Iain Ashley Hersey is without doubt one the the finest guitarists and songwriters that I have heard in a long time. A pretty bold statement to open an Underground Acts profile maybe but this guy oozes class.

Iain's early influences compromised of Cream and Led Zeppelin then later Deep Purple and Mountain. After playing with a slew of bands, Iain started to realize his limitations so in order to better educate himself musically; he enrolled in Boston's Berklee College of Music. Once there and driven to be the best musician that he could be, got completely involved in jazz. Eventually Iain realized that music does not have to be complex to be good.

From there Iain moved to NYC and really only focused on writing and playing his own music. By now he was back to playing heavy rock with a Strat and a Marshall. After several years of being in New York Iain returned to Maine for a short while, then eventually ended up in Sacramento. He worked the area for about a year and than went to LA attending the Musicians Institute for a year and spent his time there hanging out with all the 'Heavy' players. This led to Iain pretty much focusing on the Fusion/Jazz thing again, but this time he didn't lose sight of what he really loved, which was heavy rock and roll. Iain still wanted to grow musically and at the same time retain and develop his own identity, so instead of playing in all the traditional modes he would adapt it all to my style. "Basically I wanted my playing to be recognised regardless of what genre of music I was playing" - something that shows on his recorded output.

After that year at MI, Iain was invited to stay on and join the teaching staff which he did for six years. Iain then taught part time at MI and the rest of his energy went into his original band, 'Outcaste'. After numerous personal changes, dealing with the LA club bullshit and an apathetic A&R community, Iain rethought his strategy and resigned the band to a recording project only. This way Iain could get people he really wanted to play with to at least do tracks and take it from there. Basically this approach would enabled Iain to have complete control over his music.

This finally led to Iain recording his only commercially released album to date, Iain Ashley Hersey - Fallen Angel (1999 Frontiers Records) . This album is based heavily on 70's rock but with a more modern approach, especially to the lead guitar. Here you will not find not only stock pentatonic work but runs and ideas that highlight the jazz influence in Iain - this in turn may remind listeners of Jeff Beck. Iain also utilises his right hand fingers in favour of a pick for the majority of his lead work (ala Jeff Beck). The album travels through many different rock landscapes, but all the while never looses focus that this is ROCK music.

In additon Iain also guested on Stuart Smith - Heaven & Earth where he contributed to the track The Road To Melnibone.

However, since Fallen Angel there has been little news on Iain other than he is writing. He was kind enough to send me a 4 track sampler almost a year ago and then last week 9 tracks of new material landed on my doorstep with the working title The Holy Grail.

Demo Review

Firstly before delving into the review Iain wanted to stress that this is not the finished product. The mixes here are still roughs and the packaging is also not complete. Iain has mentioned that producer Pat Regan (Rainbow) is doing the final mixes.

However, as this stands The Holy Grail is full of the kind of expressive hard rock that only a handful of artists are able to produce these days. Utilising 3 powerful vocalists in David Montgomery, Randy Williams and Carsten Schulz; Iain has managed to bring variety yet consistency in the quality stakes to this album. Fans of expressive guitar work will hear a true original in Iain Ashley Hersey with super warm Strat tones being his stock in trade.

Opener Blood Of Kings has a dark menacing vibe, that allows it mid tempo groove to mesmerise rather than blasting you into submission.

To The Sea is enriched throughout by some Blackmore-ish moody slide work before settling into the main riff which is backed up by some Hammond organ giving of somewhat of a vintage Rainbow vibe. There is also some descreet orchestration inflections here that add nicely to the dark vibe. Hersey's solo here has a big fat tone that is full off balls, again Hersey shows here that restraint is the key prefering to work around the vocal melody for the basis of his solo.

In The Light has a definite Deep Purple vibe to it, thanks to its bluesy riff that leads into the scat type verse with its call and response approach. The chorus sees the track head more into Tony Iommi waters with its dark rolling riff. The guitar solos here are gems, to hear a master player really digging into those strings is a joy to behold, made all the more special by Hersey's rich tone.

Track 4, Blink Of An Eye again sees a relatively mid tempo number. This track is slightly more commercial sounding that then rest on offer thanks to its AOR-ish chrous and is the only track here to feature Randy Williams on vocals. Again Hammond Organ is used to good effect here used to extend the chords. Hersey adds in some nice tapped chords (that although being quite sublte in the mix) add depth. The solo from Hersey is full of emotion and the guitar does cry and wail here, a nice double harmony lead motif leads back into the chorus.

Tocatta In D Minor is a shortened version of the Bach classic. Hersey makes good use of imitating the various tones and timbres of the church organ with his guitar, aided by what sounds like an octave pedal in places and some Hammond Organ on the big chords.

Empty Planet sees the appearance of vocalist Carsten Schulz who is my favourite of the three vocalists featured. The track is based in the classic rock genre and allows Hersey to take an extended solo that has a definite jazz feel to it which works well over the straight rock underneath. The pre-chorus here is a gem with a superb melody line.

Lost & Foolish begins with a dark almost eastern tinged vibe and an original timing, over which Hersey lays down some more sublime six string sorcery. The track then leaps into a superb classic rock verse that is up there with the best of Rainbow in their Joe Lynn Turner period. The track is again underpinned by great Hammond Organ work that managed to add depth yet avoid being intrusive.

Calling For The Moon is probably my favourite on the album, thanks in no small part to the very simple, yet awesome in its delivery verse riffery. Less is definitely more here; it also allows Carsten Schulz's gritty vocal delivery to really shine (the guy sounds like a young Sammy Hagar to these ears). The track takes an almost Aerosmith-esque funky breakdown for the start of the guitar solo before it leads into darker waters before modulating back to the verse riff over which Hersey is absolutely smokin' at this point - awesome stuff!

The instrumental retrospective in feel Auf Wiedersehen closes the album with a touch of decadent class. Here Hersey's guitar carries the melody on its broad shoulders and the empassion playing builds as the track progresses. The guitar work manages to dazzle yet also mesmerise as the emtional touch is prevelant throughout, whether it be the crying cut off bends or the aggressive whammy bar work or the smooth legato runs. Overall its a great instrumental and a fine way to close the CD.

The Holy Grail may seem like a pompous statement; yet give this a few spins and you will realise that what Iain Ashley Hersey has produced here is a superb piece of work worthy of the title. There is very little to fault; the main gripe may well be that there is not enough material. Yet with a running length of 52 minutes in not exactly lacking in real time. As enjoyable as Tocatta In D Minor was I would like to see that saved for a bonus track and replaced with another vocal track. However, as this is the only slight weakness I can pick up this album deserves a commercial release - given the right promotion this album has the potential to begin a renaissance of the darker classic/hard rock genre.