VELVET THUNDER

Some music is designed to put a smile on your face and the glam/sleaze rock musings of John Diva & The Rockets Of Love is one such band that definitely causes the sun to shine and lets you completely forget your troubles as you are swept away on a bump and grind rock and funk adventure.

American Amadeus is the second release by John Diva and his band of merry men following on rapidly from the triumph that was their debut release, Mama Said Rock Is Dead, in 2019. This unveiled a major talent with a high energy rock style born out of ’80s hair/sleaze rock but very much updated for today’s audience hungry for the next bright and fresh new young thing and John Diva And The Rockets most definitely fit this bill! The band is brash, confident, flamboyant, and in your face which can only mean that they hail from the United States Of America and this is one export that will surely be welcomed worldwide.

Formed in 2009, the five-piece band set out with the intention of playing ’80s hair metal with a style and sound that they describe as being evolved from Van Halen, Bon Jove, Kiss, Whitesnake (not the early blues-infused version), Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe and they have done this remarkably well as this is a band imbued with both style and substance. Music seems to have been an escape route for the young John Diva growing up in San Diego and this led to him writing songs for Mötley Crüe, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith in the ’80s so his early musical influences are not accidental or contrived but the rise of grunge resulted in a decline in popularity for the type of songs that he was writing. Ultimately, this led to Diva joining forces with guitarists J. J. Love and Snake Rocket, drummer and former NASCAR driver Lee Stingray and, from France, the bassist Remmie Martin with the first gigs for the then called Rockets Of Love taking place in 2009. A cursory glance at the musician’s names would have it that they are operating under nom de plumes with Remmie Martin winning this week’s best name award! It does seem that the American market was not quite ready for the rock and roll that the band were offering and so, to our great benefit, the band changed focus to the European market and we now have these two great rock albums to enjoy. Three performances at Wacken hand intense gigging has helped to develop and grow their fanbase further. In truth, if you simply heard the album then you would suspect that it was some lost gem from the mid ’80s and I guarantee that you would want to hear more.

This is classic metal with glam and sleaze influences with guitar that is off the scale and John Diva is a true classic metal vocalist and a star in waiting The band kicks off with the outrageous and infectious Voodoo, Sex & Vampires that immediately gets those toes a tapping and the grin starts to spread over your face as the band then moves onto the glorious American Amadeus which sums up John Diva perfectly and the camp classical meets metal is simply wonderful and totally sweeps you away and is a great indicator of what is to follow. The hooks laden songs keep on coming with Bling Bling Marilyn and Karmageddon standing out as perfect examples of how to write a rock song. Huge sing along choruses and wonderful vocal harmonies over a hard and heavy rock frame ensure that this is rock that covers all of the bases and in John Diva the band has a trump card as he truly is an American rock god with more than a touch of the style and glamour of the iconic Prince.

American Amadeus is an amazing rock album from a rock band awash with style and class and one that knows how to have fun; you are formally invited to the party.