Pink Floyd to Sweet F.A.

Never done this before here on Hooks, but I thought it would be nice to pull back the curtain for our readers to see a candid, uncensored conversation between two of the contributors. It started out innocent enough with some Pink Floyd banter. But then it takes on a life of it's own. Start at the bottom:


Re: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?
From: Wayne Graham
To: Michael Johnson

hahaha....yeah, I doubt Sweet F.A. wants to be talking about Sweet F.A. right now. My guess is that they'd like to put that whole episode behind them and get back to driving the ice cream truck. (...Wayne quipped as he was looking for a job)


People who like Kix REALLY like Kix. Seems a pretty generic band to get your panties in a twist over. I can see cases made for superfans of Kings X or The Cult but KIX?


Seriously, let's "off" Jim Florentine and Don Jamison and show up for the inevitable open call for replacements? Or, better yet, pull a DeNiro in King of Comedy and stalk Eddie Trunk. (have you seen that movie? It's awesome. One of Scorsese's most underrated films)


On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 10:16 AM, Michael Johnson wrote:

I've never heard any Sweet F.A. either. I just looked them up at allmusic.com and there's no bio, but their discog shows that their first album came out in 1980. It might be worth finding to at least say we know what the hell we are talking about, Sweet F.A. wise. Not that for the life of me I can think of when that would come in handy. Any doubt we are the only ones talking about them today, besides the guys in the band and the other dudes that work at the loading dock with them?

If I remember, I will bring that book with me on Sunday.

Kix isn't too bad, but there's no way in hell that deserve that kind of status on that list. The author let his bias get out of hand a bit. Which, in his defense, he may explain in the forward. I think he wrote it to get a reaction. And he definitely stretches the boundaries of the term "heavy metal", which I'm willing to listen to someones interpretation of...

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From: Wayne Graham
To: Michael Johnson

Sent: Fri, July 16, 2010 10:01:21 AM

Subject: Re: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?


I would guess that it is, in fact, "Fuckin' Ass". In fact, I seem to recall confirmation of that in an interview with those guys in Metal Edge Magazine back in the day. (Yes, I apparently read an interview with Sweet FA and remember portions. And no, I'm not sure if I've ever heard a note of their music)


I tried to look them up on Wikipedia, but, shockingly, there is no entry for them.


I have to read that book. Kix wasn't tooo bad I guess. They had a cool enough logo, which is more than I can say for, I dunno, Jackyl with a Y.


On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 9:57 AM, Michael Johnson wrote:

What do you suppose F.A. stood for? The possibilities are virtually endless. Although I'm pretty sure "Fuckin" and "Ass" are either separately or jointly featured.

I have a book called "Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums Of All Time" by Chuck Eddy that was put our I'm guessing around 1991 or so (it's out of print). Some things follow suit how you would think they would, but he has I think three Kix albums in the top 20. And there is a Teena Marie album in the top 10. It's such a conversation piece.

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From: Wayne Graham
To: Michael Johnson
Sent: Fri, July 16, 2010 9:39:38 AM

Subject: Re: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?


No, I haven't a clue who Mitch Perry is, either. hahahahaa


I love the Amazon, track by track reviews. Because no one bothers saying anything unless they either really love something or really hate it, so it's always passionate, and therefore, hilarious.




If this guy loves Keel and Dokken this much, then, yeah, I think he'd school us on Danger Danger. And Warrant. And Kix. And London Quireboys. And Sweet FA. And all assorted line-ups of Faster Pussycat and LA Guns.



On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 9:35 AM, Michael Johnson wrote:

I got the impression that he feels that Dokken is the gold standard, but I could be wrong.

A Guiffria video comes on Metal Mania every know and then. I seem to recall he was major eye candy for the ladies.

I hope that doesn't mean you know who Mitch Perry is. I had no fucking clue who that guy was.

Like I said, I was smiling/laughing at damn near every word in that review. He'd be an interesting guy to meet. I bet he would be telling us stuff and name-dropping to all hell and we wouldn't have a clue.

He probably knows Danger Danger, including the name of that teeth rocking rhythm guitarist I was ranting about the other night...

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From: Wayne Graham
To: Michael Johnson

Sent: Thu, July 15, 2010 5:28:32 PM

Subject: Re: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?


I wonder where Dokken ranks for this guy vs. Keel. He name-drops them twice. Does he listen to Dokken and say "God, I just don't get why people listen to THESE GUYS when they could be listening to Keel" or wether he fills his diaper every time he hears "Burnin' Like a Flame"


I had to look up Gregg Giuffria



On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 4:44 PM, Michael Johnson wrote:

If that song was an 8/10 or greater, his head would have exploded before hearing either Mitch Perry's tasty licks or Giuffria's backing vox on the closing track!

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From: Wayne Graham
To: Michael Johnson

Sent: Thu, July 15, 2010 1:57:50 PM

Subject: Re: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?


I wish I had video of this guy trying to not hate "Just Another Girl" after pretty much going apeshit over every track that came after before it. hahahaha


On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Michael Johnson wrote:

Shit, I just looked this up at Amazon, and laughed at approximately 500 things in this guy's review of Keel "The Final Frontier":

Keels 3rd studio album is another great forgotten album. This is the second Keel album i got after loving the self titled album. This album has a much more commercial sound than the first 2 Keel albums but still has some great rocking songs. This band sounds a lot like Dokken and this album was by far there most succesful peaking at #53 on the billboard charts and having 2 minor hits.

1.The Final Frontier- 10/10 A great rocker with a great intro. The riff rocks and the chorus is excellent. Ron Keel's vocals are great as always. The soft melodic bridge is great and Ron Keel's awesome scream leads into a great shredding solo. A classic!

2.Rock And Roll Animal- 10/10 Another great rocker with a good intro. The riff is great and the chorus rocks aswell. Ron Keel's vocals are strong once again. More great shredding too in the great dual guitar solo. Another classic! Jaime St. James of Black N Blue contributes backround vocals to this song too.

3.Because the Night- 10/10 A great cover song! I've never heard the original but this version is excellent! The song is lighter more melodic song than the first 2 but it's still great! Another great guitar solo, this solo is slower and more melodic and fits the song perfectly. The second solo is excellent aswell. Excellent vocal performance by Ron Keel too!

4.Here Today, Gone Tomorrow- 8/10 Another good song. This has a real commercial feel to it and isn't as strong as the first 3 songs. The chorus is strong and the solo is good but it doesn't measure up to the other songs.

5.Arm and a Leg- 9/10 A good rocker. The riff is good and the chorus is excellent. Ron Keel's vocals are great and the guitar solo shreds. A good song although not as good as the classics on the album.

6.Raised on Rock- 10/10 A great rocking song. Backround vocals by Michael Des Barres and rythym guitar by Joan Jett. A great chorus and an awesome solo.

7.Just Another Girl- 6/10 A decent poppy song similar to the Dokken song Burning Like A Flame. The chorus is pretty good but the solo is very good. I'd consider this song a filler.

8.Tears of Fire- 10/10 A great power ballad. One of the best I've ever heard. Ron Keel's vocals are excellent and the chorus is great. A beautiful song and the lyrics are great. A great harmonized guitar solo too. Mitch Perry plays rythym guitar on this song too. A classic that should have been a bigger hit than it was. This ballad reminds me of Dokken.

9.Nightfall- 10/10 A great short acoustic instrumental. This is just acoustic guitars and done in a classical style.

10.No Pain, No Gain- 10/10 A great fast rocker with an excellent riff and great vocals. The chorus is great aswell and Gregg Giuffria contributes backround vocals to this song. An excellent dual guitar solo with some great shredding. A classic!

This album was released in 1986 when hair metal dominated the charts with Ozzy Osbourne's The Ultimate Sin, Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and Van Halen's 5150 topping the charts. Overall a great melodic metal album similar with some high profile guest musicians. Fans of Dokken, The Scorpions Quiet Riot and 80's metal in general should own this.

Ron Keel- Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Marc Ferrari- lead Guitar, Vocals
Bryan Jay- Lead Guitar, Vocals
Dwain Miller- Drums, Vocals
Kenny Chaisson- Bass, Vocals

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From: Wayne Graham
To: Michael Johnson

Sent: Thu, July 15, 2010 12:52:09 PM

Subject: Re: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?


hahahahaaa........I love that someone else in the world knows who Keel is


On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 12:48 PM, Michael Johnson wrote:

I will make Mike Portnoy my bitch if they overstay their welcome.

What would be an amazing turn of events is if Maiden played "The Final Frontier" in its entirety, but not their version.

Keel's circa 1986.

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From: Wayne Graham
To: Michael Johnson

Sent: Thu, July 15, 2010 12:28:12 PM

Subject: Re: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?


I keep accidentally seeing or reading things here and there, so I know a few numbers they're doing, but I haven't looked at a setlist. I haven't gotten the sense that they're doing Final Frontier in its entirety.


If we're lucky, Dream Theatre will play 3 hours and Maiden will just show the Final Frontier video a couple of times and call it a day.


On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Michael Johnson wrote:

I have not (and don't want to) seen a setlist so far from the IM tour. I would guess it will be a little bit of everything, maybe 2-3 new songs. I would be shocked if they did the whole Matter of Life and Death thing where they play the whole album in entirety - particularly since it's not even out.

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From: Wayne Graham
To: Michael Johnson

Sent: Thu, July 15, 2010 11:56:55 AM

Subject: Re: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?


yeah, it'd be nice if we were all going together, but it didn't shake out that way. It'll be great, though......


I'm getting itchy for Maiden.


On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 11:56 AM, Michael Johnson wrote:

Oh, I forgot that we were going to different shows. I would go nuts as well!

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From: Wayne Graham

To: Michael Johnson
Sent: Thu, July 15, 2010 10:37:03 AM
Subject: Re: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?


If you guys get Gilmore and I don't...I'm going to riot...hahahaa


On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 10:34 AM, Michael Johnson wrote:

That is a great idea on their part. If we could only be so lucky. I would think they would have the tapes rolling at that one for a DVD release. And I'm ok if that's the only way I see it. No need to get greedy here.

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From: Wayne Graham
To: Nancy Frankel; Michael Johnson
Sent: Thu, July 15, 2010 10:23:59 AM
Subject: Um, is Gilmore going to do one gig on the Wall tour?


http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/07/david_gilmour_s.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+BrooklynVeganFeed+(brooklynvegan)




Have either of you heard anything about this?