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From the man who crafted such hit singles as \u201cWhat I Like About You,\u201d \u201cTalking in Your Sleep,\u201d and \u201cOne In A Million,\u201d comes a new gritty blues-rock single about the riots that forever changed his hometown of Detroit in 1967. Michael Skill, who has played both bass and guitar for the power-pop rock ‘n’ roll band The Romantics, was a budding teenager in 1967 when five days of racially charged riots tore apart Detroit in July. When it was over, 43 people lay dead, 1,189 had been injured, more than 7,200 had been arrested and more than 2,000 buildings had been destroyed. Skill lived on Detroit’s East Side and says that although the violence took place several miles from his home, he nonetheless saw its effects up close. \u201cI remember the National Guard right down the street from my house,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople watching the riots on TV were afraid that rioters would come into our neighborhood. People were freaked out.\u201d The riots changed his beloved Motor City forever. \u201cA lot of my friends’ families took off for the suburbs after that,\u201d he says, noting his family chose to stay in the city. <\/p>\n
The riot’s effects \u2013 and the fact that many of the issues they raised, from police brutality to economic decay \u2013 stayed with Skill, culminating in his desire to write \u201c67 Riot.\u201d Loud, powerful and evocative of tough tunes by such rockers as Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix and Skill’s fellow Detroit rockers, The MC 5, \u201c67 Riot\u201d is both a haunting look at the past as well as a timely allusion to the present, in a world where racial and social tension still threaten to rend our nation in two. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wrote the song from a sense of frustration that people never came together after the riots to really address what happened, to look each other in the eye and say, ‘How can we repair this? How can we move forward?’\u201d The song’s lyrics are written from this point of view. \u201c4 AM\/Down the street\/Cops roll in\/With all the heat\/Blind pig roaring\/Kickin’ their heels\/Soldiers home\/Just gettin’ real,\u201d the song opens. \u201cRooftop sniper\/Set the sight\/Burning cocktails\/Flash in flight\/Broken city\/Broken dreams\/Things aren’t always what they seem\/67 Riot!\u201d <\/p>\n
Recorded in Skill’s own studio, the song features him on guitar, bass and vocals, and also features drummer Russell Ayers, who engineered the tune. The co-producers sought to create an aural equivalent of what it was like to live through this violent time, Skill says, but he adds that he wanted the song to end on a note of hope because Detroit has rebounded in recent years. <\/p>\n
\u201cTry to warm your heart\/Dream your dreams\/Break the chain\/Let’s start clean,\u201d he adds in his song, noting it\u2019s time to break the chain of racism that has shackled generations before, during and after \u201c67 Riot.\u201d <\/p>\n
Watch the \u201c’67 Riot\u201d video: https:\/\/youtu.be\/mQkZYlheGpk<\/p>\n
\u201c’67 Riot\u201d first single solo release from upcoming Debut LP.<\/p>\n
The Romantics are still touring, still recording and currently feature 3 original band members on the front line up, Rich Cole, Wally Palmar and co-founder Michael Skill. Drummer Brad Elvis joined The Romantics in 2004 and has been the longest seated drummer with the band. Rich Cole rejoined the band in 2010, reviving the band’s 3-part harmony allowing The Romantics to perform songs from their first two albums live for the first time since his departure. <\/p>\n
To purchase Michael Skill’s \u201c’67 Riot\u201d single:
https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/ album\/67-riot-single\/ id1253879847
https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/ music\/album\/Michael_Skill_67_ Riot?id= B3a7rg4gdourwt5xm2kvt26twte&hl=en
http:\/\/cdbaby.com\/cd\/ michaelskill<\/p>\n
Source: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mike.skill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From the man who crafted such hit singles as \u201cWhat I Like About You,\u201d \u201cTalking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}