Unruly Child
“Big Blue World”

On the heels of the release of their outstanding album “Can’t Go Home,” Unruly Child played an emotional set at Frontiers Rock Festival 2017 in Milan, IT (which was filmed/recorded for a release in early 2018). While at the festival, a meeting with the label stoked the fires for the band to do more music together and to preserve the musical legacy of one of the very last melodic rock giants still operating. So, Marcie Michelle Free (vocalist - King Kobra, Signal), Bruce Gowdy (guitarist - Stone Fury, World Trade), and Guy Allison (keyboardist - Lodgic, World Trade, Doobie Brothers) reconvened in 2018 and started working on a brand new album which would match the outstanding quality of its predecessors.

"For this album, there was a conscious decision to merge the best of what Unruly Child does, while still evolving. You know, melodic rock, but with that unique Unruly Child approach,” says Guy Allison. "It’s hard for us to stand still and repeat ourselves, but we also cannot help but sound like “us”, irrespective of any artistic lateral movement. While I’m sometimes surprised what catches the ears of our fans, I think that the album has something for everyone."

Guy Allison continues telling about the creative process, saying “this album was written (except for the few songs we pulled out of our 'Rabbit Hole' writing sessions, and subsequently reworked) in about 14 days. After we get a structure roughly recorded, I’ll listen to the track until the melody magically shows up, seemingly out of thin air. Sometimes I’ll have a partial lyric, sometimes just a melody that I’m singing nonsense syllables to. I’m really lucky these days to have another wordsmith to work with. In the past, I’ve been the lyricist of most of the songs that I’ve been a writer on, but now I have Betsy Summers to do some of the heavy lifting with me in that department. On some songs I’ll say, “I’ve got this melody, what do ya got?”. On other songs I’ll say, “I’ve got the first verse, but I need a second verse, here’s a pencil”. She always delivers. The rest of the time is spent giving the recordings the attention that they need to become Unruly Child tracks. Finishing the process is a lot like having a block of marble and chipping away at it until the statue underneath is revealed. For us, it’s always been the art of discovering what the song wants to be. Sometimes it’s immediate and sometimes it takes a little longer, but we always get what we’re after. It’s not much different than it was in 1991. We just have more experience now, and better gear!”

Since the initial release of the critically acclaimed "Unruly Child” in 1991, all the band members have successfully pursued accomplished careers in the music industry. Marcie Michelle Free, one of the world's finest singers of recent times, and most renowned transgender vocalists, first released a solo record as Mark Free, entitled “Long Way From Love”, in 1993 and then another solo record as Marcie Free, “Tormented” in 1996. Guitarist Bruce Gowdy and keyboardist Guy Allison also kept quite busy over the years. They produced two more Unruly Child records and participated in another World Trade album with drummer Jay Schellen (YES). They have also pursued other projects and their reputation as writers, performers, and arrangers is second to none with their experience working with the likes of Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Bobby Kimball (Toto), Doobie Brothers, Boz Scaggs, Air Supply, and The Moody Blues, to name a few.

The group, in its constant state of evolution, has generated an exciting new album reflective of their musical roots in contemporary and classic rock. With the return to the original line-up, they have discovered that while time may pass, some things never change.

Tracklist:

1. Living In Someone Else’s Dream

2. All Over The World

3. Dirty Little Girl

4. Breaking The Chains

5. Are These Words Enough

6. Will We Give Up Today

7. Beneath A Steady Rain

8. The Harder They Will Fall

9. Down And Dirty

10. The Hard Way

Line-up:

Marcie Free - Vocals

Bruce Gowdy - Guitars, bass, keyboards, vocals

Guy Allison - Keyboards, percussion, vocals

Larry Antonio - Bass, vocals

Jay Schellen - Drums

Photo credit - Mason Mullins