It all started when an 11 (ish) year old girl was invited to a concert by her Dad, and wanted to go for the bonding experience though she knew little about the band. The band was Extreme, the girl was some chick called Mary-Lee.
Ok I was just being obscure, the girl was me.
I remember Dad telling me I'd come away from the concert with a crush on the guitar player, Nuno. I was not interested in boys and was certain he was wrong. I guess I hadn't figured out yet that Dads know everything and are always right.
I came away from the concert in love with Nuno and obsessed with Extreme; an obsession to last through my teenage years. I had all the posters covering my walls, I wore extreme t-shirts every day - even when they were paper thin and covered in holes, I learned to play their tunes on guitar and piano, I knew all the lyrics, I married a balloon called Nuno and made my family join in the ceremony - you know, all the usual stuff.
Then I matured and grew to be above and beyond all that. I got married for real, had kids, achieved nirvana and all that. But on the 12th August 2008 (my daughters 6th birthday by co-incidence), my husband blew that all out of the water for me when he opened up his laptop and played a dramagods (Nuno's post extreme music band, which are kinda cool) song, Interface - except MUCH better than the way dramagods played it! Rene had a sheepish look on his face and wanted to see whether I'd figure out who it was.
"Is that Nuno and Gary doing a dramagods song?"
Close enough. It was a track from Extreme's NEWEST ALBUM Saudades de Rock, released that day. And it rocked my socks off. The boys are back, and better than ever. Gary's vocals are astounding, Nuno's strutting his stuff on his 6 string as always, Pat is short haired and his funky bass lines sound as good as ever alongside Nuno's make-your-blood-pump rhythm guitar riffs. I loved Paul Geary, but I must admit, this drummer boy, Kevin Figueiredo, is pretty awesome.
This album shows Extreme's musical diversity at its best, while staying true to their queen-influenced sound with excellent harmonies and musical arrangements.
I listen to this album and I feel like a teenager again. I wanna go stick up a bunch of posters and find me a balloon to marry!
http://extreme-band.com/site/
