Mark Diggins, Author at The Rockpit

ALBUM REVIEW: Palace Of The King – Friends In Low Places

20 January 2024 Mark Diggins

I never expected an album like this so close to the end of the year to come and steal top spot at a canter but here it is. I’ve been a fan of Tim […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Saxon – Hell, Fire And Damnation

19 January 2024 Mark Diggins

I can’t remember the first time I saw Saxon but they were one of the bands like Motorhead and Maiden, UFO, Priest and Hawkwind that I would catch whenever I could. There was an honesty […]

LIVE REVIEW: Paul Di’Anno – The Amplifier Bar – Perth 16th January 2024

17 January 2024 Mark Diggins

12 years he last graced these shores Paul Di’Anno the voice behind the first two Iron Maiden albums is back with a setlist that takes in 13 of those classics – on paper it looks […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Russell – Guns – Medusa

15 January 2024 Mark Diggins

Over the years, and especially in the last few years Frontiers may have been guilty of creating more than a few ‘collaboration albums’ that, shall we say, have rather a lot in common sonically. Now […]

ALBUM REVIEW: MAGNUM – Here Comes the Rain

14 January 2024 Mark Diggins

There’s no more quintessentially British Rock Band than Magnum. Over the years their sound has weathered trends and the years to sounds a true today as it always has, even if the glory years of […]

THE BEST HARD ROCK OF 2023 – THE TEAM’S LISTS – MARK, ROB and SEAN

11 January 2024 Mark Diggins

THE EDITOR’S LIST – BEST HARD ROCK ALBUMS OF 2023 THE BEST MUSIC OF THE YEAR 2023 – MARK’s TOP 20 As usual every year we promote Australian music by creating two lists – one […]

INTERVIEW: The Animals – John Steel

11 January 2024 Mark Diggins

Keep your diaries open for February and March because The Animals 60th Anniversary and Farewell Tour of Australia! is on the way. The Animals were “one of the most important bands” in the British Invasion. The […]

INTERVIEW: AMBER WILD – Evan Stanley

10 January 2024 Mark Diggins

Generations change, bands end and bands begin but Rock and Roll still holds strong. It’s heartening to think that after more than fifty years the music that we know as Hard Rock is still going […]

INTERVIEW: BAD TOUCH – Stevie Westwood

20 December 2023 Mark Diggins

Always a band who put out a quality record, Bad Touch are in real danger of surpassing their usual high standards with ‘Bittersweet Satisfaction.’ It’s an album that grows in stature with each listen… it […]

LIVE REVIEW: L7 – The Rosemount Perth

14 December 2023 Mark Diggins

If everyone in the room at an L7 concert was put in charge of doing stuff I’m sure the country would be in far better shape. There’s such diversity in the crowd it’s like a […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Bad Touch – Bittersweet Satisfaction

8 December 2023 Mark Diggins

Always a band who put out a quality record, Bad Touch are in real danger of surpassing their usual high standards with ‘Bittersweet Satisfaction.’ It’s an album that grows in stature with each and […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Lynch Mob – Babylon

26 November 2023 Mark Diggins

Lynch Mob was formed in 1989 after George Lynch parted ways with his former band Dokken. Their debut release “Wicked Sensation” was met with critical and fan acclaim and went on to be certified gold […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Robin McAuley – Alive

24 November 2023 Mark Diggins

As we get towards the ‘Best Of’ portion of the year I can’t actually believe that after interviewing Robin about ‘Alive’ we didn’t post the review! So here it is – just in time for […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Marvel – Double Decade

19 November 2023 Mark Diggins

I really have a soft spot for Märvel (a.k.a. The Barons of High Energy Rock and Roll) – the masked men who hail from Sweden… but is it really that long? Damn it really is […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Big City – Sunwind Sails

11 November 2023 Mark Diggins

In the endless stream of Melodic Rock bands squeezed out by Frontiers you sometimes wonder what the business plan is? I mean some like me love this time of music but it doesn’t get to […]

ALBUM REVIEW: ART NATION – INCEPTION

10 November 2023 Mark Diggins

There’s such lush melodies and guitar-fed urgency to opener ‘Brutal Beautiful’ that you can’t help get sucked in. It’s a wonderful opener with passionate vocals and great driver, along with it’s mellower moments – […]

INTERVIEW: The Original Wailers – Al Anderson

8 November 2023 Mark Diggins

As a kid in the 70’s even if you were a primarily a Rock Kid there was one man whose music cut across all divides – Bob Marley and his band The Wailers. Listening to […]

INTERVIEW: Cassidy Paris

6 November 2023 Mark Diggins

It’s all happening for Cassidy Paris at the moment, with a tour of the UK imminent and a new album for Frontiers on the way, things have all started falling into place. If you’ve heard […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Dokken – Heaven Comes Down

5 November 2023 Mark Diggins

Dokken was the band that almost ruled the 80’s but never quite hit the heights of some of their contemporaries, and who knows had the classic line up prevailed what they might have gone […]

INTERVIEW: Devilskin – Paul Martin (The LAGERFEST 2023 catch up!)

4 November 2023 Mark Diggins

Devilskin has to be one of New Zealand’s finest exports and their last album ‘Red’ is quite frankly a bit of a minor Metal masterpiece to my ears though sadly in the music biz timing […]

INTERVIEW: BONAFIDE – Pontus Snibb talks ‘Are You Listening?’

29 October 2023 Mark Diggins

This week sees the release of Bonafide’s 8th album ‘Are You Listening?’ And it’s a cracking Rock and Roll album. Bonafide has always done what they wanted. There’s no place for posturing. No semblance of […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Missing Persons – Hollywood Lie

16 October 2023 Mark Diggins

‘Hollwood Lie’ begins with a flourish of organic keyboards before the trademark synth and signature drum sounds kick in followed by Dale’s voice with that robotic intonation – it all sounds just like it should […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Bonafide – Are You Listening

14 October 2023 Mark Diggins

Blues-based Hard Rock will always be loved by Rock fans of all ages and when one of the greatest proponents of that genre is making music of that kind so infrequently now is there […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Tygers of Pan Tang – Bloodlines

10 October 2023 Mark Diggins

If you love your Hard Rock distinctly old school with a Metal edge and yet still with plenty melody then this is probably one for you. Tygers were born in another age when bands […]

ALBUM REVIEW: Dirty Honey – Can’t Find The Brakes

3 October 2023 Mark Diggins

I could have written this review after the first listen because the impact was so intense, but that wouldn’t have been doing this record real justice. Dirty Honey’s new record ‘Can’t Find The Breaks,’ […]