AOR Heaven – News 07/2020
This month with news from Tanna, Stomburst, Tony Mitchell & Chris Rosander!
::: TANNA to release debut album on August 28th, 2020!:::
Have you ever heard of Pudasjärvi? I wouldn’t blame you if you haven’t! Anyways, that’s the name of the small town with population of 10000 people, where it all started from years ago...
Tapani Tikkanen was born there and it was hardly a place where bands came from in Finland at that time. But when Tapani was about ten years old, he got into music - Elvis, Rolling Stones won his heart. One thing lead to another and after a while they had a high-school band playing at the local parties and so on. In 1982, the first own album "Anyway You Want It" with the band IC-Rock became reality. They also released the album "Hard Beat" and the single "Young Girl’s Eyes" in 1984.
After IC had broken-up, Tapani launched the group TANNA. The idea behind the name is simple: this has been Tapani’s nickname since he was a kid. Their first album "Unelmien Viidakossa" (1985) was an instant success. Many people said that the album sold clearly gold, but under very shady circumstances the record company went bankrupt and no-one ever really got to know the real sales. The big "Coca-cola Tour" followed and lasted months. TANNA played in every town with a big show, bombs, great lights, dancing girls and everything. They even had their own fan club and magazine called "Tanna-Life." The second album "Tanna Live" was recorded in Helsinki from the last show of the tour. The third album "Onnensoturi" (1987) was also a success and many tours followed. TANNA in total have done more than 700 gigs.
After breaking up in 1989, Tapani formed Rainbow-discoteam. This was a big disco show where he was the DJ. At the same time he wrote new music for different projects, for example a single called "Everyone’s A Winner", which is still played at many sport events for the winning team. He also wrote four albums of football music for F.C. Rainbow just for fun! At that time Tapani moved to Oulu.
1993 brought TANNA back with their new album "Eedenistä Itään" with a different line-up and was more or less a project and which lasted only about two years.
In 2004 the time was right for...PRAYER. PRAYER made three albums ("Wrong Address" (2005) , "Danger In The Dark" 2012) and the single "Silent Soldiers" a couple of years ago.
And now, Tapani is back with the new band, new sound, new album, new line-up, new TANNA, from Oulu, Finland! The recordings began 2019 at Soundmix Studio, Oulu by Mika Pohjola, who also plays the keyboards on the album. The producing and mixing took place there as well by Tapani and Mika. The album was mastered at Chartmakers, Helsinki by Svante Forsbacka. The cover art was designed by Tamara Picardo.
"Hispaniola" was the name of the ship. Another detail, "Nights On The Road" is dedicated to Markku "Make" Kiminki, who was the roadie and the lightning engineer of the band. He passed away a few years ago and was one of Tapani`s best friends all these years.
Line-up: Jukka Ihme: guitar; Ville Hanhisuanto: drums; Mika Pohjola: keyboards; Jaakko Konttila: bass; Tapani "Tanna" Tikkanen: vocals, guitar
Jimi Ahlroos: saxophone on tracks 1, 8, 10, 13
Inga Söder (Voice Of Finland): backing vocals on tracks 5,6, 8
TANNA – Storm In Paradise (Official Video): https://youtu.be/cqkdUxfCLMI
Release date “Storm In Paradise”: August 28th, 2020
Web: https://www.facebook.com/Tannaofficial
::: STORMBURST re-sign with AOR Heaven for album no. 2! :::
STORMBURST from Dalarna, Sweden, were formed in July 2014 and the original intention was just to make high quality music, have fun and do what you believe in without any musical compromises. No more covers, just self-composed songs. Bass player Kent Jansson (Six Feet Under, Keen Hue, Steam) and guitarist Thomas Hansson (Steam, Coastline) started with singer Lars-Åke "Plåtis" Nilsson (Keen Hue). To get the special sound they were looking for, keyboardist Peter Östling (Six Feet Under) was sent a demo and he really believed in the idea and joined immediately. In late 2019 original drummer Peter Ytterberg quit and was soon replaced by Pelle Hindén (Eternal Of Sweden).
Stormburst is all about uncompromisingly doing what you believe in even if you have a headwind. When the wind blows hard in life sometimes, the love of music is in all conditions strong and sustainable. Stormburst has the ability to reflect it with music and lyrics and the style can best be described as a combination of traditional Melodic Hard Rock & AOR.
In late May 2017 the debut album "Raised On Rock" was released by AOR Heaven and now it's time for the follow up "Highway To Heaven", which was recorded, mixed and mastered at Studio Bakery, Äppelbo by Jonas Tornemalm and at Lars-Åke's home studio in Vansbro in early 2020.
STORMBURST - Highway To Heaven (Official Video): https://youtu.be/VU3ccQrqGEk
Release date “Highway To Heaven”: August 28th, 2020
Web: https://www.facebook.com/stormburstoriginal/
::: “TONY MITCHELL signs with AOR HEAVEN!” :::
TONY MITCHELL is best known as being the singer & songwriter of 90s classic rock band KISS OF THE GYPSY which was signed to Atlantic Records USA/Warner Chappell. They toured the UK and the States to showcase their debut album delivering high energy live shows to great acclaim. Songs such as “Whatever It Takes” or “Take This Old Heart” are still melodic rock classics to this day.
Mitchell has sung for RICK WAKEMAN on the album “Return To The Centre Of The Earth” and sung and played guitar for ALICE COOPER, JON ANDERSON, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, TONY HADLEY & IT BITES on the British Rock Symphony South American tour 2000. The artist also has spent years writing and recording for various bands, artists, TV & media, also releasing albums with KINGDOM OF DEADMEN & early solo albums. TONY MITCHELL was also the mainman for Melodic/AOR band DIRTY WHITE BOYZ with their 2016 album release “Down & Dirty”.
In 2018, he released his solo album “Beggars Gold” to rave reviews with dynamic tracks such as “Playing With Fire” or “What You Make It”(featuring DANTE FOX’ vocalist Sue Willetts). 2020, two years in the making, Mitchell is now about to put out “Church Of A Restless Soul” which started off as a collection of 28 songs but condensed down to 13 hard hitting tracks including “The Mighty Fall” (featuring TYKETTO’s Danny Vaughn), the epic “I Believe In Angels” or the dark romantic “Killing Me To Love You”.
Musicians on this album include Danny Vaughn (TYKETTO), Tim Manford (DANTE FOX), Neil Ogden, Paul Hume (DEMON & LAWLESS /DIRTY WHITE BOYZ)), Nigel Bailey (BAILEY/3 LIONS/DIRTY WHITE BOYZ), THE ROGUES GALLERY ROCK CHOIR, Shawn Charvette & Josh Tabbie Williams (MIDNITE CITY).
Mitchell comments: “I wanted to throw the kitchen sink at this one - big hooks, huge riffs, anthemic vibes, something to get the blood flowing yet reel it in when needed. From the massive stomping rock gospel power of “Church of a Restless Soul” to the raw intro of “I Believe in Angels” using the phone recording intro how it was originally written, I just wanted it to build from nothing to this monster that it would end up to be. I think these tracks will hopefully stand the test of time and go out to all the fans that have kept the faith throughout the years, buckle up and feel the force.”
TONY MITCHELL - The Mighty Fall featuring DANNY VAUGHN (Official Video): https://youtu.be/-4OOU7hrhEA
Release date: August 28th, 2020
Web: https://www.facebook.com/tony.mitchell.3762
::: CHRIS ROSANDER releases video clip for “Could This Be Love”! :::
Swedish AOR artist CHRIS ROSANDER released his debut solo album “King Of Hearts” via AOR Heaven last week. Check out the brand new video for the track “Could This Be Love” here:
CHRIS ROSANDER - Could This Be Love (Official Video): https://youtu.be/a4NEiOVdxHc
Follow AOR Heaven on Facebook for more news, video posts and other information at: @facebook: aorheaven
Label: www.metalheaven.net
@youtube: channel/UC24iczfMPdWMumIYlLg91dg
Quelle: GerMusica PR