This Foreigner Ain’t Foreigner

It appears that the group calling itself “Foreigner” these days is having a hard time putting fans in seats for their performances lately. Frankly, I am not at all surprised.

Apparently, there is only one original member of the band remaining and that’s Mick Jones. The other guys are all new members and although they are probably fine musicians and performers, and may even sounds damn good, they just aren’t Foreigner.

Personally, it’s hard for me to imagine any band calling itself Foreigner without the trademark sound of Lou Gramm’s voice. At least Journey did their original sound justice by hiring Steve Perry sound-alike Steve Augeri.

I expect that the new Foreigner will give up and go their separate ways if they are not able to start pulling better crowds to their shows. Without Gramm, whose sound was Foreigner for so many of us, it all seems pointless to me.

I confess that I have not heard any of the stuff that these guys are doing, but unless the lead singer sounds like Gramm (and I have heard he does not), I really don’t care to hear it. I’d rather just play some of my original Foreigner albums whenever I get a hankering to hear Double Vision or Cold As Ice.

For more, check out this article from the Star-Telegram in Texas.

Another Young Band on The Right Track

Reading about a band of young guys down Virginia way who love classic rock reminds me of MindWalk, who I wrote a little bit about a while ago.

Tazer is the name of the band, which might bring to mind some scenes from the TV show Cops, when they zap some uncooperative suspect with the device of the same name.

It’s kind of surprising to hear about how loyal these guys are to music that their parents may have listened to some 30 years or so ago.

The drummer even goes as far as saying that he gets a bit ticked off about the kind of  kid that throws on a Led Zeppelin t-shirt without really knowing anything about the band. Just got to love that kind of dedication to the classics!

To read more about Tazer, check this article from the local newspaper in that area.