RUDY SARZO, BRAD GILLIS And TOMMY ALDRIDGE Reunite For Cover Of THE WHO's 'The Real Me'
Архив новостей | Русская версия
Canadian-born Rick Hughes is renowned for his powerful voice as the lead singer of the legendary metal band SWORD, and of the hard-rock band SAINTS & SINNERS, as well as a seasoned performer with hundreds of headlining shows in Canada, America, Europe and Japan over the years, and his superb stage performances while opening for bands such as METALLICA, MOTÖRHEAD, Alice Cooper and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY. So when it was time for him to record "Redemption", his first international solo album, he spared no expenses and efforts to make this album a great one, hiring producer John Webster (AEROSMITH, MÖTLEY CRÜE, AC/DC) and renting HippoSonic Recording Studio (formerly known as Little Mountain Studios) in Vancouver to record this opus.
The first salvo is coming out September 5, 2025, and it is quite an event in itself: his first single and video is a supercharged version of THE WHO's classic "The Real Me" — reuniting after 43 years Ozzy Osbourne's superband consisting of Brad Gillis on guitar, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Tommy Aldridge on drums. This is the band that did the last leg of the "Diary Of A Madman" tour in 1982 after the tragic departure of the great Randy Rhoads, and that then recorded Ozzy's classic live album "Speak Of The Devil".
The resulting sound is epic, and so is the spectacular video that was shot and directed by Matthew Lucas ("Kringle Time", "Moonshot", "We Meet Again") at the state-of-the-art L.A. Castle Studios, with post and editing by Montreal's Jean-Marc Laurin ("Jurassic World", "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", "Game Of Thrones", "Assassin's Creed").
"'The Real Me' stands as a cornerstone of my album 'Redemption'," says Rick. "As a lifelong fan of THE WHO, I wanted to pay tribute to the golden age of '70s rock. To capture that spirit, I brought together a true supergroup with Tommy Aldridge, Rudy Sarzo and Brad Gillis, a unique moment where legends unite to breathe new life into a classic."
This very special song is part of the upcoming Rick Hughes album "Redemption", a collection of great rock songs to be released on Friday, October 24, 2025 on CD, vinyl, and digital format worldwide by Deko Entertainment, and featuring more great collaborations with some famous musicians.
Included are two more songs featuring the superb songwriting and inspired guitar playing of the great Brad Gillis, another featuring the extraordinary talent of THE DOORS legendary guitarist Robby Krieger, and great contributions from rock royalty Lee Aaron, vocal powerhouse Amy Keys (Ringo Starr, Phil Collins, TOTO, Sting, Stevie Wonder),rising guitar hot shot Jacob Deraps, as well as Rick's gifted sister Lulu Hughes.
With its great performances, "Redemption" is a very special and unique rock album that brings together seven songs in English, one bilingual and two songs in French.
"Redemption" track listing:
01. Dead End Road
02. Croire En L'homme
03. The Real Me
04. Carry The Torch
05. Will Of The Gun
06. Shake My Soul
07. Someday
08. Dans La Peau
09. In A Perfect World
10. Ça Va Brasser
11. Dans La Peau (French version) (bonus track)
Pick up the limited-edition bundle (100 copies) that includes a collectible seven-inch vinyl of "The Real Me" signed by Rick Hughes, Brad Gillis, Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo at this location.
Sarzo spoke about his latest collaboration with Gillis and Aldridge this past January in an interview with with Rock Your Faith Out. He said at the time: "There's a singer named Rick Hughes. He's in a band called SWORD in Montreal, Canada. His manager contacted Tommy, Brad and me and asked each individually if we wanted to play on one song off his record. I'm not gonna disclose what the song is. I can tell you it's not an Ozzy or BLACK SABBATH song. It's not; it's not at all. It has nothing to do with anything that we have done together in the past, except it's us playing together. There's no tie to what we did in the past."
He continued: "It's not really a project; it is a one-off, an appearance. And so we did the song about three or four months ago — that's when I did my track — separately. Tommy did his, and I did mine, and then Brad did his. That's how we all were able to do it because we live in different parts of the world. So then they asked us if we wanted to be in the video. And I figured, 'Well, I already played on the track, and I like what I played. So I might as well be on the video.' And that's what we did. We got together [in late November] and we made a video.
"We were just basically hired to do this," Rudy explained. "We're not part of something. Because I already have my something, which is QUIET RIOT, and I'm very busy with that something."
Gillis first revealed his involvement with Sarzo and Aldridge on the aforementioned recording last November. He wrote on his social media at the time: "Excited about recording a classic cover song and filming a video to be released in early 2025….. Getting together with my ol' Ozzy buddies Rudy Sarzo (bass) and Tommy Aldridge (drums) and talented Canadian vocalist Rick Hughes was a BLAST! More to come soon!!!"
Formed in 1980 in Montreal, SWORD (not to be confused with THE SWORD, a great doom metal band that came out over 20 years later) released its Combat Records debut, "Metalized", in 1986, punctuated by the band's precise thrash attack, and the soaring vocals of Rick Hughes, summed up by Kerrang!'s Mark Putterford as such; "My eyes are a painful shade of purple. My ears are ringing tortuously. My mouth is awash with blood and broken teeth, I've just been ten rounds with a Montreal mob called SWORD. "
SWORD was hand-picked by METALLICA to open the Quebec leg of the "Master Of Puppets" tour, Alice Cooper's Canadian "Return Of The Nightmare" tour and then crisscrossed the U.K. with the mighty Lemmy on MOTÖRHEAD's "Rock N' Roll" tour. "Metalized" was followed up by the heavy but diverse "Sweet Dreams" in 1988.
After a short U.S. tour promoting "Sweet Dreams", SWORD started work on its third album when all hell broke loose, and a parting of ways ensued. Until 2011, when they reunited for a few select shows in Canada and Germany and found the urge to go back in the studio to pick up where they had left off.
The quartet soon ended up right back where they started, after connecting with Thom Hazaert and then-MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson, and their relaunched Combat Records, which immediately released "Live: Hammersmith", a live recording of a "Metalized"-era SWORD show supporting MOTÖRHEAD at England's fabled Hammersmith Odeon.
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
