Derek Smalls spent the early months of the post-Tap period trying to make alternate transportation arrangements out of Japan. Once back in England, he took over his father’s business, a telephone sanitization service for the Wolverhampton area. He gave up the overalls and truck when a friend and fellow bassist, Angus Wilcoe, backslid out of his job with the Christian rock band Lambsblood.

 

It was during his two years with this avatar of evangelical heavy metal (they were famous for their mass baptisms in the slam pit) that Smalls penned his longest actual composition to date, the seven minute riff assault “Sinbad.” When Lambsblood next-to-headlined at a Monsters of Jesus concert in Orange County, California, a chance meeting with St. Hubbins led to Smalls’ decision to, as he puts it, “throw in my lot with evil again.”

 

It’s now 2021 and Derek Smalls is back! The bass force of the fabled heavy metal band announced his return to centre stage with the release of his first solo venture, his new album Smalls Change. The album was released globally on April 13 2018 on Twanky Records / BMG Records on Digital, CD and Vinyl. It can be purchased here.

 

Smalls Change is a poignant and oftentimes furious contemplation on aging that explores the passing of time and all things loud. With styles that cross the gamut of musical bases, the album possess the edgy rawness and Rock God sensibility that was always shared by Derek and his fellow former band members Nigel Tufnel and David St Hubbins and is now all too evident in his solo work.

 

The album also features some of the greatest talents of rock and roll music and beyond including Peter Frampton, Donald Fagen, Dweezil Zappa, Rick Wakeman, Richard Thompson, Steve Lukather, Joe Satriani, Waddy Wachtel, Michael League, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Paul Shaffer, Steve Vai, Larry Carlton, Judith Owen, Jane Lynch and The Budapest Philharmonic. Smalls Change was produced by C J Vanston.

 

Derek Smalls described Smalls Change as “halfway between “rage against the dying of the light” and trying to find the light.”

 

When asked how he managed to round up so many world-class rockers to join the project, Derek’s terse response was: “Pity fuck”.

 

Now, after his live stage triumph that Smalls called “Lukewarm Water Live: An Adventure in Loud Music” Derek Small’s live show as filmed is to be released as “Lukewarm Water Live!” by a reputable distributor or moneyed superfan.