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"Posh Rock Rail" USA (SC), März '03 (Musik-Magazin)

"NOCTURN...SELF TITLED*** SELF RELEASED WWW.NOCTURNBAND.COM

A southern rock band from Hamburg, Germany? Yep, and quite a good one at that. Named after the Jazz song "Harlem Nocturn" by Earl Hagen, Nocturn has been doing the Southern-Rock thing since '94 and has maintained the current five piece line-up since '98. Germany has a fairly large fan base for Southern rock music. Past and present German bands such as Lizard, Creepy Layne, General Lee Band, Street Survivors, Flatman and Two Moon are all examples of Germany's appreciation and love for the rebel-minded genre. Bass player Lutz Melzer says "Well, there's a small, but dedicated fan-base here that really adore the heroes like Skynyrd or Allman Brothers. Skynyrd or Hatchet tours have good crowd sizes, and the die-hards also support the smaller bands like Doc Holliday, or a little smaller, Rebel Storm. Bandwise, there are some bands here playin' music one can call Southern Rock if one only looks at the musical style, not the place of birth... All in all, Southern Rock is not a mainstream, million- record-selling thing over here, like rap, r'n'b or pop music, but a special niche with dedicated fans." Nocturn naturally has a deep respect for many American Southern Rock bands and their heroes include The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, .38 Special, Molly Hatchet, Doc Holliday, Blackfoot and The Outlaws. They also enjoy blues artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughn and John Campbell. When asked to name the band's favorite Southern Rock album of all time, Lutz stated that it was "very difficult. Maybe Skynyrd's "One more from the road", or The Allman Brothers Band's "Seven Turns".." I went on to ask Lutz why Nocturn loved Southern Rock so much as to make a career out of playing it, especially when they've never toured outside of Germany. "In general, why do we love Southern Rock? Well, it's about the music first. We like the different styles which are influences of Southern Rock, we like the rock, the blues, the jazz, the Texas funk, the country touch...so as players, we have a variety of stuff to do and still it all fits together. We can rock hard, we can play mellow, we can improvise and jam, that's just cool. So while we also like to *listen* to Southern rock, it sure is fun to *play* southern rock. ..."

And play they do. The album consists of 12 original songs that run the gamut of Southern Rock styles and the musicianship is outstanding throughout with nearly every song featuring a cool solo. Although the vocals do carry a tinge of their German ethnicity, it's virtually unnoticeable unless you were specifically looking for it. The opening cut "Lady's Blues" recalls early Skynyrd and with it's stomping rhythm and nicely done piano solo, it makes for a great start. "Carolina" brings to mind Toy Caldwell of The Marshall Tucker Band and is a road song with a heart-felt, slower tempo about 12 wheels on the road. "Grown", another road song with a Skynyrd / Blackfoot feel, features a great, kick-ass solo and lyrics such as: Sometimes being grown / Makes me feel alone / Now I'm a stranger on my own / Got to find a way of carrying the load / Now my home is on the road .. "Atlanta", a cut about going home again, features a jazzy guitar and keyboards that work well and brought to mind Little Feat and Sea level. Other good songs include "Day by day" which sported a Gregg Allman feel and "Rambler" a song in the style of "Blackfoot" which incorporates Hatchet's "Gator Country" in the lyrics.

I asked Lutz for his thoughts concerning the band's future. "We want to keep playin', we love to play live. Maybe we can do some of the European festivals this year or in the future. We're also tryin' to open shows for other cool bands that come to Germany...like we did with Molly Hatchet and Doc Holliday for example. If possible - that's a question of costs especially - , we would love to play some shows in the US someday. We would also love to record more of our songs, because - besides those tracks featured on the CD - there is a catalogue of self-penned tracks we have, that's enough for about 2 new CDs right now, and we keep writing..."

Well, I for one definitely look forward to the next album. Nocturn's first full release is available in the online store at www.gritz.net. Get it."