British rock band UFO have confirmed the release of a new single, ‘Wonderland’, taken from 2012’s much acclaimed ‘Seven Deadly’ studio album, which crashed straight in to the top slot of the UK rock chart, the national album chart at 63 and at 9 in the UK Indie chart on release in February 2012. ‘Seven Deadly’, which was one of only five long-players nominated for ‘Album Of The Year’ in Classic Rock’s Roll Of Honour Awards last November, won numerous rave reviews in the UK rock press.
‘Wonderland’ will be released as a three track single bundle, containing ‘Wonderland’, plus ‘Shoot Shoot (Live)’ and ‘’When Daylight Goes To Town (Live)’, both taken from 2005’s double ‘Showtime’ live CD. Next week the UFO live juggernaut will set off on the road to play the following UK tour dates:-
Thursday 21st February – Komedia, Bath
Friday 22nd February – O2 Academy Bournemouth
Saturday 23rd February – The Pyramids, Portsmouth
Sunday 24th February – O2 Academy Oxford
Tuesday 26th February – The Coal Exchange, Cardiff
Thursday 28th February – Picturedrome, Holmfirth, Huddersfield
Friday 1st March – O2 ABC Glasgow
Saturday 2nd March – 53 Degrees, Preston
Sunday 3rd March – The Institute, Birmingham
Tuesday 5th March – The Forum, London
Classic Rock’s Geoff Barton awarded ‘Seven Deadly’ 8/10 in his lead review in the magazine’s February 2012 issue, stating that “UFO’s first studio album since 2009’s ‘The Visitor’ is bursting with creativity and athleticism…It’s positively febrile. Mogg, in particular, is at the top of his game. He carries the record with his passion. His singing has all the vim and vigour it had on ‘Strangers In The Night’, their legendary 1979 live album; maybe even more….‘Seven Deadly’ begins in frantic fashion before settling into a groove that’s powerful and reflective, complex and involving… In an album of numerous high spots, and tons of twists and turns, the best is left to last. ‘Waving Goodbye’, enhanced by Tommy Newton’s massive production job, is as mournful as it is monumental.”
Phil Mogg enthuses; “On this upcoming tour we look forward to playing something old, something new and a couple of tunes that we haven’t had the pleasure of playing live before, so get ready, cos here we come.”
History
There are even more stories about UFO than they’ve composed songs. Any band who have been in the music business for over 40 years are bound to have experienced difficult times, but also massive highs and spectacular events. UFO’s success story began in London way back in 1969, when vocalist Phil Mogg, drummer Andy Parker, guitarist Mick Bolton and bassist Pete Way formed the group, borrowing the band name from a legendary London music club. Even in the early Seventies, the band distinguished themselves with their very own, unmistakable style, touching a nerve among their growing following with rock numbers like ‘Prince Kajuku’, ‘Follow You Home’ and ‘C’mon Everybody’ from their albums UFO 1, Flying and UFO Live.
The global breakthrough arrived when German guitarist, Michael Schenker, joined the fold in 1973, who left the Scorpions to take up an offer by Phil Mogg and Pete Way. This line-up of UFO broke through into rock’s big time with their Phenomenon album in 1974, closely followed by Force It in 1975 and No Heavy Pettin’ in 1976, featuring classics such as ‘Doctor Doctor’, ‘Shoot, Shoot’, and ‘Rock Bottom’.
Following the arrival of keyboarder/rhythm guitarist Paul Raymond in 1976, UFO released two more studio albums Lights Out (1977) and Obsession (1978), including the hit singles ‘Too Hot To Handle’, ‘Lights Out’ and ‘Only You Can Rock Me’. Their double live album Strangers In The Night came out in 1979 and is regarded to this day as one of the best live releases of all time, while also signalling the ‘end’ of the Mogg, Way, Schenker, Parker & Raymond line-up.
The reorganised band underwent fifteen years marked by various eras and numerous line-up changes. To everyone’s surprise, autumn 1993 saw the return of the classic UFO line-up, which brought out Walk On Water, their first joint effort after one and a half decades, and embarked on a world tour. However, Schenker left UFO during the Walk On Water tour again to continue working with his own group, MSG, while Mogg & Way went on to release their second album, Chocolate Box. The UFO albums Covenant and Sharks, recorded by Mogg, Way and Schenker, arrived in the stores in 2000 and 2002. With Schenker returning to MSG yet again, Vinnie Moore joined the UFO family, and the album You Are Here was recorded with Jason Bonham on drums in 2004. During the subsequent world tour, UFO cut a show in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, which was later released as a double live album, Showtime, along with a DVD of the same name which featured additional bonus material. Later, Bonham made his farewells to join Foreigner and was replaced by UFO’s original drummer, Andy Parker, who rejoined to play on The Monkey Puzzle studio album (2006), 2009’s much acclaimed The Visitor album, and now the new opus Seven Deadly.
Seven Deadly, a compact collection of 10 very special, soaring, instantly recognisable UFO hard rock anthems, marks yet another major milestone on the illustrious path of this celebrated band’s history.
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