Welcome To The New Wave: The New Roses

The New Wave of Classic Rock is now officially a thing with the release of it’s first Metal For Muthas-styled compilation album heading for record store racks very soon; Sentinel Daily today speaks to another of the leading lights of the movement in the third of a series of chats with some of the artists featured on the record. Dig the new breed!

Welcome! For the benefit of our readers please identify yourself and your role in the band… “I’m Timmy Rough. I’m singer and guitarist of The New Roses“.

The New Roses formed before the whole ‘New Wave of Classic Rock’ phenomenon kicked off, but did you find that it assisted the band to perhaps become more widely known when you started to become associated with it? “To be honest we never really felt a change of the situation. We’ve spent our whole life in this bubble of rock and roll music and with people who follow the same life style as we do. When we first started this and it was just because we loved to play. And nothing has changed since then except that our audience got bigger and bigger. But we don’t analyse the ‘why’, we just enjoy the ‘wow’. But of course we realise there are more younger people in our audience. That’s great and might be part of a such a new wave”.

The movement covers a wide range of musical styles and genres – what does the term ‘classic rock’ mean to you? “Actually I’m not a big fan of all those terms. We always use just one term and that’s Rock n’Roll. If we use that it means It’s rock music and we like it. That could be The Rolling Stones, Slayer or Roxette. Of course we know that there are official terms for all these styles and that’s okay. But we like to keep it simple, you know…”

That’s often the best policy! If you could have appeared on any classic rock album from the past, what would it be? “There was a tribute to Les Paul a couple of years ago that I really enjoyed. A lot of great artists participated and I would have loved to be part of that jam. John Fogerty also made a record called Wrote A Song For Everyone (2013) and I love it. A lot of great musicians appear on that album”.

I’ve never been a Creedence/Fogerty fan but I’ll definitely give that album a spin… Who would you say were your favourite artists who appear on the The Official New Wave Of Classic Rock – Volume 1 album? “You know, we’ve seen a lot of great playing bands out there along the way. But we also appreciate a solid rock n’roll attitude and that spirit that goes along with it. And that’s why we dig bands such as Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons, Thundermother and Massive Wagons a lot”.

Obviously it’s hard to talk about anything music industry-related without mentioning COVID – how did the pandemic impact The New Roses, and what plans do you have moving forward if and when things return to normal? “Of cause we had to cancel countless shows and after being on the road non stop for years and years it kind of feels like jumping off an aeroplane without a parachute. But once we hit the ground and got over the pain and frustration we started to work on a new album and that’s what keeps us motivated. So as soon as this is over we will get back on the road, catch up with all the shows we had to push back and then push back again and then release a new record and do what we do best and love the most. Playing LIVE!”

And hopefully that might include a few Australian shows! Have sites like The New Wave of Classic Rock Facebook page been useful in maintaining momentum for you over the last fourteen months? “Everything that spreads the love for rock music helps and motivates. And we think it’s amazing that there are so many volunteers that spend all their precious free time to review albums and live shows and maintain websites, podcasts or Youtube channels. That’s so cool and a very important tool to keep rock n’roll alive and especially to give newcomers a platform that reaches new potential fans. So thanks to the new wave of classic rock and all you music lovers out there that keep on keeping on…”

It’s nice to be appreciated! Now, here’s your chance to curate your own stage at Sentinel Daily’s virtual classic rock festival – which five ‘classic’ bands would you select, and why? “At the moment I have kind of a private flashback going on into southern rock music. So I’d love to bring Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allmann Brothers Band (if they would still play) together and mix them with some new blood like Whiskey Myers and A Thousand Horses. And of cause The New Roses would have slot just to be part of such a great party (laughs). But I could come up with hundreds of cool line ups from all kinds of rock genres”.

Anything else you’d like to tell the readers of Sentinel Daily? “Just stay brave for a little while and we all can meet each other again and create some magic…”