.

This Live Session was powered by: Blank Studios for being so great, Frankie Ward’s range of cookies, cans of Goth Juice for Gav, Douggy’s Doughnuts, a whole load of pedals and by not doing the Great North Run.

Hear Boy Jumps Ship in conversation and in session on The Afternoon Show, today from 3pm, on Amazing Radio. Hear more exclusive session tracks on the Amazing Rock Show with Aaron Phillips from 6pm on Saturday.

They bring you the best uploads from amazingtunes.com each week, but who are the people behind the shows you hear on Amazing Radio? In a series of articles, we’ll be making it our mission to find out more about the owners of the infamous on air voices you know and love.

This time we’re talking to Rock Show DJ Aaron Phillips.

Aaron Phillips

Hello! Who are you?

Well, Hello to you! I go by the name of Aaron Phillips…most of the time!

How did you find out about Amazing Radio?

Purely by chance! To be honest, it was only after I applied to work here!

Before we plucked you from relative obscurity and plonked you on the Amazing airwaves, what did you do?

A whole plethora of mediocre jobs, mixed in with writing for Powerplay [a rock music mag], drumming in my band, and generally being a nuisance!

Tell us about your show please!

I play the finest Rock/Metal, and Indie tracks currently available on amazingtunes.com. It’s as simple as that! Of course, there’s my witty charm to add in, along with occasional band interviews, the  gig guide, and my track of the week… (quite a bit really then!)

Why should we listen?

What else is there to do on a Saturday teatime?! No seriously, I carefully pick  the music to play you, to bring you the newest, original, and exciting tracks that you hear before anyone else. I also love being able to share something new and exciting that I’ve discovered.

Aaron Phillips

Aside from your own fabulous show, have you got any other favourite Amazing Radio shows?

I do enjoy Charlie Ashcroft’s shows [Audition and the Amazing Radio Chart Show]. I like his presenting style and interview technique. He also plays some rather good tunes!

Finally, what makes Amazing so, well, amazing!?

Apart from me, I love the fact that you can hear new music before anyone else. You could be listening to the next big thing, before anyone else. It’s a great idea, and a excellent platform for new band’s to get exposure, national airplay, and a whole new fan base.

I actually am privileged to be a part of Amazing radio, and long may it continue! Rock!

Tune into Amazing Radio from 6pm on Saturdays and Mondays to hear Aaron Phillips in all his Rock Show glory!