Hump Day Hot Ticket: The McGrath Project “Your Secret is Out”

Band photo

This week, I'm going to travel off the beaten path and turn my attention to something not as rooted in metal or even hard rock. I wrote before about musician Gary McGrath here on this blog, so this week I am going to give a nod to one of his many musical endeavors, The McGrath Project.

Whatever name the musical project is called, when Gary is involved, there is a distinct style and sound that is unmistakable. Gary's music is fun, upbeat, reminiscent of the days when good pop music was made with real sugar! It doesn't sound like all the other cookie-cutter pop music out there; the formulaic auto-tuned songs about booty that are a dime a dozen. The McGrath Project is refreshingly vibrant, something new and interesting amid all that boring stuff, yet maintaining an air reminiscent of yesteryear: that sweet bubblegum pop that ruled the 1960s, and could still be heard well into the ’80s; the days when “pop music” was not a derogatory term.

Keeping to the playfulness and fun in their sound, The McGrath Project's video for “Your Secret is Out” is a quirky little number with a sense of humor. That is clear enough from the start, when the video begins with a producer at the console, asking the band in the sound booth to “try a little better at not sucking, thanks!” Meanwhile, the band looks like they are having a blast as they play a song about betrayal, with big smiles on their faces.

For more information on The McGrath Project, visit their official website.

Hump Day Hot Ticket: Osmo's Cosmos “Runnin' Down a Dream”

Photo courtesy of Nestori Lönngrén

This week marks one year since I started this “Hump Day Hot Ticket” segment, and I must say, it has been a lot of fun. It has given me a chance to find new music from all over the world, and to give a platform to bands I have liked for a long time. Yet in all that time, surprisingly, there is one place my musical travels had yet to take me: Finland.

Ah, Finland...the home of more metal bands per capita than any other country on earth. It is said that Finland boasts hundreds of metal bands, and if you have been following metal music at all past the 20th century, chances are you have at least one Finnish band in your music library. (Even if you have not updated your metal record collection since the 1980s, you may still have one Finnish band in your stack of vinyls: Hanoi Rocks.) Stratovarius, Nightwish, HIM, Battlelore, Children of Bodom (to name only a few!)...Finland has become as known for producing top-notch metal music as they are known for saunas, Moomins, and the Nokia phone (in some respects, maybe even more so).

Considering how many Finnish bands I love, it is honestly a mystery to me why I have not featured a band from Finland in this segment already. (Too many bands from Italy?) It has become apparent to me that I need to make this right!

Over the last few weeks, I have come across a Finnish glam band called Osmo's Cosmos, who have been going around Finland since 1996 performing covers of classic rock covers from the ’70s and ’80s. My first introduction to them was the video I am sharing with you now: their cover of  Tom Petty's “Runnin' Down a Dream”.

The band does a pretty faithful rendition of the song; musically, you almost cannot tell the difference, except that this cover has a bit of a heavier punch to it. Vocalist Tipe Johnson has a similar style and tone to Tom Petty as well; but again, his voice is a little more “metal” (because metal is Finland's specialty, after all!).

The video itself consists of the bandmembers rocking out in a warehouse, in front of a stage setup where a couple other bandmembers are seen on a screen behind them, also playing guitar and changing into their rock star attire. For the solo at the end, the entire band completely rocks their asses off, working up a sweat before turning away towards the darkened warehouse.

For more information on Osmo's Cosmos, visit their official website.

Special thanks to Nestori Lönngrén.