We’re heading up to Cambridge with Rachel W. Photography again today to take some more promotional pictures to help promote the tour. We have already taken photos in Ipswich, Norwich, and Colchester (previously).
Our tour with Riot Act kicks off next week. There are still tickets available and we hope you are able to attend one of the following dates:
After yesterday’s Mearfest appearance at The Queens Hall, Nuneaton, we are back to rehearsal today. The focus today will be preparation for the forthcoming tour with Riot Act. Riot Act will be playing the entirety of the legendary Riot album Fire Down Under on this tour, and we’re really looking forward to hitting the road with them later this month. We are aiming to be in top playing condition for these shows!
Mearfest went well for us also, many thanks to Stevo for jumping on and filling in for Isaac yesterday. We think we got away with it! This was Stevo’s first appearance with the band for 5 years, and he had never played any of these songs live with us before, so we are thankful for his efforts to learn the music and help us out with this one.
We will be having a bumper rehearsal session today at Unit One Studios ahead of Mearfest next week. Isaac Healy is now unable to do the show because of work commitments, so former bassist Stephen Ellis will be stepping in for the show and has been learning the band’s new set this week. Mearfest is the first Kaine gig since our return from the Chris Holmes Mean Man Tour in June.
The new Extinction England shirts will also be available to purchase at Mearfest. These will be £20 on the day, or if ordered in advance from Bandcamp just £15 from here.
Former Kaine bassist Stephen Ellis will make a return to the band for the forthcoming Mearfest performance in Nuneaton at the Queen’s Hall.
Current bassist Isaac Healy is now unable to make the show due to work commitments. Stevo was originally pencilled in to play guitar for Kaine at this event, as it was expected that Rage Sadler would be going undergoing surgery for calcific tendonitis and chronic bursitis in his shoulder in July, this would have meant Rage would not be able to play guitar at Mearfest Flame.
This surgery has been pushed back meaning Stevo was stood down from covering on guitar, however, this has fortunately made it possible for him to step in for Isaac on bass instead. This will be Stevo’s first performance with Kaine in 4 years, the last being the tenth-anniversary show in 2019, where the A Crisis of Faith line-up performed together for the very last time. Stevo’s run with the band was between 2015-2018, and he appears on the A Crisis of Faith album. He has also performed in other acts such as Drop-Dead Fred and Mercury Rising.
The line-up of Rage, Liam, Toby, and Stevo has performed together once before, back in May 2018 at The Smokehouse Ipswich, alongside Scream Serenity and Vice, this was during a transitional period when Isaac was still learning the set with the band.
Stevo is learning the bands current set, and the group will be rehearsing together at Unit One, this forthcoming Bank Holiday Monday.
We will be preparing for Mearfest today, which takes place on the 2nd of September. This will be our first gig since the Chris Holmes tour, so we’re excited about getting out there and playing again.
Mearfest has always been a very special occasion for this band, in fact, the “Crisis” era of the band played Mearfest twice back in the day, the first time at the Borderline in London and the second at the Carlisle in Hastings. This will be the 14th Mearfest show held in total. This year is Mearfest Flame, at the Queen’s Hall in Nuneaton. This is of particular significance to me as to be frank, I wasn’t even supposed to be playing guitar at this event. I have a case of chronic bursitis and calcific tendonitis, something I have fought with for close to a decade now which now requires surgery. I was due to be operated on in July however this has now been delayed until later this year (hopefully). I am now available to play the event (and subsequent tour) whereas we had drafted in an ex-member to cover for me for this show, who has now been stood down.
Mearfest Flame not only features us, but bands you may know, another East Anglian band called Hedra who are based out of Norwich, you have another band from the new era called Chemikill, General Jack who are new to us, NWOBHM legends in Quartz, Troyen, and Desolation Angels as well as Stormchild who were originally formed in 1979. The Queens Hall is a fantastic venue, we played there twice back in the day in 2011 and 2013, as well as playing the second stage there (the Crew) more recently with Kev Riddles Baphomet in 2022. This will be our only show before the Fire Down Under Tour with Riot Act, and our last midlands show for 2023, so we hope to see you there.
I hope to see as many of you at the show as possible. Today is our first rehearsal in a few weeks as Liam buggered off to Bloodstock! I am looking forward to getting back to work today!
Kaine are pleased to announce their second tour of 2023, having recently returned from supporting W.A.S.P guitar legend Chris Holmes and his Mean Man band on his 65 Tour of the UK just this week.
Riot guitar legend Rick Ventura will be bringing his band Riot Act back to England for a short run of shows to warm up for British Steel Festival in France on October 7th. Riot Act will be playing the critically acclaimed classic Riot album FIRE DOWN UNDER in full and other classic Riot tunes.
Kaine will be joining them as the main support throughout the tour, having met the band on their previous UK Tour where they both toured alongside Lillian Axe.
Tickets will be available from the venue’s box offices and are on sale now from www.firedownundertour.co.uk – all tickets will be £8 in advance and £10 on the door. These are very limited, so book in advance to avoid disappointment.
30th of September 2023: The Music Room, Ipswich (ENG)
1st of October 2023: Waterfront, Norwich (ENG)
3rd of October 2023: Portland Arms, Cambridge (ENG)
4th of October 2023: Three Wise Monkeys, Colchester (ENG)
5th of October 2023: The Birthplace of Iron Maiden – The Cart & Horses, London (ENG)
7th of October 2023: British Steel Festival, Fismes, France (EU)
Rick Ventura was a member of the classic Riot line-up that recorded the legendary albums Narita (1979), Fire Down Under (1981), Restless Breed (1982), and Born In America (1983). He also appeared on the Riot Live (1989) live album. Fire Down Under is considered the ultimate Riot album, having made the Billboard 200 on its original release.
Riot Act released their debut double album Closer to the Flame (Global Rock Records) in 2022 which features both original material and re-recordings of Riot classics. The band then joined Lillian Axe on their U.K Tour in 2022 to promote the album, alongside the English Heavy Metal band Kaine.
This will be a rare opportunity for classic Rock/Metal fans to see Rick perform the FIRE DOWN UNDER album in full and all the other legendary Riot tunes from the 1980s.
Last nights gig supporting Trespass at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury was a huge success. We would like to thank both the Quay Theatre and Trespass for having us on, and treating us incredibly well throughout the night.
Next week we are back supporting yet more legends, this time it’s Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra and Brandon Gibbs Music (Devil City Angels) live at The Music Room – Ipswich on April 15th, 2023. The Hoekstra/Gibbs duo is considered by many to be one of the best acoustic duos performing today. Expect a high energy show with blazing guitar riffs, storytelling, incredible vocal harmonies and a song selection of music from bands they have each been a part of, originals and rock covers making this a must-see show! Tickets are available from here.
We are back at Unit One tonight to prepare for the gig at The Music Room. You can see last week’s session here:
Kaine are back in rehearsals today. This week the band will be preparing their set for April 8th, at Sudbury Quay Theatre supporting NWOBHM legends Trespass. Tickets are available from here.
Trespass are a British heavy metal band from Sudbury, Suffolk, England formed in 1979. They were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal at the beginning of the 1980s. The band reformed in 2015.
The band came to sign with Trial Records and their first single, “One of These Days”, had a pressing of only 2000 copies, which were sold out in a short time. In 1990, Lars Ulrich, the drummer and co-founder of the band Metallica, released a compilation entitled NWOBHM ’79 Revisited celebrating the tenth anniversary of the new wave of British heavy metal. The double-CD includes some of the top acts of the time, with Trespass being represented with their biggest hit “One of These Days” from the BBC session.
There was once a time prior to every Slipknot release we would get Corey Taylors’ view on every matter from every available media outlet, presently we are getting inundated with things about Ghost since they found TikTok success with Mary on A Cross, apparently Sleep Token is the next big thing and we know Dave Mustaine was fired from Metallica 40 odd years ago, but for some reason, this story is repeated daily. This morning we learned about what Bruce Dickinson did when Blaze Bayley replaced him in Iron Maiden in slightly more recent times, 1994…
I have noticed these articles are getting two types of engagement. One group of responders are those who read the headline and not the detail and will comment on the headline only, without understanding the context of the headline or the quote in question.
One recent piece I read was about the challenges Dave Mustaine had replacing Dave Ellefson, organising the re-recording of the parts for the new Megadeth album, and then preparing a new line-up for a major tour, all of which anyone who’s been in bands will understand will know will be a stressful and difficult period. This was a small part of a recent interview where Mustaine talked about his success on his recent tour. In this, he spoke about how well the band had done, and he showed a great level of appreciation for the bands he had toured with.
It was an interesting piece, however the headline however simply said, “I know what it is like to have people gunning for me” in reference to how the music press had gone after Dave Ellefson immediately following the controversy, showing some empathy for his former bandmate. The headline let down the article, which was actually a good one, a positive one. Because a large number of those who engaged with the article only read the headline, the response was overwhelmingly negative, assuming that this was again about Dave Mustaine and Metallica, which it absolutely wasn’t.
The other group who comments are those who are sick to death with seeing the same stories recycled by all the major outlets, the attempts to reignite a feud that finished decades ago and people’s opinions on stuff that frankly nobody cares about, just to get certain groups angry.
On the flipside the media outlets will argue, they post and write about this stuff because that’s what people engage with, but it’s almost all negative, whether it is people arguing over whether Sleep Token is the next big thing, how much they hate the latest Ghost single, or a falling out between the members of Journey. But this negative content is pretty much all they write about, and it’s to win at algorithms and not contribute anything substantial to heavy music, or even the debate. They pander to the angry, not the interested. Surely there is something else, something better than just this to write about?
The whole Rock and Metal online environment has been turned toxic, and the music seems secondary to the online arguments and the drama. In the U.K. we call these “Sun” “Mirror” or “Daily Mail” headlines used to get readers angry, and make a cheap political point but have very little substance. While it might generate engagement and a few clicks, it’s not going to be generating album streams, sales, or selling tickets to anyone’s gigs. We know that, as everything is declining.
I do think the silent majority are sick to death of the way things are presently, and do want something new. The media has the power to flip this on its head and to contribute towards growing streams, album sales, and ticket sales but instead, it’s choosing to go for cheap clicks instead. Is it any wonder so many of these outlets can no longer afford to print their magazines?
As I have stated, frankly, the silent majority want something new, the legacy bands are established, and they will always have a growing fanbase, they are not gaining anything from feuds from 40 years ago. People are getting fed up with this style of journalism which is doing a ton of damage to the Rock and Metal scene by encouraging its ugliest elements to continually engage with negative and angry content rather than celebrating the quality of the music, the live performances or the excitement at a potentially good new band. All the good going on is being lost behind the anger aimed at these clickbait articles, and the average music fan just wants something good to listen to, they don’t care about other stuff. These are the people we are turning away in droves by the media continuing to create this environment.
Do we see the same negativity ever being written about what say Ed Sheeran does by the “pop” media? No. Because they promote his music, and the qualities he has as a person, not whether he fell out with a mate when he was 19 while recording a demo. They are making big money with the positive approach. A lot could be learned from that.
While I appreciate that music is subjective, and not everyone will like every band, at the same time we have an absolutely thriving underground Rock and Metal scene here in the U.K. with hundreds of amazing bands which cover every heavy genre, from Hard Rock to Extreme Metal. We have bands with great songs, we have tons of great young bands who really can play their stuff live, they have great attitudes, and their own growing fan bases. There is something for everyone, every generation and every taste. This should be covered, but it is being completely ignored. For me, it’s a shame this is being ignored in favour of promoting negative headlines and feuds from half a century ago, or the latest TikTok success. I think that something needs to change in Metal/Rock journalism that helps promote the good that is happening, and not just focus on the negativity algorithm or trying to benefit from a social media flash in the pan.
That may upset a few influential people, or make me unpopular as a result, but this is how I feel.
Kaine, Riot Act and Lillian Axe on the final night of the tour
We will be returning to regular rehearsals on Sunday at Unit One, and working to prepare for our next gig, which is later this month supporting Desolation Angels alongside Planet Fatale at the legendary Cart & Horses. The gig is close to selling out so book a ticket to avoid disappointment!
September 10th, 2022 – Cart and Horses, London (buy tickets)
We are also close to finishing the new album, with mixing almost complete and mastering to begin soon. Earlier this week we released the track listing for the new album which can be seen here:
Once the album is released we will be completing our two new Patreon EP’s!