Iain Ashley Hersey – Vintage Love – The Best (2011)

Growing up in New England, Iain Ashley Hersey cut his teeth on the heavier British Rock Bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Bad Company and guitar players like Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. Certainly influenced by the voices from the past he’s always strived to grow musically and develop his own style of which he has now most certainly carved out his own unique voice and signature.

Later seeking to expand his musical vocabulary he studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston where he expanded his realm into that of Jazz improvisation, eventually though he returned to the fold of Rock ‘n’ Roll. “Vintage Love” is the name of his brand new release, a compilation including the best of Iain’s previous work. Iain Ashley Hersey’s first album was entitled “Fallen Angel” and released on Avex in Japan in 1999 and on Frontiers Records in Europe two years later. For this record, he was joined by singers Dante Marchi (“Goin’ Down And Dirty”, “Distant Memories”), Paul Shortino (“Hold On”) and Mike Stone on the previously only in Japan available bonus track “The Outcaste”. The latter two tracks were produced and mixed by Pat Regan (Rainbow, Gotthard, Deep Purple, Kiss, Doro), while Joe Seta handled the production duties on “Goin’ Down And Dirty” and “Distant Memories”. Iain’s sophomore record “The Holy Grail” was released in 2005 on Lion Music, it’s the first album featuring Carsten Schulz (Evidence One) on vocals. Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, Alcatrazz, MSG), David Montgomery and Randy Williams completed the line-up of vocalists. According to Iain, this is the release which shows him finding his own voice, signature and style. Five tracks on “Vintage Love” originate from this CD: “Blood Of Kings” (Montgomery), “Walking The Talk” and “The Holy Grail” (Bonnet), “Calling For The Moon” (Schulz) and “Blink Of An Eye” (Williams). This time, the whole record was produced by Pat Regan and Iain and mixed by Pat Regan.
Released in 2008 on Perris Records, “Nomad” is Iain Ashley Hersey’s most recent studio album. This time singer Carsten Schulz can be heard on the majority of songs. The ones featured on “Vintage Love” are: “Voodoo Spirits”, “Sacrifice The Sun”, “Vintage Love” and “When Will My Love Fade”. Former Rainbow singer Doogie White took over the lead vocals on the Rainbow cover song “L.A. Connection”, which also features Paul Logue (Eden’s Curse) on bass.
“Vintage Love” is completed by an unreleased song called “Red Head Rampage” which once again features Schulz on vocals. This release will without a doubt appeal to fans of the aforementioned Classic Rock, Hard Rock and Melodic Rock bands, but also for lovers of Blues influenced Classic Rock artists such as Black Country Communion, Philip Sayce, Richie Kotzen and Joe Bonamassa, Iain Ashley Hersey has a lot to offer.

1. Goin’ Down And Dirty
2. Distant Memories
3. Hold On
4. The Outcaste
5. Blood Of Kings
6. Walking The Talk
7. Calling For The Moon
8. Blink Of An Eye
9. The Holy Grail
10. Voodoo Spirits
11. Sacrifice The Sun
12. L.A. Connection
13. Vintage Love
14. When Will My Love Fade
15. Red Head Rampage

Iain Ashley Hersey (guitar, bass, keyboards)
Graham Bonnet (vocals)
Dante Marchi (vocals)
David “Swan” Montgomery (vocals)
Carsten “Lizard” Schulz (vocals)
Paul Shortino (vocals)
Mike Stone (vocals)
Doogie White (vocals)
Randy William (vocals)
Steffen “Seegi” Seeger (guitar)
Paul Logue (bass)
Jochen Mayer (bass)
Marvin Sperling (bass)
Dave Sutton (bass)
Sam Aliano (drums)
Jimmy Griego (drums)
Bernd Herrmann (drums)
Frank Kraus (drums)
Tony Medeiro (drums)
Jim Austin (keyboards)
Alessandro Del Vecchio (keyboards)
Pat Regan (keyboards)
Holger Seeger (keyboards)
Harlan Spector (keyboards)
Philip Wolfe (keyboards)

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