Rick Brindle

  Following last month's very successful Amazon giveaway,  Cold Steel on the Rocks  has had a rush of new ratings, all of them positive. Current ratings give it a score of 4.5 out of 5.  When the pirate Blackbeard buried his treasure, he could never have imagined that it would fall to the heavy metal band, Cold Steel, to come looking for it.Cold Steel, high-octane British rockers who came close to legendary status, until the release of their fourth album, when their excesses send them spiralling into terminal decline.Struggling small-time band manager Johnny Faslane, in the right place at the right time, lands the dream job of managing Cold Steel, and then has the seemingly impossible mission of turning the band around.Cold Steel’s singer, Maxwell Diabolo, claims to have a treasure map that he thinks will lead him to Blackbeard’s lost riches. With the band bent on a terrifying path of self-destruction, Johnny wonders if they will even complete the tour, much less get...

Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard  is free to download on Amazon for a limited time. Get your copy now! Cold Steel are back! Their new album has just been released. Their previously cancelled Spanish tour dates have been rearranged, with the female trio and Spain’s biggest metal band, Damas Infernales, supporting. Cold Steel’s biggest asset though, is Johnny Faslane, their brutally talented manager. But even Johnny can’t fully eliminate Cold Steel’s innate ability to spectacularly destroy their prospects, and even before their second concert ends, the tour is scrapped after an ill-advised trip back to the eighties, and the band are put into creative deep freeze by their record company. Only an unprecedented event and a lot of money can possibly turn their fortunes around. Like a five hundred year old treasure hoard that a long dead pirate once offered in return for his life, treasure that has never been found. Cold Steel find a vital clue that gives them a head start in the s...

It always gets talked about, and yes, I think i t would be good, in that there is, or at least was, great chemistry between them. I’ve interviewed Udo and Wolff for MetalTalk, and while they’re both really nice guys, they’re not on the same page with each other. There are plenty of examples of band members actually fighting onstage because they don’t like each other anymore, so maybe the Udo/Accept reunion should be one of those things that would be really great in theory, but in reality, probably not going to happen. But that’s okay, because Accept are still rocking it out with Mark Tornillo on vocals, Udo is going great with U.D.O. and you’ve also got all of your old Accept to listen to. So that’s three great bands all in one! Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone

Not so much bad, but I can tell you  about the most boring concert I’ve been to, and apologies to any fans out there, it’s just my opinion. A few years ago I saw Blue Oyster Cult at Hammersmith Apollo. I love their Agents of Fortune album, just like the rest of us do, and I was expecting big things. Unfortunately, all I got was the band on a naked stage, no movement, no wow effects, and the songs all sounded like each other. The guitar solos, while undoubtedly clever, were also really samey. I couldn’t wait for it to end, and I  never  think like that at a concert. Disappointing wasn’t even close. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone

I’ll go with the much maligned SA80. This was the long awaited British replacement for the Self Loading Rife, or SLR (gotta love abbreviations). It was essentially a re-barrelled version of the prototype 4.85mm Individual Weapon, upsized to take 5.56mm, because the Americans made a big push for NATO standardisation from 7.62 to 5.56. Which, looking at the big picture, had lots of benefits. Anyway, the SA80 had its roots way, way back with the EM2, an experimental bullpup weapon that was being worked on not long after World War 2, which also fell foul of NATO standardisation. So, by the time the SA80 became standard issue, it had been worked on for years. Absolutely years. The initial response from most of the forces was less than positive. But the thing is, it really wasn’t as bad as everyone made out. For starters, it was a lot shorter than the SLR, so getting in and out of vehicles was much easier, and moving around buildings was a whole lot easier. It had full auto option, which was...

It's probably very small beer for writers who actually make a living from their work, but I suppose we all have to start somewhere. Anyway, my five-day giveaway for my first novel,  Cold Steel on the Rocks  was ordered by thirty-four people. Thirty-three in the US, and one in the UK. I'd have been chuffed to nuts with thirty-four books bought in five days, but I'm still really happy with thirty-four new readers. Hopefully that will be thirty-four really happy Rick Brindle fans who will pass on the good news. Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Cold Steel and the Underground Boneyard It's Not For Everyone