_{Danish band Black Swamp Water released their second album, “Distant Thunder”, through Mighty Music on 24th August. The band delivers a great blend of stoner and southern rock, but the over-riding vibe undoubtedly comes from their Black Sabbath influences. I’ve played a few tracks from their 2016 debut album “Chapter One” in the past and so far the tracks “Rebellion” and “Bitter Harvest” from the new album have featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show – on 20th July and 3rd August respectively.}

_{“Queen of Hearts” in the second album from Finnish band King Company and it was released on 10th August by Frontiers Music. The band formed in 2014 and released their debut album “One For The Road” in 2016 before health issues forced a change in vocalist in 2017. I’ve featured a few tracks from the debut album on the Shows since 2016 and the tracks “One Day of Your Life” and “Living In A Hurricane” from the new album were included on the Friday NI Rocks Shows on 1st June and 6th July respectively. The title track, “Queen of Hearts” opened the NI Rocks A-Z Show on 21st August.}

_{This week marks the 8th anniversary of the first Friday NI Rocks Show on 27th August 2010 and also the 400th Show. I’ve missed a few weeks over the years, normally for technical reasons, otherwise it would have been 416 shows! The NI Rocks A-Z Show started a few months earlier and is on show number 428.}

_{As I keep a record of the playlists for all the shows, I thought I’d have a look at what has been played on the Friday NI Rocks Show over the past 400 shows. I’ve featured 2,793 different tracks by 1,024 different artists and in total have played 5,760 tracks. There have also been 87 guest interviews that I’ve recorded and broadcast and quite a few promo features.}

_{Looking in detail at the artists and tracks featured on the Show, the emphasis on local music is very clear.}