Welcome All Access Magazine readers to the first edition of ARIZONA ROCKS!! While there is no doubt an enormous amount of talent out in the great state of California, especially Hollywood, we here in your neighboring state of Arizona have some kick ass rocking talent as well. Every month I will do my best to give you all a taste of what is going on in the AZ music scene. After all, Arizona has long been a residing state for long list of rock and roll talent. Some of the musical talent that call Arizona home include Alice Cooper, Rob Halford, Dave Mustaine, Bret Michaels, members of Tesla, Dokken, Bang Tango and even the drunk “Rhinestone Cowboy” Glen Campbell! I assure you though, you won’t be seeing any freaking articles on Glen Campbell in these pages!! Only good old fashioned hard hitting Rock and Roll will be covered, after all this article is called Arizona ROCKS, not Arizona “old fart Country”. So without further ado, let’s get to some Rocking!
WINGER w/ Special guests BIG COCK
Live @ The Martini Ranch, Scottsdale, AZ 3/12/2008
When news broke out that local boys Big Cock would be opening for 80’s Hard Rock favorites Winger at an awesome venue like The Martini Ranch in Scottsdale, AZ, an enthusiastic buzz was met throughout their growing legion of fans. In the audience for this show were the likes of Mick Brown from Dokken, Michael Lardie of Great White and Night Ranger and even Danny Wexler from Arizona’s long time favorites, Icon! Finally, the guys in Big Cock were going to get to showcase their unique brand of loud, crude, rude, arrogant, pompous and aggressive arena rock in front of a major band’s audience. Something that local fans have been able to witness at the bands self promoted shows called Club Sleaze. Now in case you’re 
not familiar with the self proclaimed “Hardest Band in the Land”, Big Cock are definitely no strangers to the Hard Rock scene. Featuring Dave Henzerling (David Michael Phillips of King Kobra and Keel fame) on guitar and the “Bad Motherfucker” himself, Robert Mason, formerly of Lynch Mob and Cry of Love, on vocals, they have the experience and songwriting talents to make a full frontal assault on the hard rock world! Rounded out by “The Pulverizer” John Covington on drums and Colby (to cool for a last name, like Prince) on bass, the band is now supporting their third release, “Motherload” that was just released and is now available pretty much everywhere that Kick Ass Rock and Roll is sold.
Opening up the show with “Get a Load of Me”, the lead track from “Motherload”, the band set the mood for what would be a night of fun filled, hormone inspiring rock, reminiscent of the 80’s hard rock heyday. Hell, with all the scantily clad beautiful women in the crowd it was hard not to have your hormones inspired and think back to the “Decadent 1980’s”! The band’s sound was right on and the band looked inspired to take advantage of this opportunity and win over some new fans. “Ride On Me”, “Stamina” and “Fucked Up” were next and showcased not only the tight musicianship of the band but also their trademark tongue in cheek lyrics. When the band ripped into probably their biggest hit “Real Man” and their newest smash “Breakin’ My Balls” the crowd was silly putty in their hands! Wait a second, did I just refer that “Big Cock” was IN the audience’s hands? Oh boy, there goes my PG Rated first review!! Ah well, that’s Rock and Roll, right? At this point the band was in full gear and had the complete attention of the audience! The band continued on with the heavy groove of “Bad Motherfucker” and proceeded into their new sleazy tribute all the Hot Moms around the world, “M.I.L.F”. What a freaking killer tune this is with its catchy chorus and extremely innuendoed lyrics! “King of Cool” from the bands first CD was next and the band finished off with their set with the song from their brand new video “Built For Speed”. Let me tell you something, if you have not checked out the video for this song, DO IT NOW by going to YouTube and check it out! Not only is this song such a driving, in your face, instant hard rock classic, but the video showcases the band in fine form, along with an EXTREMELY HOT looking gal to boot.
The band, Big Cock, is headed for some great things in 2008 like upcoming shows with Jackyl and an appearance at the South Texas Rock Fest that will take place from July 11th to the 13th, along with bands like Queensryche, Dokken, Y & T, Krokus and Firehouse. To learn more about the band check out their website (www.bigcockrocks.com) or go to their official Myspace page (www.myspace.com/bigcockrocks). DON’T miss out to get a “Motherload” of some Big Cock in 2008!!
Now onto the headliner of the night, Winger. First let me start by saying that these guys have always been given a bad rap and it is extremely undeserved! Now, I was a fan of Beavis and Butthead back in the day, but the fact that the writers of that show decided to put a Winger shirt on that little dork, Stuart, was kind of B.S. if you ask me. While the guys in the band, especially Kip, were kind of the “pin-up poster child’s” of the late 1980’s hard rock scene, these musicians can fucking play my friends! I don’t believe I have EVER heard a musician say, “Ya know, that Reb Beach sucks at guitar” or “Rod Morgenstein is such a shitty drummer”! And honestly, if I did ever hear somebody ignorant to say something as ridiculous as that, they would get a heated argument from me, that’s for sure! Even Kip Winger is an incredible musician and a great songwriter that just got an unfair tag of just a pretty boy.
The band’s set this night consisted mostly of their hits but the band also threw in some new songs from their latest CD, “Winger IV” and also some of the bands personal favorites. They opened up the show with “Blind Revolution Mad” from probably their best, and most underappreciated CD, “Pull”. Unfortunately that CD came out when the Seattle grunge scene was in full effect in the early 90’s and didn’t get the recognition it truly deserved. The band played 3 songs from “Pull” at this show, “Blind Rev. Mad”, “Junkyard Dog” and “Down Incognito” and all sounded fantastic live and the fans in Scottsdale ate up everything that Winger was dishing out for them! Along the way in the set, the band also played hits like “Can’t Get Enuff”, “Easy Come, Easy Go”, and “Headed for A Heartbreak”. On their hit song, “She’s Only 17”, Kip actually sang “She’s Only 35” instead, much to the delight of the mostly 30-something crowd in attendance.
I have to tell you that on this particular night, the band sounded particularly tight but also seemed to be having a great time onstage together. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve always known that the mainstays of the band, Kip, Reb and Rod were all great musicians but on this night, I also noticed how talented their second guitar player, John Roth was. Not only did he have his own little showcase on lead guitar during the set but I also noticed how important his strong backing vocals are to the band. I think this might have been the first time I saw him with the band and I was very impressed by his talent. Having mentioned how talented I think all the guys in the band are, one thing about this show kind of soured me just a bit. About 10 to 15 minutes of their set was allocated for a guitar solo from Reb Beach and a drum solo from Rod Morgenstien. Now, even though I recognize these guys talents, I would MUCH RATHER have heard some more of the bands songs instead of some guitar and drum solos. Honestly, I think A LOT of people feel the same way I do about this, ESPECIALLY in a show that has a club setting. All in all though, the band did play 14 songs throughout their set including three for the encores, “Miles Away”, “Hungry” and “Madalaine”.
When all was said and done, both bands, Big Cock and Winger, put on a great show that left people longing for more!! With concerts like Rocklahoma enticing some great bands from the 80’s hair metal era to reform, it looks like fans will be getting more than their share of some great Melodic and kickass Hard Rock in 2008!! See you all again next month!
Bands, do you want your CD or upcoming show reviewed? Contact me at myspace.com/bigrock68 and let me know how to get in contact with you. Thanks!
