Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts Join 'The Stadium Tour'

"The Stadium Tour" featuring Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts has added another band: Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts. This is an up and coming band and I am curious to check them out. (Tuk was the frontman for The Biters, a band I've mentioned here before.) The drawback here is that this band will probably go on at like 4 in the afternoon, so very early. "The Stadium Tour" is getting long, so plan accordingly! I hope to secure some tickets to the Cincinnati show tomorrow during the pre-sale. We'll see.

Comments

[Jack T Ripper]

Nigel Dupree is in this band.

[Metalboy!]

Great Band!

Check out their just released single, “What Kinda Love”.

Already on my Best of 2020 List!

[fletch]

Phenomenal video, to boot! Reminiscent of a Roth/Angelus collaboration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk6XfrS32hE

[Mike]

Loved his band BITERS. Sad they broke up, but really happy for him and his new band to have this opportunity.

Still not interested in this tour though.

[GNR]

Oh my... sorry, but my will power for beverages will be too much to take to see this band. How long this show going to be ? At $10-$12 a pop ? Good luck to them, catchy song(s). Maybe should of thought about something like this before Joan Jett. Just takes time away from the $$$$ spent on tickets.

[Dj]

I checked out their song and it's not bad, pretty damn catchy and fun actually. I don't understand why they added them to this tour though. I understand wanting to give new bands a shot but this is a tour with 4 classic established bands that can play hours just with the hits..takes away stage time from the other bands, and if that's the case I guess Motley won't be playing Bastard or Knock Em Dead Kid... eh it's whatever.

[Metalboy!]

Indeed, BITERS was an awesome band, Mike.

Fortunately, his new band is just as killer.

Hope I can get there early enough to see them when the tour hits Minneapolis!

[Him]

I am so very happy to read these comments. When I first heard Tuk's single, I was happy with it. As others said, catchy. I described it to a friend as "J. Geils meet Buckcherry" . . . and I meant that as a compliment. Nothing amazing or demanding. But, yes, catchy.

Imagine my surprise when I read the stuff on other sites. Pay to play! Crap band! What the hell! I will admit, I did wonder how they massaged their way onto this bill, and what it took. But I take those issues as a given.

Still, I don't think they are a bad band. The only issue I did agree with, raised here and elsewhere, is this: what does this do for them? They are so far from being a known band, I wonder if an approach similar to Joyous Wolf would have been better. Attach yourself to a smaller tour at smaller venues with a known legacy act (like Deep Purple) and grow your base that way. This does seem, on some levels, like hitting the big-ish time and not being really able to capitalize on it.

One other small thing: I think the band's name is pretentious. Drop the Tuk. No one really knows who you are (with apologies to those who are friends with Tuk), aside from some of those in the know on this site and others. Establish yourself as a band, with a band identity, even if good ole Friar Tuk is twiddling the knobs and pushing the buttons.

[Mike]

People who are crying "pay to play" do not have a clue what they are talking about... Armchair critics who have never worked a day in the music industry.

- Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts signed with Better Noise Music.

- Better Noise Music is Allen Kovac's company.

- Allen manages Motley, and orchestrated this tour.

This is a totally different situation than what happened with "The Raskins", who bought on to the Crue Farewell tour...

[Him]

Thank you, Mike. I so appreciate it when clarification is offered. Truly, thanks for those details. Another reason why I love this site.