Perhaps I should christen this week “promotion week,” since I have a few new groups I want to mention. As I said in the last post, I sometimes get more promotional material and information than I can handle. I decided that I needed to address this problem somehow since at least a portion of the promotions I get are for groups that are quite good and have that “classic” sound I talk about so often.

The way I decided to address this promotion problem is to share news of more than one new group (new to me at least) in a single post. In many cases, I don’t know a lot about these new groups other than what they sound like, making it hard to come up with a dedicated post. So, I figured, why not just throw their names out there with as much info as I have and at least give them whatever modest exposure this site has to offer them.

First up is one I’ve been sitting on for a while (surprise, right?) that is probably worth checking out if you’re a classic rock fan. 12 Dirty Bullets are self-starters in the true sense of the word. They’re a foursome from London who have been at the helm of their own record label for the last six years, are working on the second album and are planning an extensive North American tour. Check out their video “Fatman,” which is my favorite from their album Downsides to Making A Living.

Whether or not singing with their native accent is something they have to work at I don’t know, but I think it sounds kind of cool. Maybe I’ve missed something but it seems to me that other U.K. bands sounded more American when they’re singing.

Keep an eye on these guys because I think they may be going places.

I’ve only heard two songs from these guys so far, but they may be another group to keep an eye on. Jerzey Street Band is another group from the U.K. – Manchester to be exact – that consists of seven blokes who describe their style as “freight train rock.”

Citing influences such as Counting Crows, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty probably explains why their style has also been described as “Americana Rock.”

There’s probably a lot more coming down the pike from these guys, but for now, give a listen to “Wasting Time.” They’ve just released a new single called “Haigy’s Girl” and although I’ve had a chance to hear it myself and it’s definitely more my style than “Wasting Time,” it looks like it’s only available at places like iTunes and Amazon.com at the moment. Whether they’ll put it on their Youtube channel or somewhere else folks can sample it I ‘m not sure.

The next and final group isn’t one that I’m not particularly crazy about, but that’s because it just isn’t a genre that I care much for. This brand of heavy metal reminds me more of Ozzy Osbourne or perhaps a heavier version of Alice Cooper. I include them here because they have “that sound.” A sound that could have come from the 80’s or somewhere back around that period. I don’t talk a lot about metal here, but there’s no denying that this stuff is classic and it is rock, so check out Cardinal Synne.

With a newly-released debut album, Cardinal Synne may be just getting started making a name for themselves among metal fans. Considering that they’re also from the U.K., this is starting to feel a bit like a new “British Invasion.” Then again, perhaps it never ended.