In 1994, BraveWords & Bloody Knuckles magazine was born and here we stand 30 years later celebrating the past 12 months of music on our anniversary! What an incredible ride it has been and it's far from over! And during the past three decades, we've literally seen/heard thousands of releases and this is the time of the season when we crown the finest! The BraveWords scribes have spoken, so join us each day this month as we count down to the BravePick of 2024!

Remember, everybody has an opinion and it’s time for ours! Stay tuned at the end of December for BraveWords' writers’ individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), What/Who Needs To Stop In 2024? and Metal Predictions For 2025. 

BravePicks 2024

29) THE DEAD DAISIES - Light 'Em Up (Independent)

 

New life was brought back to The Dead Daisies in 2024 with the return of singer Jon Corabi. All felt right with the world with his rough and tough vocals back behind the mic and new album Light ‘Em Up does exactly what it sets out to do – fiery, motor-fueled rock ‘n’ roll done with grit and whiskey soaked attitude.

Top down and pedal to the metal, The Dead Daisies prove once again rock is not dead as Light ‘Em Up burns to #29.

Corabi spoke with BW’s Aaron Small about the record; an excerpt below:

Light ‘Em Up was created and recorded in two different locations – Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and Sienna Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. “It seems odd, but we actually got a lot accomplished at both places,” admits Corabi. “We started rehearsing and putting these ideas together in Nashville. Then, I think it was a bucket list thing for all of us, management included, to go down to Muscle Shoals and see what it was all about. We booked some time down there. We only went down there for maybe ten days. But we also did some writing and recording there in the earlier part of the day. Then about five or six o’clock when we were down there, our manager, or Marti (Frederiksen, producer) would walk through the room with bottles of wine, whiskey, or whatever was on board that night, and we just started jamming. To be honest with you, we actually did two records in this time frame. We actually finished writing and recording Light ‘Em Up, and then we also, because of our trip to Muscle Shoals – call it the mojo, the vibe, whatever – we were so inspired by it that we actually recorded a blues record as well.” Of covers? “Yeah. We did classic blues songs like some old Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters. We did ten or eleven songs. We recorded ‘em, they’re in the can, mixed, mastered, ready to go. It was just something fun for us to do.”

“Now, the thing that was weird about this. We went to the first studio, called Fame, that was the one that got the swampers, and that Lynyrd Skynyrd talks about in ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. So, that’s where it all started. But the funny thing is, Marti’s studio, there’s kind of a… part of the lineage is, Fame Studios was the first. Then a couple of the swampers left and started another studio across town on Jackson Highway. That one became equally as famous, and busy. So, a couple of those guys left and went to Nashville and started a studio in the ‘70s; I guess it was called Quad. Well, when Marti moved to Nashville, he bought that studio. So, Sienna is actually the third studio in that lineage of the Muscle Shoals sound. The room that we used at Marti’s was the same room that Neil Young recorded Harvest in. It was kind of like this crazy museum tour; we were just vibing out on the whole thing. So, we did Light ‘Em Up, and we did a blues record. We were pretty stoked about it! It was a lot of fun. We had a blast doing these two records, it was insane!”

BravePicks 2024 Top 30

29) THE DEAD DAISIES - Light 'Em Up (Independent)
30) MÖRK GRYNING - Fasornas Tid (Season Of Mist)