It’s not necessary for a serious musician to be a character, but it surely helps, especially when the musician in question steadily refuses to take himself, albeit not his performances, seriously. Still, Steve Bolton, affectionately known as Boltz, couldn’t be anyone else, what with the arc of his career – if “arc” is an adequate geometrical term for zigzagging from the irreverent ATOMIC ROOSTER to the highly respectable Paul Young and then his own projects like DEAD’S MAN CORNER, from frolicking with John Otway and Richard Strange to touring the world with THE WHO because Pete Townshend happened to be a fan.

Leading the resurrected ROOSTER for the last ten years and having issued “Circle The Sun” in 2025, their first fresh album in decades, Bolton’s been busy lately working on this record’s sequel, yet Steve has so many stories to tell that he felt obliged to be generous with his time and delve into the most salient moments of a life well lived.