Yep, it’s that time of the week again: the first morning of the working week, when we get to turn our attention to Toyah and Robert Fripp’s ever-active YouTube channel to find out which classic rock track they’ve added to their collection of crazy covers.
Well, last weekend, the pair made light work of Mötley Crüe’s Shout at the Devil – and they did it just days before the Crüe themselves hit the road for the first time with their new guitarist, John 5.
If John 5 has to step down from his six-string duties for whatever reason in the coming weeks, though, at least we know Fripp will be waiting in the wings with a fresh memory of one Mötley Crüe song that regularly makes it onto setlists.
Of course, there is so much more to the video than the fretboard musings of a wig-wearing Fripp, who wields his Les Paul-style Fernandes copy alongside Toyah, who in turn provides the track’s vocals.
If we wanted to, we could go on about the extravagant outfits, dramatic wind machine effect, Fripp’s luscious blonde locks and the slightly out-of-time chorus vocal stabs that never seem to line up, but as is the case with every Sunday Lunch episode, it truly has to be seen to be believed.
Previous installments of the lockdown tradition include covers of Megadeth’s Holy Wars, Kiss’s I Was Made For Lovin’ You, Korn’s Blind and even Limp Bizkit’s Nookie.
Whether their most recent cover made it onto Mötley Crüe’s radar, we’ll probably never know, but it’s likely the band were too busy with their first pre-tour rehearsals of the year – which began last week – to catch the latest Sunday Lunch episode.
A few days after the band’s rehearsals began, Nikki Sixx revealed Mötley Crüe’s pre-tour preparations with John 5 had been “fucking epic”, with the bassist saying the new-look lineup managed to “seamlessly” play a 90-minute set from start-to-finish.
John 5 was confirmed – following weeks of online speculation – to be Mötley Crüe’s new guitarist shortly after the band’s founding guitarist, Mick Mars, announced his official retirement from touring.
The band are set to head out on tour with Def Leppard in just a few weeks time, with an opening show on their own at the Mark G Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey scheduled for February 10.
For dates and tickets, head over to Mötley Crüe's website. Visit Toyah Willcox and Robert Fripp’s YouTube channel, meanwhile, to peruse their huge collection of covers.
