Band : All I Know
Album title : Rain (Beau Hill Remix)
Label : Melodic Rock Records
Distributor : / - Music Shock
Release date : September 2010
Release : CD-single

At the end of last year, this Kortrijk based Belgian Pop/ Stadium Rock (you could call it Classic '80s Rock alà Bon Jovi & Bryan Adams too, you know) band sent us their 2009 promo-CD for review. Well, actually the promo was sent to the offices of the label our esteemed webmaster works at, but the type of music was apparently not what that label was looking for at that moment.

Personally (as proven by my review posted 03/01/2010 which I still recommend as a history-of-the-band document, which I would like to complete by stating that a first 4-track demo of the band, then fronted by female singer Carmelina Sorvillo, was released in 2004, the rest of the line-up including Ward and Michael on guitar, Amélie on the bass, and one Joeri Dekyvere on the drums. One year later came a 3-track demo of new material – with one re-recording from the debut demo – with the same line-up, minus the female singer, Ward taking over lead duties in that department. In 2006 the band released a new demo EP in two versions, the special edition containing 2 bonus tracks on top of those of the original 5 tracks. In 2007, eventually, the band made its last demo EP, a 3-tracker on which they didn't even mention the drummer – note that all these demos have long since been sold out), I was definitely charmed by what I heard...and so apparently was one Beau Hill (who's name in the past was allied to the likes of Alice Cooper, Europe, Ratt, and more...). In his own words: “All I Know caught my attention with their excellent material, an unusual focus on arrangement details, and progressive melodic hooks...sounds like a recipe for a hit to me...”. The legendary producer had come across the band's music through their MySpace page, and soon enough AIK found him sending an offer to remix of couple of their songs. That happened in April of this year. Meanwhie the single of the remixed “Rain” was distributed in Belgium among the radio stations and websites. It's already been featured in the Belgian Ultratop charts for download releases (it's not to be available commercially, by the way).

Somebody else who'd eventually gotten interested enough in the band, was new Australian label Melodic Rock Records (yeah...Down Under they still believe and listen to nice FM Rock in masses, you know!?). The label was founded by the owner of (www.) melodicrock.com, one of the largest websites in the genre worldwide (over 10,000 visits a day). When the band was getting positive label reactions to their full-length promo, but were rejected from being signed because their style was out-dated, he made a promise to the band that he would try something to help 'em along. Eventually, that led to the founding of a label, the first official release of which was a solo album by Jimi Jamison and Jim Peterik (both of Survivor repute). MRR are to re-issue the band's promo album as their official label debut, enhanced with two bonus tracks, this very month of October. And on a world-wide scale too! At the moment, MRR are looking (through their connections) for possibilities for the band to appear on some of the bigger festivals in the genre, come next year. Personally, I grant the band all the good fortune they've been getting lately, and I hop their luck holds. I think it's about time the guys find themselves a steady drummer though...at the moment they're being helped out by friends. Last year they used former Convict's Dries Van Dyck, and currently Bram Steemans of Janez Detd has taken over helping out the band.

A question you might ask yourself is whether Hill's remix really added a lot to the song, and the answer to that is simply: he's cut off some of the sharp edge of the guitars, and in so doin' sure helped in making it appreciable to a broader public. You'll excuse me if I don't give this a rating?

Tony.