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There was a time in rock ‘n’ roll when the United Kingdom was synonymous with hard rock. During most of the seventies and into the early eighties, some time after the break up of 
The Beatles and before Los Angeles metal got big, when stadium rock was at its peak, the sight of the Union Jack signaled heavy, bombastic rock, with long-haired, shirtless, heroin-toned singers like Iggy Pop (QRO photos). But Britain has been the source of lots of music (maybe most music), and between America aping and England mocking (whether tongue-in-cheek like Spinal Tap or spit-in-face like The Sex Pistols), hard rock moved on. But in the 
twenty-first century, everything is coming back around, and bringing back U.K. hard rock are the Sons of Albion, who played a special gig at PC Richard and Son Theater on Friday, November 5th for iheartradio.com.
Kicking off with their backscreen lit up in the Union Jack style, the four-piece rocked the small PC Richard and Son Theater (QRO venue review) with hard-hitting numbers like "Better Day" and "Primal Scream". Included amongst them was the new, more epic "Killing the Machine", as well as their cover closer. They’d been asked to a cover by their hosts (something seemingly standard for PC Richard shows), and they picked wisely: they didn’t attempt to ape something new-ish, or turn something soft into something hard, or just carbon copy some classic rock. But they did look to the past, but to that place between the U.S. & the U.K., Canada, for an anthemistic, lighter-in-the-air (well, not really – lighters aren’t allowed in most clubs these days) cover of "After the Goldrush" by 
Neil Young.
There was talk of love, peace, and unity (something hard rock bands also used to do a lot more of), including pointing out that only two of the four members of the band are actually from the U.K. (and bassist Gones is Welsh), as guitarist Nuno Miguel & drummer Francisco de Sousa are actually from Portugal. But there were also moments of levity from the band, such as singer Logan Romero Plant explaining their name, "‘Albion’ is the old word for Britain. The Romans gave it to us back… whenever it was… A.D." Gones saw his strap get loose during "Dorothea", with one of the VIPs earning his ‘V’ by going on stage and helping Gones – the song ended before the bassist could get right, with Plant remarking after it was done, "Can’t afford a bass strap – we get no benefits in the U.K….".
Certainly a band that was excited to be playing America, and especially New York ("New York! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to say that, and I’m saying it! New York!"), Sons of Albion were bringing hard rock back from where it belongs.
Sons of Alion playing live at PC Richard and Son Theater on November 5th, 2010:
-photos: Shelby Case for iheartradio.com
