AIRRACE – RETURN - BACK TO THE START

Category: Latest News Published on Tuesday, 31 May 2011 13:14 Written by Marianne "Nymph" Pergadi Hits: 827

Frontiers Records is pleased to announce the release of AIRRACE comeback album entitled « Back to the Start » on July 1st in Europe and August 23rd in North America.

Mostly known in the Hard Rock circles for being the band that saw the musical debut from John Bonham’s son Jason on the band’s debut album for Atco « Shaft of Light », AIRRACE was instead brainchild of former More guitarist Laurie Mansworth.

« Shaft of Light », produced by Beau Hill (Ratt, Winger, Fiona etc) received rave reviews when released in October 1984, showing a combination of breezy melodies and snappy choruses which moved journalist Derek Oliver to pronounce in the pages of Kerrang! that anyone who didn’t like Airrace “ought to be shot”.

Although the band got to play support slots with Queen, AC/DC and Meat Loaf, Airrace crash-landed in the summer of 1985.

It took a 25^th anniversary re-issue of « Shaft of Light » to reunite the band in 2009. To celebrate the record’s expanded re-release, the original members Mansworth, Bonham with singer Keith Murrell and keyboardist Toby Sadler recruited two new members – second guitarist Dean Howard (formerly of T’Pau) and bassist Dave Boyce (ex-Samson, among others) – to hit the road, playing gigs with Thunder, Tesla, Winger and more, in addition to headlining their own shows. When Jason Bonham departed, the occupation of his drum stool by The Outfield’s Simon Dawson brought them vital stability.

It was the overwhelmingly positive reaction to an appearance at annual melodic rock all-dayer the Firefest in October 2009 that convinced Airrace to take things more seriously. Describing what the wild scenes of that day, Fireworks magazine proposed the distinct possibility that Airrace were “the best opening band we’ve ever had at a Firefest”.

With Toby Sadler, who resides in Germany, unable to commit to playing more regularly, Airrace hired a new keyboard player called Chris Williams, re-recruiting original bass player Jim Reid as a successor to Dave Boyce.

The above grouping can be heard on « Back to the Start », the long-awaited second album from Airrace. Produced by Mansworth, it’s a notch heavier than «Shaft Of Light» yet continues to offer all of the group’s trademarks, including über-memorable hooks and the exquisite singing of Keith Murrell, recently named at #20 in Classic Rock Presents AOR magazine’s list of the Top 40 AOR Vocalists Of All Time. Guitarist Laurie Mansworth said "We had a great time making this record, and we are very happy with the results.  I feel this album captures the Airrace sound and is closer to how we sound live than the first album.  We are also very excited about working with our new label Frontiers who have been very supportive throughout the making of Back to the Start”.

As good as anything the Yanks have to offer, we think that you’ll agree: « Back to the Start » is well worth the wait!

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