When the name of your band is the Rock Masters Band, you’ve got a lot to live up to.
But with a sound reminiscent of The White Stripes, with tinges of The Black Keys and Foo Fighters, the Finland-based group’s new double-single release ends up hitting the mark with two radio-friendly tracks that show off the band’s diverse and catchy sound.
It all starts off with an enigmatic frontman and Sami “Haxu” Hakala is just that. On “Diamond,†his singing of the song’s hook is full of energy, while his guitar work and that of Ace Mark gives the song a feel a lot like The White Stripes’ “Fell in Love With a Girl.†Add in speedy drums and bass from Sami Jarvinen and Jimi Sero and that notion is cemented even further. But the guitar solo midway through gives the track its own flavor. Extremely radio-friendly, but edgy enough to attract indie ears, it’s a track that can and will help the band gain momentum in the states.
While “Diamond†has a more modern flair, “In the City,†the other single on the release, has elements of The Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz,†as well as some Steely Dan and even ‘70s Eric Clapton. A throwback song perfect for rides in the car with friends, Haxu is back to charismatic ways, but the backup vocals by Riikka Hakala give the song even more staying power. With another killer guitar solo and solid supporting bass and drum work, this time, from Mikael Tittanen and Tero Rikkonen and the track totally feels like it could have been in a scene of “Wayne’s World†or any other cool comedy that features a bunch of friends.
Although both songs have different feels and the only constant is the duo of Sami and Riikka Hakala, The Rock Masters Band is able to find enough consistency to stay relevant. Simply put, it’s as American a rock experience as you can get from a group of people from another part of the world, but a clear appreciation for both standards and legendary rock and roll.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
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