NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) - Whether playing sold out gigs in London, music festivals in
Europe or touring with the likes of
Bon Jovi and
Van Halen one thing is for sure - internationally acclaimed band Crown of Thorns is a powerhouse outfit ready to rock their way into the hearts and minds of US music fans. With their first release in seven years, Crown of Thorns are back to deliver a timeless collection of melodic rock nuggets that will energize their fans worldwide. The new record 'Faith,' in stores May 14th, marks the first time US fans will have the opportunity to buy a Crown of Thorns album in the States other than as an import since the beginning of the band's career.
'Faith' is a milestone in more ways than one. The record will be released through Little Steven Van Zandt's new imprint Lost Cathedral Records, sister label to Wicked Cool Records, that will focuses on the hard rock genre. The imprint was launched specifically for the release of this album. The U.S. version of 'Faith' contains the original eleven tracks on the import plus three bonus tracks and features new artwork, making this release a "must have" for Crown of Thorns fans.
As Little Steven Van Zandt explains, "Crown Of Thorns' style comes out of the '70's and '80's Classic Melodic Hard Rock genre but Jean's voice is more versatile than most and has to be because his songwriting covers a wider range than the genre can hold. From his most intimate whispered vignettes filled with personal torment, to his vast epic sci-fi post-apocalyptic movie vistas, his songs capture you and transport you to another time and place. And the band is great enough to communicate the magic and the majesty of every emotional nuance."
All songs on 'Faith' were written and produced by Crown of Thorns frontman Jean Beauvoir except "Rock Ready" which he co-wrote with Michael Paige and "Living In The Shadows" co-written with Tommy Lafferty. Beauvoir's rock and roll pedigree is unmatched. He was an original member of the Plasmatics, one of the most outrageous rock acts of all time. From there he moved on to join Little Steven as a bassist and then guitarist and co-producer of one of three recorded singles but after two albums and three hugely successful world tours he left to pursue a solo career. This resulted in the Platinum worldwide single "Feel The Heat" the title track from Sly Stallone's film "Cobra" featured on Beauvoir's solo 'Drums Along The Mohawk' LP and tours with The Eurythmics and Tina Turner. He also found time to co-write songs with the likes of Kiss, The Ramones, Lionel Ritchie, John Waite, Deborah Harry and many others. His band Voodoo X, recorded the album 'Volume 1 - The Awakening' for Columbia which is still considered one of the best melodic rock albums ever by most of the rock press and fans.
Jean collaborated with Bob Clearmountain (Bryan Adams, Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band) in the recording sessions for 'Faith' along with Mark Plati (David Bowie) for the mix. The result is the best sounding Crown of Thorns album ever! 'Faith' is an album that brings back the trademark Crown of Thorns sound that established the band as a global force to be reckoned with and keeps intact all the elements of infectious guitar riffs, soaring hooklines and great melodies.
'Faith' opens hard with the title track and continues to rock steady with "All In My Head," "Stay With Me," "Rock Ready," and other stand out tracks such as "All I Wanna Do," "Living In The Shadows," and "All or Nothing." The three bonus tracks "The Healer" co-written with Jim Vallance and Micki Free, "Motorcycle Loretta" co-written with Steven Van Zandt, and a cover of "Born To Be Wild" round out this stellar collection of rock tunes. "Crown of Thorns has been a secret in the States for too long!" says Jean. "It's time for our fans here at home to see what we've got. It's been a long time coming and we're back home to Rock hard! "
Crown Of Thorns had to wait a long time to unleash themselves on the unsuspecting public, but having finally done so, everyone agrees it was worth the wait. Formed at the dawn of the 90's by Jean Beauvoir recruiting Tony Thompson of Chic and The Powerstation, Micki Free of Shalamar and top session bassist Michael Paige, Crown Of Thorns quickly became the subject of a fierce major label bidding war. Interscope emerged as the winner, reportedly paying them a cool million dollars for the honor.
Crown of Thorns debut album enlisted the help of Paul Stanley of Kiss, Jim Vallance (Bryan Adams /Aerosmith) and Beau Hill (Europe/Winger). Fate decreed, however, that the resulting self-titled debut album would never see the light of day as an Interscope release. With musical climates changing and management problems, the album was delayed for well over a year - then finally the band was free to go elsewhere. The album arrived in shops mid April 1994 to much critical acclaim. Kerrang! dubbed it "One of the finest American Hard Rock albums in recent years" - it entered the Metal charts a week after release and stayed there for an incredible six months!
Crown Of Thorns returned to Great Britain in the summer where they toured extensively and capitalized on the glowing reviews of their sold out showcase gig at the famous Marquis club in London. This time, however, Tony Thompson was replaced full time by Hawk Lopez. The year 1995 gave Crown Of Thorns the opportunity to show its stadium potential with new guitarist Tommy Lafferty, when Jean was asked by Jon Bon Jovi to be special guests to Bon Jovi and Van Halen for three months throughout all of Europe, playing to over a million people and with raving audience response.
They soon headed back into the studio for the completion of the album "Breakthrough", released in early 1996 and raised even more eyebrows when the foursome headed back on the road to give their audiences an earful of their hard hitting new material! The band toured extensively mostly in Germany to sold out audiences, kicking ass as usual! Soon after the touring assault, the writing began for the album "Lost Cathedral". Crown of Thorns recruited the talent of Little Steven Van Zandt from Bruce Springsteen's E-street band for co-writing of three songs and Max Norman of Ozzy Osbourne/Megadeth fame to mix the album. The press called this album one of the best rock albums of the decade.
In came the millennium, which brought "Destiny Unknown' featuring three songs in Hollywood films then later 'Karma' in 2002 which built on the foundations of the success of the previous record and allowed the band a great spotlight, particularly in the European market.
Jean in the past few years has continued the quest of keeping Rock and Roll alive kicking as CEO and Managing Director of Renegade Nation - a company founded by chairman Little Steven Van Zandt of HBO's "The Sopranos" and Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band fame. Meanwhile, he kept on writing new songs for Crown of Thorns and the right chance came when he connected with Frontiers Records (Journey, Toto, Survivor, Styx) in 2008 for the International release excluding the U.S. of the brand new album entitled 'Faith.'
After a short absence, Crown of Thorns are ready to pick up where they left off and the long-awaited U.S. release of 'Faith' proves that good things come to those who wait.
