VANDENBERG’S MOONKINGS will release their new acoustic album, entitled ‘Rugged and Unplugged’, on November 23rd via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group. Now the band has revealed a new track “Sailing Ships” from the album, stream it below:
‘Rugged and Unplugged’ is a beautifully stripped back acoustic album which features songs from across Adrian Vandenberg’s career. From his first band Teaser as a 20 year old he has always used an acoustic guitar in his recordings, which along with the electric guitar creates the light and shade dynamic that is the cornerstone to all of his records.
‘Rugged and Unplugged’ tracklisting:
1. What Doesn’t Kill You
2. Sailing Ships
3. Out Of Reach
4. One Step Behind
5. Burning Heart
6. Walk Away
7. Breathing
8. Sundown
VANDENBERG’S MOONKINGS will release their new acoustic album, entitled ‘Rugged and Unplugged’, on November 23rd via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group. Today has been unleashed a lyric video for the song “Walk Away”, watch it below:
Adrian Vandenberg on Walk Away: “Here is the rockballad ‘Walk Away’, one of my personal favourites from our acoustic album ‘Rugged and Unplugged’. We recorded it on a very dark, stormy night in the barn of Jan’s farm, the right vibe for a ballad like this. Just the two of us pouring our hearts out on this one, as ‘up close and personal’ as you can get… “
‘Rugged and Unplugged’ is a beautifully stripped back acoustic album which features songs from across Adrian Vandenberg’s career. From his first band Teaser as a 20 year old he has always used an acoustic guitar in his recordings, which along with the electric guitar creates the light and shade dynamic that is the cornerstone to all of his records.
“For me, the sign of whether a song is good or not, is whether it still stands up when it’s completely stripped down to the bare essence of it,” says Vandenberg. He continues, “What I find with acoustic versions of songs you already know, is that they can touch you in a different way than the full band and even orchestral versions. You don’t get ‘impressed’ by big guitars, drums and even orchestras. As a performer you can’t hide behind all that, so what’s left is the emotional content of the performance and the actual song.”
‘Rugged and Unplugged’ tracklisting:
1. What Doesn’t Kill You
2. Sailing Ships
3. Out Of Reach
4. One Step Behind
5. Burning Heart
6. Walk Away
7. Breathing
8. Sundown
VANDENBERG’S MOONKINGS will release their new acoustic album, entitled ‘Rugged and Unplugged’, on November 23rd via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group. Today has been unleashed a lyric video for the song “Burning Heart”, watch it below:
Adrian Vandenberg on Rugged And Unplugged and Burning Heart:
”We decided to strip down a bunch of songs to the bare basics and let them speak in the most essential way. Purely relying on Jan’s expressive, dark brown voice and my acoustic guitar, the intense, honest performance and the songs themselves. For me personally it’s very special to have included ‘Burning Heart’ and ‘Sailing Ships’, performed straight from the heart by two friends with a passion for real, ‘handmade’ music. Two songs that have been two of the most important landmarks in my career this far, and I’m just getting started…”
Like the two MoonKings albums, ‘MoonKings’ (2014) and ‘MK II’ (2017) it was produced by Adrian Vandenberg himself. It was recorded between Vandenberg’s home studio and singer Jan Hoving’s farm which gives it the relaxed, intimate and natural feel, away from the clinical studio environment. It is Vandenberg and Hoving doing what they do and love the most, playing music straight from the heart.
‘Rugged and Unplugged’ is a beautifully stripped back acoustic album which features songs from across Adrian Vandenberg’s career. From his first band Teaser as a 20 year old he has always used an acoustic guitar in his recordings, which along with the electric guitar creates the light and shade dynamic that is the cornerstone to all of his records.
“For me, the sign of whether a song is good or not, is whether it still stands up when it’s completely stripped down to the bare essence of it,” says Vandenberg. He continues, “What I find with acoustic versions of songs you already know, is that they can touch you in a different way than the full band and even orchestral versions. You don’t get ‘impressed’ by big guitars, drums and even orchestras. As a performer you can’t hide behind all that, so what’s left is the emotional content of the performance and the actual song.”
This project created the opportunity to strip down the big orchestral arrangements on songs such as ‘What Doesn’t Kill You’ and ‘Breathing’ to just Vandenberg on acoustic guitar and the voice of Jan Hoving. His 1983 hit ‘Burning Heart’ gets a stunning reworking, “my favourite singers ever since my teens have always been guys like Paul Rodgers and David Coverdale. Since I wrote this song in 1981, I’ve always pictured it sung by a singer with such a tone of voice and vocal abilities. Jan is absolutely such a singer as you can hear,” he explains. ‘One Step Behind’ has a graceful warmth and ‘Walk Away’ feels both intimate and anthemic.
Originally from WHITESNAKE’s 1989 album ‘Slip of the Tongue’, ‘Sailing Ships’ has a delicate beauty to it that makes the hairs on your arm stand up and has become a favourite and regular in the MoonKing’s live shows. ‘Out Of Reach’ is the only song that features drums, bass and violins and has a warm cascading elegance. The album closes with a new song, the instrumental ‘Sundown’. Talking about it he says, “It was one of those beautiful early evenings in the late summer, the light turning pink, it was quiet and I was doodling away on my acoustic guitar. The melody that pretty much rolled off of my fingers really matched the vibe of that moment so I decided to record it and end the album with it. It felt like a very natural thing to do.”
‘Rugged and Unplugged’ tracklisting:
1. What Doesn’t Kill You
2. Sailing Ships
3. Out Of Reach
4. One Step Behind
5. Burning Heart
6. Walk Away
7. Breathing
8. Sundown
VANDENBERG’S MOONKINGS return with their new acoustic album, entitled ‘Rugged and Unplugged’, set to be released on November 23rd via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group.
Listen to “Burning Heart” from the album, here:
‘Rugged and Unplugged’ is a beautifully stripped back acoustic album which features songs from across Adrian Vandenberg’s career. From his first band Teaser as a 20 year old he has always used an acoustic guitar in his recordings, which along with the electric guitar creates the light and shade dynamic that is the cornerstone to all of his records.
“For me, the sign of whether a song is good or not, is whether it still stands up when it’s completely stripped down to the bare essence of it,” says Vandenberg. He continues, “What I find with acoustic versions of songs you already know, is that they can touch you in a different way than the full band and even orchestral versions. You don’t get ‘impressed’ by big guitars, drums and even orchestras. As a performer you can’t hide behind all that, so what’s left is the emotional content of the performance and the actual song.”
This project created the opportunity to strip down the big orchestral arrangements on songs such as ‘What Doesn’t Kill You’ and ‘Breathing’ to just Vandenberg on acoustic guitar and the voice of Jan Hoving. His 1983 hit ‘Burning Heart’ gets a stunning reworking, “my favourite singers ever since my teens have always been guys like Paul Rodgers and David Coverdale. Since I wrote this song in 1981, I’ve always pictured it sung by a singer with such a tone of voice and vocal abilities. Jan is absolutely such a singer as you can hear,” he explains. ‘One Step Behind’ has a graceful warmth and ‘Walk Away’ feels both intimate and anthemic.
Originally from WHITESNAKE’s 1989 album ‘Slip of the Tongue’, ‘Sailing Ships’ has a delicate beauty to it that makes the hairs on your arm stand up and has become a favourite and regular in the MoonKing’s live shows. ‘Out Of Reach’ is the only song that features drums, bass and violins and has a warm cascading elegance. The album closes with a new song, the instrumental ‘Sundown’. Talking about it he says, “It was one of those beautiful early evenings in the late summer, the light turning pink, it was quiet and I was doodling away on my acoustic guitar. The melody that pretty much rolled off of my fingers really matched the vibe of that moment so I decided to record it and end the album with it. It felt like a very natural thing to do.”
Like the two MoonKings albums, ‘MoonKings’ (2014) and ‘MK II’ (2017) it was produced by Adrian Vandenberg himself. It was recorded between Vandenberg’s home studio and Jan Hoving’s farm which gives it the relaxed, intimate and natural feel, away from the clinical studio environment. It is Vandenberg and Hoving doing what they do and love the most, playing music straight from the heart.
‘Rugged and Unplugged’ tracklisting:
1. What Doesn’t Kill You
2. Sailing Ships
3. Out Of Reach
4. One Step Behind
5. Burning Heart
6. Walk Away
7. Breathing
8. Sundown
Classic Rock icon Adrian Vandenberg with his VANDENBERG’S MOONKINGS have teamed up with Metal Shock Finland to premiere, for Finnish territory, the band’s brand new official video for “What Doesn’t Kill You”, taken from their new album “MKII”, coming out on November 3rd, via Mascot Records! Watch the video below.
‘What Doesn’t Kill You’ is a call to action; combining a hypnotic melody, soaring chorus and a timelessness that evokes a sense of empowerment and determination. You will prevail, will be strong, you will get through this it cries to you; “What doesnt kill you, makes you stronger, you’re a survivor, you’re mind set to carry on” proclaims Jan Hoving as you are whipped up into a captivating whirlwind of infectious hooks into a journey of self-belief.
Adrian Vandenberg about What Doesn’t Kill You and the video: ‘In this video the lyrics, the powerful music and the expressive performance of the band call for images and symbolism just as powerful. All these elements reinforce each other in order to get the message across. The owl, the wise creature of the night and as such the talisman of MoonKings, breaks free of the confinement of the band logo and flies unhindered over cities like New York, Paris, London and Los Angeles to eventually circle around the Statue of Liberty. Nighttime fireworks symbolize the celebration of freedom and the determination to survive, no matter what goes on in the world’.
Four years after Adrian Vandenberg made a spectacular comeback with VANDENBERG’S MOONKINGS the band return with a sophomore album, ‘MKII’. Once again the four-piece band manage to create a perfect blend of vintage seventies and heavy rock. Adrian Vandenberg shines as a bonafide guitar virtuoso, while the rest of the band deliver a powerhouse performance.
“The last few years have been very important”, confirms Adrian Vandenberg, who shot to world fame as the guitarist and songwriter of Vandenberg and Whitesnake. “We just got to know each other when we recorded out debut album. I think we all exceeded each other’s expectations. But you really get to know each other while on the road. It was then that I really became impressed by the abundance of energy that this band has. We tried to capture this on our new album. At the same time, we all grew individually. I am really amazed by the way Jan Hoving has grown even more in his role as a singer and as a front man. I’ve played with the best bass players and drummers in my extensive career, but with all respect I dare to say that Sem Christoffel and drummer Mart Nijen Es form the best rhythm section I ever had the pleasure of working with.”
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