It must be something in the chilly water. Or our world famous beer. But going back to the ’60s, Canada has had a string of legendary musicians that have found fame with more than their first band that lit the spark of creativity! Such rock royalty that struck gold more than once include Randy Bachman (Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive), Kim Mitchell (Max Webster), Greg Godovitz (Fludd, Goddo), Mike Reno (Moxy, Loverboy), Tom Cochrane (Red Rider) and Andy Curran (Coney Hatch, Envy Of None) who all lead the charge with some of the greatest rock moments in Canadian history!
Easily added to the list is guitar phenomenon and multi-instrumentalist, Greg Fraser, who has relaunched his great new band Storm Force and released album number two, Truth, on our very own BraveWords Records.
As BraveWords scribe Carl Begai wrote spot-on, Canadian hair band hopefuls, Brighton Rock, lasted ten years and three albums, riding out the mid-to-late ‘80s with a decent amount of success in their homeland, calling it quits in 1991. Outside of sporadic live reunion shows over the next two decades, guitarist Greg Fraser went on to join Helix, then launched the rock trio Fraze Gang in 2006 featuring Brighton Rock bassist Stevie Skreebs.
Fraser wears that Canuck Canadian rock royalty crown, and we are proud to have him and his talented cohorts, Patrick Gagliardi (vocals), Mike Berardelli (bass) and Roger Banks (drums). Truth is a melodic rock fan’s feast for the ears with a varied ten-song collection including “Anti Social Media” and “Fire Starter”, which leans on classic AC/DC feel and a Myles Goodwyn guitar feedback vibe! And the title track hits deep with meaning, given society these days.
Truth is filled with attitude and punch, songs that will rock you, roll you and warm your metal heart as we approach the real meaning of the Great White North!
BRAVEWORDS RECORDS announces their SUMMER SALE on BANDCAMP! All BraveWords Records releases only $5.99! Includes: Crimson Glory, Alcatrazz, Bangalore Choir, Jack Starr, The Chris Slade Timeline, Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse, Aska, Rhett Forrester & Rob Robbins, Prophets of Addiction. Shop https://bravewordsrecords.bandcamp.com
DARE FORCE & JOHNNY O’NEIL
You can purchase all JOHNNY O’NEIL and DARE FORCE albums from Bandcamp, including the NEW live album… Live at Le Musique Room. Visit https://johnnyoneil.bandcamp.com
BABYLON A.D.
Now available on BraveWords Records Bandcamp as a 24 Bit Hi Def audio download… the BABYLON A.D. and DEREK DAVIS SOLO catalogs. Buy: https://bravewordsrecords.bandcamp.com
SNOWY SHAW
Bandcamp Spotlight, only $5.99 – SNOWY SHAW’s catalog. Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Visit https://bravewordsrecords.bandcamp.com
About BraveWords Records: BraveWords Records has released albums by Crimson Glory, Alcatrazz, Bangalore Choir, Voices of Extreme, Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse, The Chris Slade Timeline, Rhett Forrester and Rob Robbins, Prophets of Addiction, Jack Starr, ASKA and future releases from Lillian Axe, Phil Soussan and Alcatrazz.
There is a serious void which desperately needs to be filled, hard-working and creative bands that have yet to find a partnership and a mutual vision with a professional team. The music-fuelled minds behind BraveWords Records, Brian Adams, Giles Lavery, Tim Henderson and Michael Brandvold, have built the ultimate home for an artist that will take you where you want to be. Collectively, with nearly 100 years of music industry experience under our belts, the BraveWords Records team will take care of all the crucial aspects of your project from global distribution (digital and physical), publicity and media coverage (web, radio, visual), social media blanketing and streaming opportunities (such as Streaming For Vengeance). Where most labels have forgotten the concept of actually marketing a release sensibly, BraveWords Records will construct a viable and comprehensive marketing plan, including visibility at BraveWords.com, which attracts a million visitors monthly. BraveWords Records has all senses on high alert as the music industry continues its never-ending transitioning, so the artist will always be aware of new opportunities to build their brand and strive for world domination. BraveWords will also have a focus on licensing film and TV content, both contemporary and retrospective across many genres. As artists and labels transition to the many new mediums available today for their work, BraveWords intends to stay ahead of the curve in providing and actively seeking opportunities for our roster of clients.
With the rapid spread of the world wide web, BraveWords.com was born in 2000 and quickly became the CNN of heavy metal. With its team of global writers and photographers, the site flourished with 24/7 updated news, features, reviews, audio and video steams.
For nearly 30 years, BraveWords wears their metal heart loudly on their sleeve, as they celebrate the greatest genre of music with the most dedicated and passionate fans on the planet!
BraveWords Records is pleased to announce the signing of the Taz Taylor Band. All of the Taz Taylor Band releases are now available to stream or download on Bandcamp at https://bravewordsrecords.bandcamp.com.
Guitarist Taz Taylor first came to attention when he released “Welcome To America” the debut Taz Taylor Band album in 2006. This album featured legendary vocalist Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, MSG, Alcatrazz) and was met with widespread critical acclaim. Over the next couple of years the band toured extensively in Europe and the U.K. Since then Taz has collaborated with other notables such as Mark Boals, Doogie white and Deep Purple keyboardist, Don Airey as well as maintaining a presence on the live scene in his adopted home of Southern California. 2025 finds Taz Taylor Band releasing their 8th album, “The Other Side Of Midnight.” But this time there is a difference…a female vocalist!
Taz explains… “After we completed our last album (Nocturnal) with all of the guest vocalists, we needed to find a guy who could cover all of that material in the live setting. Well as it turns out, that wasn’t as easy as we thought. In fact we had to turn to a girl instead!”.
So into the frame enters Laura K. Vreeland.
Taz continues… “The cool thing about this is that after working with so many guest vocalists whilst still doing a lot of fully instrumental shows in between, this is actually the very first time that we have made an album with a vocalist who is actually IN the band! By the release of the album we will have been playing together for almost three years and the musical chemistry is incredible.”
Giles Lavery, A&R. BraveWords Records, comments on signing the Taz Taylor Band, “I have known Taz for many, many years and I can absolutely say I am delighted to have him as part of the BraveWords family! My first awareness of Taz’s great work was the “Welcome To America” album…which, thanks to Taz, was a strong comeback for Graham Bonnet at the time”
In January 1997 UK-born Taz Taylor took a leap of faith and boarded a plane to Los Angeles with nothing more than a guitar, a backpack and roughly $2,000…
He spent much of his first year in the USA as a long haul truck driver, criss-crossing the country countless times in an 18-wheeler and spending the downtime in his sleeper berth practicing guitar. Eventually he settled in San Diego CA and set about recording his debut instrumental album “Caffeine Racer” which was released in July 2004. A band was formed and live shows commenced.
Caffeine Racer got the attention of legendary vocalist Graham Bonnet, most notable for working with the best guitarists in rock (Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai) and they set about recording the Taz Taylor Band album “Welcome To America” which was released on the UK label Escape Music in Aug 2006.
International tours followed in 2007 and 2008, taking the band to UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary and Czech Republic.
In 2009 the band recruited another ex-MSG vocalist, Keith Slack for the “Straight Up” album, also on Escape Music, and also featuring a guest appearance from Deep Purple’s Don Airey on keyboards.
2010 saw the band returning to Taz’s instrumental roots with the release of “Big Dumb Rock” and the band played a string of dates to promote BDR opening for MSG (5 times), Uli Jon Roth (6 times), UFO (twice), Gary Hoey (5 times), Pat Travers (3 times), Dokken, Skid Row, Great White, Molly Hatchet, LA Guns (3 times), Lynch Mob, Wishbone Ash, Tony McAlpine (4 times), Alan Holdsworth, Ace Frehley, John 5 (4 times) and Eric Johnson.
In 2014 TTB released “Deja Voodoo”, an all instrumental offering of eight songs and the band took to the road playing shows all across the UK as well as in California.
June 2017 saw the release of “Pressure And Time”. This album featured the vocal talents of Chandler Mogel and also the return of Taz’ acoustic guitar playing which featured prominently on 3 of the songs on this album, most notably on a complete re-working of “Highway Song” originally recorded by Blackfoot.
This album was released on Escape Music in Europe and on Rubicon Music in Japan. The Japanese version included a live bonus track, Explorations… recorded on the band’s 2014 tour in the U.K.
2019 saw the release of “Hats, Tats And Guitars”…Taz’ favorite Instrumental release!
2022 heralded a new beginning for TTB. Now managed by Giles Lavery Management and signed to new label Global Rock Records, TTB released “Nocturnal” an album of Melodic Hard Rock featuring a handful of world class guest vocalists including Graham Bonnet, Mark Boals and Doogie White amongst others and showcasing the continuing evolution of Taz’ guitar playing!
Crimson Glory and BraveWords Records announce a free listening party on Bandcamp to celebrate the new album Chasing The Hydra on June 5th at 1pm EST. Come along to listen to the music with Ben Jackson and Travis Wills from the band and chat with them about the making of the album. Ben and Travis will be sharing stories and answer your questions about Chasing The Hydra.
“It’s been nice,” guitarist Ben Jackson tells BraveWords about the band’s continued success. “People have been very open to the band coming back and everybody’s very happy and enthusiastic about it. I’ve always wanted to keep the band going on a constant; music is in my blood, it’s my life. I want to play in a band that has respect and some notoriety and can get some live gigs. Crimson Glory, we have a legacy, we have a following, and when we bring the band back the doors automatically open. We can play big festivals and put out a record. We don’t want to sit idly by anymore.”
Alongside mainstay founding members Ben, Jeff and Dana, the band announced in 2023 the addition of amazing new vocalist Travis Wills and guitarist Mark Borgmeyer.
Track Listing:
Redden The Sun Chasing The Hydra Broken Together Angel In My Nightmare Indelible Ashes Beyond The Unknown Armor Against Fate Pearls Of Dust Triskaideka
Don’t miss Crimson Glory on the road in 2026:
JUN 12 ES SANTURTZI, Kabiefest JUN 13 NL LEEUWARDEN, Into The Grave Festival JUL 3 – ES CARTAGENA, Rock Imperium Festival JUL 4 – BG SOFIA, Live & Loud JUL 5 – GR VOLOS, Golden R Festival JUL 6 – SE KNISLINGE, Time To Rock JUL 18 – IT CREMONA, Luppolo In Rock AUG 1 – DE WACKEN, Wacken Open Air AUG 2 – GR CHANIA, Chania Rock Festival AUG 5 – DE ESSEN, Turock AUG 7 – BE KORTRIJK, Alcatraz Open Air AUG 8 – DE GEISELWIND, Keep It True Legions SEP 11 – US ATLANTA, GA, Progpower SEP 17 – US MINNEAPOLIS, MN, 7th St Entry SEP 18 – US MADISON, WI, Blades Of Steel
About Crimson Glory:
Crimson Glory, an American heavy metal institution that formed in 1983 in Sarasota, Florida, USA. The classic line-up featured vocalist Midnight, guitarists Jon Drenning and Ben Jackson, bass guitarist Jeff Lords, and drummer Dana Burnell. With this line-up, they rose to international fame in the mid-1980s and were considered one of the pioneers of the American progressive metal movement, alongside bands like Queensrÿche, Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and Watchtower. With 3/5 of the classic line up still intact, and now joined by acclaimed new vocalist Travis Wills, the band have been touring heavily over the past year… making this album one of the most anticipated releases of 2026 within the Heavy Metal Scene!
Crank the volume on the latest releases from Crimson Glory, Alcatrazz, Bangalore Choir, Jack Starr, Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse and more — fans can now stream the entire BraveWords Records catalog on Bandcamp — crank it anytime, anywhere — or dive deeper with 24-bit hi-res downloads and CD purchases for the full sonic assault.
But that’s just the beginning…
BraveWords Records is gearing up to bring the party straight to you with exclusive Bandcamp listening sessions — jump in, blast the new records, and talk directly with the artists about the music, the madness, and everything in between. 🤘
Giles Lavery, Head of A&R BraveWords Records, “This is what BraveWords Records is all about — real music, played loud, delivered the way it was meant to be heard. Taking our entire catalog to Bandcamp isn’t just a move… it’s a statement. We’re giving fans direct access to the artists, the sound, and the spirit of everything we stand for.”
Don’t get left in the dust — follow BraveWords Records on Bandcamp now so you’re first in line when new releases drop and the next listening party kicks off.
About BraveWords Records: BraveWords Records has released albums by Alcatrazz, Bangalore Choir, Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse, The Chris Slade Timeline, Rhett Forrester and Rob Robbins, Prophets of Addiction, Jack Starr, ASKA and future releases from Lillian Axe and Crimson Glory.
There is a serious void which desperately needs to be filled, hard-working and creative bands that have yet to find a partnership and a mutual vision with a professional team. The music-fuelled minds behind BraveWords Records, Brian Adams, Giles Lavery, Tim Henderson and Michael Brandvold, have built the ultimate home for an artist that will take you where you want to be. Collectively, with nearly 100 years of music industry experience under our belts, the BraveWords Records team will take care of all the crucial aspects of your project from global distribution (digital and physical), publicity and media coverage (web, radio, visual), social media blanketing and streaming opportunities (such as Streaming For Vengeance). Where most labels have forgotten the concept of actually marketing a release sensibly, BraveWords Records will construct a viable and comprehensive marketing plan, including visibility at BraveWords.com, which attracts a million visitors monthly. BraveWords Records has all senses on high alert as the music industry continues its never-ending transitioning, so the artist will always be aware of new opportunities to build their brand and strive for world domination. BraveWords will also have a focus on licensing film and TV content, both contemporary and retrospective across many genres. As artists and labels transition to the many new mediums available today for their work, BraveWords intends to stay ahead of the curve in providing and actively seeking opportunities for our roster of clients.
With the rapid spread of the world wide web, BraveWords.com was born in 2000 and quickly became the CNN of heavy metal. With its team of global writers and photographers, the site flourished with 24/7 updated news, features, reviews, audio and video steams.
For nearly 30 years, BraveWords wears their metal heart loudly on their sleeve, as they celebrate the greatest genre of music with the most dedicated and passionate fans on the planet!
BraveWords Records are now accepting submissions from bands around the world to be featured on “KnuckleTracks Volume One” — a compilation of the hardest, heaviest, loudest, and most unrelenting tracks in metal today. If you have a great rock song, we want to hear it!
What exactly is KnuckleTracks you ask? It was the name of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles world famous official CD sampler that came free with every issue of the magazine, when it was launched in February/March 1997 (Issue No. 16).
Almost 30 years later, KnuckleTracks lives again!
“KnuckleTracks helped launch and propel bands to the next level,” BraveWords Founder/CEO “Metal” Tim Henderson remembers fondly. “And here we are doing it again to a new wave of exciting bands that want to be heard around the world!”
And this isn’t for the weak. This is for bands that hit hard, play louder, and refuse to be ignored.
If your track belongs in the pit, we want to hear it.
Submit now and take your shot at standing alongside the next wave of hard and heavy music.
Visit BraveWordsRecords.com and use the Submission form here. Make sure you mention in the notes that you are submitting for KnuckleTracks.
About BraveWords Records: BraveWords Records has released albums by Crimson Glory, Voices of Extreme, Alcatrazz, Bangalore Choir, Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse, The Chris Slade Timeline, Rhett Forrester and Rob Robbins, Prophets of Addiction, Jack Starr, ASKA and future releases from Phil Soussan, Lillian Axe and a new Alcatrazz studio album.
There is a serious void which desperately needs to be filled, hard-working and creative bands that have yet to find a partnership and a mutual vision with a professional team. The music-fuelled minds behind BraveWords Records, Brian Adams, Giles Lavery, Tim Henderson and Michael Brandvold, have built the ultimate home for an artist that will take you where you want to be. Collectively, with nearly 100 years of music industry experience under our belts, the BraveWords Records team will take care of all the crucial aspects of your project from global distribution (digital and physical), publicity and media coverage (web, radio, visual), social media blanketing and streaming opportunities (such as Streaming For Vengeance). Where most labels have forgotten the concept of actually marketing a release sensibly, BraveWords Records will construct a viable and comprehensive marketing plan, including visibility at BraveWords.com, which attracts a million visitors monthly. BraveWords Records has all senses on high alert as the music industry continues its never-ending transitioning, so the artist will always be aware of new opportunities to build their brand and strive for world domination. BraveWords will also have a focus on licensing film and TV content, both contemporary and retrospective across many genres. As artists and labels transition to the many new mediums available today for their work, BraveWords intends to stay ahead of the curve in providing and actively seeking opportunities for our roster of clients.
With the rapid spread of the world wide web, BraveWords.com was born in 2000 and quickly became the CNN of heavy metal. With its team of global writers and photographers, the site flourished with 24/7 updated news, features, reviews, audio and video steams.
For nearly 30 years, BraveWords wears their metal heart loudly on their sleeve, as they celebrate the greatest genre of music with the most dedicated and passionate fans on the planet!
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
