Living Loud is an act of incendiary rock'n'roll alchemy.
It sees the base elements of Deep Purple, Cold Chisel, Rainbow, Uriah
Heep, and Black Sabbath fused together in an almost explosive mix.
Sounds unlikely? The sounds were unbelievable! Just ask anyone lucky
enough to see their debut show on the night of April 26 this year when
Living Loud took to the stage at Sydney's Fox Studios.
Seldom is a band's future in its history. But Living Loud's history
resonates through every note of every show. As it must.
Cold Chisel's Jimmy Barnes was backed this night by hard rock's heavy
hitters - Steve Morse (Deep Purple, Kansas, Dixie Dregs), Don Airey (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne), Bob Daisley (Rainbow, Blizzard of Ozz, Uriah Heep, Gary Moore) and Lee Kerslake (Uriah Heep, Blizzard of Ozz).
Many musicians are less their legends. Not these five.
The Living Loud story started a dozen years ago when Daisley and Kerslake
spoke of redoing some Ozzy Osbourne songs with a series of guests. Before
long the fates had conspired to include Deep Purple and Barnes in these
plans.
"I'd worked with Steve Morse before," says Barnes. "I was a huge fan of
Deep Purple. A couple of years ago they were touring and they asked me to
have a sing with them. We became good mates. I knew of Bob. I remember
when he was in Rainbow. As a young headbanger I was a Uriah Heep fan.
That's where I knew of Lee."
An embyonic Living Loud assembled at Morse's Florida house in July 2003.
Within 30 minutes it was certainly loud and definitely alive.
"We were looking at each other and thinking it wasn't sounding too bad. It
just gelled," says Daisley.
Soon, the band's ambitions went beyond reworking some Ozzy hits; these
aren't musicians frightened by ideas.
"We started knocking up some of the arrangements for the Ozzy stuff and it
sounded great," says Daisley. "Then we came up with five new tunes. Jimmy
came in and was listening and he had a book of lyrics that could go with
what we had done. Everybody got on so well together."
Busy touring schedules mean their first, self-titled album had to be
recorded quickly. Deep Purple's Don Airey added his keyboards and came in
as the fifth member.
That album, in its entirety and in order, forms the first hour of this
robust Sydney show.
The fiery elements of Living Loud take the rearranged Ozzy songs in thier
stride, and sparks fly with the new material, most notably across two new
hard rock landmarks - Every Moment A Lifetime and In The Name Of God.
The five Barnes/Daisley/Kerslake/Morse originals showcased this night
suggest Living Loud is a band headed towards a prodigous destiny.
The two covers to end the evening - Gimme Some Lovin' and Good Times -
form a combustible coda that shouts "We'll be back!"
