APRIL 2022
Rock And Blues International
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Albert Castiglia Los Autenticos Decadentes Santaferia Greentea Peng Nazareth Huntsmen Cold
The Who
Rock And Blues International April 2022 Hello Rock And Blues International readers. I hope everybody had a great March. We have more and more tours hitting the roads now, and one in particular that I want everybody to know about. My favorite band, The Who are starting their North American tour this month, so I want everybody who can, to go see them. If you’ve seen them before, then it’s probably on your list of things to do. If you haven’t seen them, this just might be the perfect opportunity to do so, and if you didn’t know they were on tour, then now you do. I hope to see you at one of their shows. Also, be sure to check out all the tour announcements and ads in this issue. If you’re a publicist and your act doesn’t have a tour announcement in here, then you’re client is really missing out. Don’t leave them by the wayside. And now on to the April issue of Rock And Blues International. In this issue you can read stories about Albert Castiglia and the release of his new Blues-Rock album, I Got Love. Also in this issue, we’ve got stories about the fantastic Blues scene in Turkey, a place you probably never thought about for blues, as well as stories on Los Autenticos Decadentes, Santaferia, Kaleo, Govi, Royal Canoe, Huntsmen, Brother & Sister, Cold, Semblant,and we’re also happy to let you know that legendary Rock band Nazareth are back with a new album! As you can see, there are a lot of varied genres of music here for you to check out, or as we like to say, there’s a little of something for everyone here. We have even included the current installment of the novella, “The Biker”. Read it and than email us back with your thoughts on this. Should we continue it or should we scrap it? I sincerely hope that everybody reading this publication finds something here that they like and I would like to encourage you to let your friends and colleagues know about us. Just look for us every month at http://www.rockandbluesinternational.com. I would also like to encourage you to email us for a free subscription to Rock And Blues International as well. Just email us at rockandbluesinternational@gmail.com and in the subject line simply put “Sign Me Up” and we’ll email you a link to the magazine each month when it is published.
Kevin Wildman Kevin Wildman Editor and Publisher
Rock And Blues International Kevin Wildman Editor and Publisher
Web Address Http://www.rockandbluesinternational.com Mailing Address Box 1162, League City, TX 77573 Phone 281-650-1953
For Advertising email us at rockandbluesinternational@gmail.com or call 281-650-1953 For A Free Subscription email us at rockandblues international@gmail.com and in the subject line put “Sign Me Up Now” April 2022 • Rock and Blues International
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Contents
VOL. 2 NO. 9
APRIL 2022
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6
ISSUE NO. 21
THE WHO The Who Bring Their “The Who Hits Back” Tour To North America
10 ALBERT CASTIGLIA
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Albert Castiglia Releases His New Album, I Got Love, And Talks About The Struggles That Led To The Songs On It
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Los Autenticos Decadentes
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BLUES ATTACK Edoardo Fassio Talks About The Turkish Blues explosion, including Göksenin Tuncali, and “Blues Attack”
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Los Autenticos Decadentes & Bronco + Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra Present “Oro”
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SANTAFERIA Santaferia Releases New Single And Embarks On Their First Mexican Tour
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Contents
VOL. 2 NO. 9
APRIL 2022
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ISSUE NO. 21
NAZARETH U.K. Rockers Nazareth Releases New Album Surviving The Law April 15
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50 HUNTSMEN
Huntsmen Announce New EP, ‘The Dying Pines’ And ‘American Scrap’ Reissue
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BROTHER & SISTER Brother & Sister, Melody & Vaylor Trucks-Fronted Allman Brothers Family Tribute, Announce 2022 Mini-Tour
82 THE BIKER
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Limited Edition Short Story About The Travels And Adventures Of a Lone Motorcycle Rider, The Biker
In This Issue: 6 The Who 12 Albert Castiglia 20 Blues Atttack (English) 21 Blues Attack (Italian) 22 Sunmi 24 Stromae 26 Altin Gün 28 Lord Of The Lost 30 Govi
32 The Bees 34 Los Autenticos Decadentes (English) 35 Los Autenticos Decadentes (Spanish) 36 Santaferia (English) 37 Santaferia (Spanish) 38 Saya 40 Greentea Peng 44 Kaleo 46 Royal Canoe
50 52 54 56 58 62 66 70 78 82
Nazareth Monako Huntsmen Thirty Curses Brother & Sister Camylio Cold Axel Rudi Pell Semblant The Biker
April 2022 • Rock and Blues International
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The Who
The Who Bring Their “The Who Hits Back” Tour To North America
By Kevin Wildman
I’m happy and pleased to announce that the #1 Band In The World, The Who, are on the road again with a brand new tour dubbed The Who Hits Back! I realize that journalists and more or less, magazine publishers, probably shouldn’t make statements like that, but screw it, The Who have always been my favorite band. Yeah, I started listening to a lot of 6
music as a young child, but when I heard the opening salvo of “My Generation” back in 1965, I was hooked. I may have heard “My Generation” before a lot of kids heard it in the U.S., as I was living in Spain at the time and a lot of British music was making it there before they made it to America. Nevertheless, I was hooked. Their first album just blew me away. Songs like “I’m A Man” and “LaLa-La-Lies” was unlike anything I’d
Rock and Blues International • April 2022
ever heard before. For me, they blew The Beatles away. I knew that in a street fight, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend would kick their asses. While The Beatles presented a more lovey-dovey theme of music, The Who seemed to be street fighters. Their songs were more raw and unrefined and had a sense of “balls” to them. Then the second Who continued on next page
The Who continued from previous page album was released, A Quick One (1966). Songs like “Whiskey Man” and “Boris The Spider” were just fantastic. Yeah, I knew I liked these guys. This was quickly followed by The Who Sell Out in 1967, which featured a collection of songs intertwined with fake commercials and public service announcements. Some of the great songs on here included “Armenia City In The Sky,” “Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand,” “Tattoo,” “Can’t Reach You,” and the amazing “I Can See For Miles.” I was more enthralled by the band now. 1969 brought the release of the legendary Rock Opera Tommy. I’m not afraid to admit it, Tommy is my favorite album of all time. I could not believe what these guys were doing with the music. I heard notes and melodies that I didn’t even know existed. It sounds weird, but if you really listen to the album, you’ll hear music that was well ahead of its time. Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon were an unbelievably tight outfit. It was that album that really cemented my faith in the band. For me, I knew THIS was the greatest band in the world and I’ve believed it ever since. Okay, I know it’s only my opinion, but if you’re reading this story, then you will just have to put up with me saying that. Finally, I actually got to see the band live. My first Who concert was on June 20th, 1970 in Houston, Texas at a basketball arena at The University Of Houston called Hofheinz Pavilion. I was only 16 years old and I was a Who addict. I just couldn’t get enough. This concert was about a year or so after they had released Tommy and they had been spending their time on the road perfecting this masterpiece. I remember the concert as if I had just walked out of the venue today. Roger Daltrey’s voice was fantastic. He had been singing all of Tommy for a little over a year now and the vocals for Pete Townshend’s masterpiece were perfected. The band hit the stage with a thunderous applause and dove straight into “Heaven And Hell.” I had never
heard this song before, and it just blew me away. From there they launched into “I Can’t Explain,” “Young Man Blues,” and another song I had never heard before, “I Don’t Even Know Myself” followed by another first for me, “Water.” And then they announced that their conductor, Mr. Keith Moon was going to conduct the intro to Tommy. From there they headed straight into the entire Tommy album. This was just the best night of my life. I had actually smuggled a Sony cassette recorder into the concert and recorded the entire show and for years I would listen to that tape over and over again until one day it was stolen out of my car. Shit happens! Other songs performed this night were “Summertime Blues,” “Substitute,” “My Generation,” “Naked Eye,” and the band finished their set with “Magic Bus.” And now you would probably want me to end this intro and get into the particulars of the tour, but I’m going to throw one more thing at you….. How can you follow up an album as
groundbreaking as Tommy. Is it even possible? Well, yes it is! And the answer is Who’s Next! and then Quadrophenia. Who’s Next! was another musical masterpiece yielding such hit songs as “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” and the chart topping ballad, “Behind Blue Eyes.” Quadrophenia yielded such classics as “The Real Me,” “Quadrophenia,” “5:15,” and “Doctor Jimmy,” just to name a few. It even spawned a movie of the same name which featured non-other than Police singer and bassist, Sting. Yes folks, this is my favorite band and I’m more than happy to let you know that MY FAVORITE BAND, THE WHO will be on the road in North America starting April 22nd. The first show of the tour will be at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, with the first half of their tour concluding on May 28th at Bethel Wood Center of the Arts in Bethel, New York. continued on next page April 2022 • Rock and Blues International
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Photo by Rick Guest
The Who continued from previous page Then the band will be taking a summer break before heading back on the road for their second leg of the tour. The second leg of their tour resumes at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario on October 2nd and concludes November 5th in Las Vegas. I personally plan on attending their May 8th show at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, TX, near Houston. If anybody wants to send me to any of their other shows, I’m open - Just Saying…
We’re told that that will be happening again. They will be sharing the stage again with some of the finest orchestras you’ve ever listened to in the United States and Canada. If you haven’t heard The Who with an orchestra, then you’re in for a real treat. It depicts a whole new side to the band. Roger Daltrey tells us that “Pete and I said we’d be back, but we didn’t think we’d have to wait for two years for the privilege. This is making the chance to perform feel even more special this time around. So many livelihoods have been impacted due to Covid, so we are thrilled to get everyone back together the band, the crew and the fans. We’re gearing up for a great show that hits back in the only way The Who know how. By giving it everything we got.”
This tour follows their sold-out tour of two years ago, the Moving On! Tour. For that tour you could find the band performing with an orchestra. Let Besides performing with an me tell you, that was unbelievable. orchestra, The Who will be bringing their 8 Rock and Blues International • April 2022
full band with them which includes Pete’s younger brother Simon Townshend on guitar, keyboardists Loren Gold and Emily Marshall, bassist Jon Button, backing vocalist Billy Nicholls, lead violinist Katie Jacoby, lead cellist Audrey Snyder, and last but certainly not least, their drummer for many years, the amazing Zac Starkey. Zac is the son of legendary Beatle drummer Ringo Starr. Conducting the orchestra will be Keith Levenson. The Who are revered to be among the Top Three Rock Bands in History which includes The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. To this date, it is estimated that they have performed 2,254 Concerts around the world. The majority of The Who’s songs have been meticulously crafted by the amazing guitarist and composer, Pete Townshend. continued on next page
The Who continued from previous page His musical visions have been the guiding light for this band since their inception. Performing lead vocals throughout their career has been Roger Daltrey. Face it, without Roger Daltrey, The Who would have no voice. His trademark vocals are synonymous with the band’s success. Nobody could ever sing a Who song like Roger. Along the way, they’ve lost two valuable members of the band, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. No, it isn’t the same band today that started out performing together on January 9th, 1962 at Acton Town Hall in London anymore, but the remaining members of Pete and Roger are bound and determined to keep the legacy of The Who alive for many more years to come. The Who’s 2019 MOVING ON! Tour took the band through 29 cities, including an exciting sold-out show in Boston’s Fenway Park, and a Seattle show where Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder joined them onstage for the song “The Punk And the Godfather.” The tour generated the most unanimous outpouring of acclaim from critics and fans of any live rock show in 2019, winning raves across North America for the orchestral dynamic as well as the duo’s cathartic rock firepower and intimate acoustic numbers. “They’re not getting older. They’re getting better. You better, you better, you bet.” reported the Worcester Telegram, with Pollstar Magazine agreeing “Daltrey is in peak form, and so is Townshend, lavishing his trademarked windmill guitar motion.” If you only see one concert this year, and god forbid that, make sure it is The Who. They always put on a fantastic show! Who albums include: My Generation (1965) A Quick One (1966) The Who Sell Out (1967) Tommy (1969) Live At Leeds (1970) Who’s Next (1971) Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy (1971) Quadrophenia (1973) Odds & Sods (1974)
Photo by William Snyder Trinifold The Who By Numbers (1975) Who Are You (1978) The Kids Are Alright (1979) Face Dances (1981) It’s Hard (1982) Who’s Last / The Who Live (1984) Join Together (1990) Endless Wire (2006) Who (2019) Besides these album releases, there are a slew of live, rare, and compilation albums available as well. There are so many of them available now that it would be hard to list them all here. For more information about THE WHO HITS BACK! 2022 dates, visit www.LiveNation.com or www.thewho.com. THE WHO HITS BACK! TOUR DATES SPRING April 22 / Hard Rock Live / Hollywood, FL* April 24 / VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena / Jacksonville, FL April 27 / Amalie Arena / Tampa, FL April 30 / New Orleans Jazz Festival* May 3 / Moody Center ATX / Austin, TX May 5 / American Airlines Center / Dallas, TX May 8 / the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion / The Woodlands, TX May 10 / Paycom Center / Oklahoma City, OK May 13 / FedExForum / Memphis, TN May 15 / TQL Stadium / Cincinnati, OH May 18 / TD Garden / Boston, MA May 20 / Wells Fargo Center /
Philadelphia, PA May 23 / Capital One Arena / Washington, D.C. May 26 / Madison Square Garden / New York City, NY May 28 / Bethel Woods Center of the Arts / Bethel, NY FALL Oct 2 / Scotiabank Arena / Toronto, ON Oct 4 / Little Caesars Arena / Detroit, MI Oct 7 / UBS Arena / Belmont Park, NY Oct 9 / Schottenstein Center / Columbus, OH Oct 12 / United Center / Chicago, IL Oct 14 / Enterprise Center / St. Louis, MO Oct 17 / Ball Arena / Denver, CO Oct 20 / Moda Center / Portland, OR Oct 22 / Climate Pledge Arena / Seattle, WA Oct 26 / Golden 1 Center / Sacramento, CA Oct 28 / Honda Center / Anaheim, CA Nov 1 / Hollywood Bowl / Los Angeles, CA Nov 4 + 5 / Dolby Live at Park MGM / Las Vegas, NV * Not a Live Nation Date Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewho Twitter: https://twitter.com/thewho Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewho/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ user/TheWhoVEVO Website: https://www.thewho.com/ Stream: https://ume.lnk.to/TheWho April 2022 • Rock and Blues International
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Albert Castiglia
Releases His New Album I Got Love 10 10 Rock Rockand andBlues BluesInternational International • • April February April2022 20222022
Albert Castiglia continued from previous page By Kevin Wildman Acclaimed Blues-Rock guitarist, Albert Castiglia has just released his new album, I Got Love. The album was released on Gulf Coast Records and features 10 of the best songs he’s ever written or co-written along with a cover from Melvin Taylor that Albert just loves. Virtually all the songs on I Got Love reflect the last two years of Albert’s life and the trials and tribulations of Covid that he was forced to endure. It also features some of the most incendiary and tasty guitar work that Albert has ever mustered up. It indeed shows another side to this great Bluesman. I Got Love is the follow up album to Albert’s 2020 release, Wild And Free, which was also released on Gulf Coast Records and was recorded live at The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton, Florida. Accompanying Albert on this album is his longtime bandmates, Justine Tompkins on bass, Ephraim Lowell on drums and vocals, and Lewis Stephens on Hammond B3 organ and piano. I Got Love was produced by Gulf Coast Records co-owner Mike Zito at Dockside Studio in Maurice, Louisiana. Engineering the project was non other than David Farrell. Albert offers up an explanation about what we’re listening to on this new release stating, “I Got Love is a musical essay documenting the last two years of my life: two years of many highs and lows. It’s about falling, failing, adapting, reinventing, surviving and becoming triumphant. It contains musings of an unemployed man, a Covid-stricken idiot and getting through it like Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption. The blues and blues-infused music is rooted in truth. This album is my truth. To ignore the events of the past two years (the Covid era) and write about anything else would not be my truth. I went through it all - loss, depression, illness, fear of the unknown. I know I couldn’t have been the only one that went through it. This collection of songs is for those who felt like I did. It’s for those who went down fighting and those who keep on fighting. For many of us in my profession and in the gig economy, this was our great depression. Some of us are doing well and some of us are still trying to find solid ground.” I had a chance recently to sit down with Albert and talk about his new album I Got Love, his family, and the trials and tribulations that led to the stories behind the
songs on I Got Love. Without a doubt, there are some very interesting songs on this album and the stories behind them are equally as interesting. Rock And Blues International: So, if we hadn’t gone through the Covid era, what do you think we’d be listening to on this new album? Albert Castiglia: Who knows? That’s what the Blues is all about. Who knows what would have happened? I would have had another set of struggles and triumphs that would have happened that would have made up for the excitement of the Çovid era. Life is exciting on its own no matter what happens. Life is pretty intense and you can write about anything. I don’t think my life would have been dull where I wouldn’t have had things to write about. That’s for sure.
redundant to just record songs that were inspired by the pandemic and the lockdown. But I think it’s necessary. I think people need to write what their experiences were. Everybody had his or her own set of challenges. Everywhere you lived, you had your own struggle, even if it was slightly different. Everybody had a struggle that was slightly different. If you lived in California your struggle was slightly different than if you lived in Florida and so you had to adapt and improvise in different ways. If musicians haven’t written about their experiences in the last two years, they should share it with the world. A lot of people should know what happened because a lot of people were okay through it. I think a great deal of musicians and people working in the service industry and in the giging economy… they suffered immensely from it. Rock And Blues International: It didn’t help me at all.
Rock And Blues International: Well, it seems with the Covid situation, every musician I’ve talked to has enough material for two or three new albums. There just wasn’t much to do but write and play, write and play, and write some more.
Albert Castiglia: I’m sure it didn’t.
Albert Castiglia: Exactly! I don’t think musicians should be afraid to write about what they experienced. There’s been a little bit of a consensus with the musicians I know about what to write about and what to record. A lot them don’t want to rehash what they went through and they think it would just be
Rock And Blues International: All of a sudden I didn’t have any advertisers. Everything was closed. No tours, no concerts, no bars, the sidewalks just folded up. Nobody was working in my industry. Albert Castiglia: Shit rolls downhill man. We’re all tied together to a certain continued on next page
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walk dogs. You’ve been great taking care of dogs… taking care of our dogs while I was away.’ And she said, ‘alright, I’ll look into it and she started making money at that right away and she had a good run at that and then the Pandemic and lockdown happened. The jobs kind of dried up a bit, even though she was getting a lot of calls from doctors and nurses that were working extra hours, so she was taking care of their dogs. It was still real slow and things were getting slower and then a friend of our, Rick Lusher, handed her the keys to his radio promotion business. He wanted to retire and take care of his granddaughter. He wanted to be with his grandkid. He handed Michelle the keys to the business. She’s been doing great. Her first client right off the bat was John Mayall. He emailed her, right out of the blue. I love John Mayall. He’s my hero, but he don’t know me from Adam, but he’s there pen-pallin’ my wife. It’s kinda cool! I was like blown away. He sent her an email and said what a great job she was doing. And she is, she’s really good at it. I think all those years in marketing and advertising prepped her for this moment. She’s really, really into the occasion.
Albert Castiglia continued from previous page degree. Unless you had a lot of money saved, or you were in certain industries that were pandemic proof, you were affected. For musicians it was really tough. Some industries didn’t survive. A few did, but it was quite a struggle. We’re getting near the end of this I think. Things are opening up and the summer’s looking pretty good right now, and we’re just starting our new tour. This month we head to the Midwest United States and start our tour with Mike Zito. Rock And Blues International: Yeah, it looks like you’ve got about 40 gigs lined up right now. Albert Castiglia: I think we’ve got about 20 on this run and then we’re off for two weeks and then we start another 20 in May that’s going to take us from Memphis down to Florida and up through Louisiana into Texas and up to the Midwest. It’s going to be something else. Rock And Blues International: Yeah, you’re going to be performing at a few great spots… the Iridium in New York. That’s going to be cool!
There’s so many. Mike and I have been doing gigs together for a while through the Pandemic. In Florida we did a handful of dates together and it went really well. That was 2020 and in early 2021 I caught Covid and it kicked my ass for about 6 months. Even though I was out of the woods… I quarantined and I was okay, and still had these symptoms. I wasn’t feeling right. Mike took me out on the road and we did a handful of dates together after I felt better and it went extremely well. So Mike talked to Intrepid, our agency, and said ‘let’s do this Blood Brothers Tour.’ They had worked it all out. We talked about it and it didn’t seem like it was going to happen, then Mike just came out of the blue and called me and said, ‘look, we’re putting this all together and that’s what we’re doing, and that’s it.’ I said ‘okay’. Mike and I are kind of like ‘The Rat Pack.’ He’s Frank Sinatra and I’m Dean Martin. He likes to be pro-active and put this stuff together and I’m just going along for the ride and following his lead. It’s been a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to it. Rock And Blues International: And I understand your wife Michelle has a new gig also…
Albert Castiglia: Yeah, Les Paul’s old
Rock And Blues International: Well, you’ve got the new album out and it seems to be a fantastic, reflective view into what you went through during those two years of Covid and the Pandemic. The title of the album is I Got Love and the first song out the gate is the title song, “I Got Love.” There’s a lot of selfreflective songs on here that we need to talk about, so let’s start with that one. Albert Castiglia: “I Got Love”… Well, the lyrics came out of the desperation that I was facing at the time. When this all happened, when we got locked down. We were getting ready to start a tour and we were supposed to go to Delaware and we had to turn it around. It was very concerning, but in the middle of it we were hanging in there for a while and I was just kind of inspired by the fact that even though we’re about to lose a lot, it’s going to be love that carries us through… our families, our children. They’re going to carry us through. That’s what’s important, not material things. Yes, money is important to a certain degree, but as long as we’ve got family, and we’ve got the love around us and our friends, and we’re looking after each other, we’ll get through what we need to get through. And that’s what that song is about. My daughter, who is the love of my life, and my grandkids, my wife, my parents, they helped us out and we helped them out through this. That’s all that matters. If you’ve got that, you can accomplish anything and you can conquer anything. You can overcome any obstacle if you’ve got love all around.
place.
Albert Castiglia: Yeah, radio promotions. She’s doing a great job. That was one Rock And Blues International: And of those things that came about through the Daryl’s House. Pandemic. She was walking dogs. She was in marketing for a few years and that was just Albert Castiglia: Yep, Daryl Hall’s eating her up. It was just eating her alive. place, and that’s going to be great. And She’d been at it for a long time and she was there’s a lot of great places… I’m looking just coming home in tears all the time. I was forward to Chicago, really the whole tour like, ‘you need to find something you love at actually. Knuckleheads in Kansas City… this point, this stage. I said ‘why don’t you 12 Rock and Blues International • April 2022
Rock And Blues International: How about “Don’t Pray With The Devil.” That’s kind of an ominous title. Is this cautionary song? Albert Castiglia: (laugh out loud) I think I wrote that one under the influence of continued on next page
Albert Castiglia continued from previous page Covid and cold medication. I had a lot of time to just binge out and watch TV and I saw the devil in many forms while I was watching TV… Jive ass preachers, politicians, things of that nature, and how those types get put in positions of… they get elevated to near spiritual and godly stature and I think they’re just human beings like us. They’re just flawed human beings like everybody else, and I think that’s where that came from. Rock And Blues International: You cowrote these first two songs with other people, Ephraim Lowell and Justine Tompkins. Albert Castiglia: That’s right. Rock And Blues International: How did that collaboration come across and who contributed what to each song? Albert Castiglia: Well, I wrote the lyrics pretty much and then I was stumbling and trying to find a hook for the songs, and my drummer Ephraim Lowell, who is a great drummer and all around musician, and that’s why I hired him helped me out. He’s a very competent guitar player and bass player as well, so he put together a bunch of riffs and music ideas and it kind of meshed with what I was thinking. Here’s the thing about songwriting, once you get the lyrics… the lyrics are like a canvas. Once you hear the lyrics, you know what to color and paint with. When you read the lyrics, you can pretty much see what the music is going to be like. I’ve taken that similar songwriting approach when collaborating with Cyril Neville. Cyril Neville is an amazing lyricist, and so when you get his lyrics you know exactly what vibe you’re going to get music-wise and the kinds of riffs you’re going to put into it. I was kind of struggling when I wrote the lyrics to those first two songs and Ephraim provided the color. He gave me some rough demos and it kind of meshed with the lyrics and “Don’t Pray With The Devil” was his music as well. And then Justine Tompkins added to the song as well with her bass lines. She’s a remarkable bass player. She’s been with me the last three years and she’s quite possibly the best bass player I’ve ever had in my band. She added a lot to the song with her bass line, so it really was a collaborative effort. I’ve got to give credit where credit is due. I could have easily said okay, and given myself the credit, but they really deserve as much credit on this as I do. It was definitely a collaborative effort on those first couple of songs and it’s paid off. I know that “I Got Love” has been getting a lot of love, and they’re as much a
part of it as I am. Rock And Blues International: Do you find it easier to write alone or with other people? Albert Castiglia: It’s the same... Collaborating comes to me when I’m struggling. If I’m writing and I’m on a roll, it’s pretty easy. When I turn to collaborating, it’s coming to terms that I’m just falling short on completing a song and I need help. That’s when I reach out to my friend or my family to see if they have any ideas. That’s kind of how it works. Actually, it’s worked a lot throughout this album. I also reached out for help to Mike (Zito). Rock And Blues International: You also collaborated with the other owner of Gulf Coast Music, Guy Hale, on “Sanctuary.” How did that come about?
sanctuary. There were a handful that didn’t want to live anymore because of it, so I was very lucky. I really identified with Guy’s lyrics and that’s how that one came about.
Albert Castiglia: I provided the music for that and Guy Hale, the co-owner of Gulf Rock And Blues International: You Coast Records, provided the lyrics. He’s a have two songs on here that you wrote with great lyricist. He writes real good songs. He’s a real deep cat. He’s a successful retired Mike Zito, “What’s Wrong With You,” and “You Don’t Know Hell.” Tell me a little businessman from England, but he’s very about both of those and how that collaboraphilanthropic and he’s really done a lot of tion came about. great work, like helping teens get off of drugs. I mean, he’s lived the life. He’s lived Albert Castiglia: Let’s start with an incredible life that’s taken him from the “What’s Wrong With You.” Mike writes real highest of highs to the lowest of lows, so he’s funny songs sometimes. He’s a very serious really a deep writer, and he wrote this song songwriter. He touches on real serious called “Sanctuary.” He wrote the lyrics and I subjects, but when he wants to give me songs could identify with those lyrics pretty well. and he’s got ideas, they’re usually pretty My wife is my sanctuary, my family is my goofy. We were kind of short a song or two sanctuary, and the lyrics kind of just fit. I and he gave me some ideas. He goes, ‘here’s really bought into the lyrics and I had some a song I’ve got,’ and he starts this 12-bar riffs lying around and I just kind of put them Blues song and he had the first verse and a together with what he wrote. That’s what half of the song and he started mumbling it, came about. You don’t always have to write like he does on a demo and he goes, “Try to the lyrics to feel the lyrics. Guy wrote the love you woman and I give you even more, lyrics, but I could have written those if I had now you just look and me and scream and really put my mind to it. I could really walk out the door. What’s wrong with you?” identify with what he was writing about. People in your life are your sanctuary. I don’t It was very similar to a song he gave me five years ago called “Quit Your Bitchin”, which know if I could have gotten through the is like an homage to marriage. So, this was Covid without my family. When I caught kind of like the sequel to “Quit Your Bitchin”. Covid, it took a toll on me. If I didn’t have my loved ones around and people keeping me He’s like taking this theme and going with it to another song, but he kind of fell short after up, I don’t know what would have happened. a verse and a half. He ran out of words. So A lot of people didn’t handle it well when what I did was change the groove of the song they got it. It really took a toll on them mentally and some people didn’t have those continued on next page loved ones around and didn’t have that April 2022 • Rock and Blues International 13
especially on a record. You don’t have to be serious all the time. Life can be absurd and you can play on the absurdity of life as well. Rock And Blues International: Now tell us a little bit about “You Don’t Know Hell.” That seems like a pretty serious song. Albert Castiglia: “You Don’t Know Hell” was kind of inspired by…. Well, the riff was Mike’s. Mike took this riff and I tweeked it a bit. That was the music. Lyrically, I was watching the news. I’m a news junkie. I watch a lot of different news outlets. I try to stay on point. I was watching a story on the border and I was watching all this trouble we’re having at the border. And how all these people migrated all the way from Central America just to try to get over the border and the lengths they had to go through to do this. We’ve got and I made it a little more funky and then I aggravations in our life, but we don’t go added the rest of the lyrics. The second verse through them to the extent that we want to is “I bought you a diamond ring.” That’s were he just ran out of lyrics. “I bought you a leave our home. I saw this report on how diamond ring,” and that was it. Then I took it these ‘coyotes’ were smuggling these people through the mountains in Central America over from there and went “I bought you a and about what these people were going diamond ring about the size of your head. through just to get a chance to get out and You started looking at me, what’s this pebble, come here, and what they had to go through what’s you said.” That song was probably was a hell in itself. These people sacrificed the most least biographical song on the their lives and took a chance, just to be sent album. It was just a funny song and I put a back. They put themselves through all this groove on it and just ran with it. It could be with the risk of being sent back and when biographical too. We all go through things they do get back, they’ll do it all over again. with our spouses. It’s not always perfect. I think that’s where that came from. We I’m sure she’s looked at me at times and said, really don’t know hell the way other people ‘what’s wrong with you?’ There was a lot of might and we’re experiencing that now that goin’ on in the last couple of years. I because on the other side of the world in the suppose that could be biographical, but it’s Ukraine, people are getting the shit bombed probably the least biographical song on the out of them. So, we really don’t know hell album. It’s a lot of fun to play, and the band the way other people do in this world. I think really likes to play it. People really dig it perspective is a very important thing and when we play it. keeping a perspective. We’re very fortunate. We live in a country that has a lot of Rock And Blues International: Well, problems, but also I wouldn’t trade living you really need to have fun with these songs here for living anywhere else in the world when you play them or it defeats the purpose either. I think as far as places to live, I don’t of writing them. see myself living anywhere else but here, and I wouldn’t leave no matter how bad it gets. Albert Castiglia: It’s good to have fun But there are people who live elsewhere that every once in a while. It’s good to have have it a lot worse than we do. That’s where levity. You’ve got to balance things out, 14 Rock and Blues International • April 2022
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that song came from. It stems from watching the struggles of others. It’s not meant to be politically sided on one side or the other. It’s just an observation. We don’t know the hell that others go through. People see what we have and they want what we have. They want a taste of the freedom that we have because they don’t have that. So, that’s where that song came from. Rock And Blues International: Here’s another song with an interesting title… “Burning Bridges.” What bridges are you burning here? Albert Castiglia: It’s tongue in cheek and it’s burning bridges with social media trolls. It’s not burning bridges in a negative sense, it’s inspired by social media. I like Facebook, well I like certain aspects of it. When it was first created, I think it was created with the best of intentions, but it’s kind of snowballed into a divisive tool. It’s a free interactive website. You can get your dates on there and you can share stories with your fans. In that respect, it’s very good, but it’s gotten very divisive in the last few years and it’s been very hurtful to my friends, friends of mine in the business, and to me a little bit. I can take it, but people can really be cruel on it. I saw that quite a bit in the last couple of years, particularly in the Covid era. It’s actually been in the last five years that it’s been really polarizing. It’s really divisive. But I had a lot more time to spend on social media since I was out of work and I wasn’t as busy. I just saw a lot of hate and a lot of people projecting their miserable lives on others and it really pissed me off. When you create, you’re really putting yourself out there and I’ve seen artists put themselves out and people just be really cruel and then you look into their profiles and then you see friends being attacked on Facebook there. You check these people doing the attacking and you see why they’re doing the attacking. It’s because they’re miserable. You can tell right away by their posts and by their timelines that they don’t have much going on. They spend their days tearing other people down on Facebook, or Twitter, and Instigram, but they don’t really have lives of their own and they’re pretty pathetic. So that was whom I was targeting… social media trolls, people with lack of substance that want to push their miserable lives on people, and bullies. I hate internet bullies and people like that. It’s just that there’s no place for any of that so that’s where I was going with “Burning Bridges.” Rock And Blues International: Tell us a little about the song “Double Down.” It sounds like something out of a card game, but I know it isn’t. It’s another song about your observations on the internet. Albert Castiglia: No, it’s not. Well, on “Double Down”, that’s just another thing I discovered on social media. People just like to lie. I was just targeting people who like to lie and then just continue to perpetrate lies. It used to be that if you made a mistake in life you own up to it, admit it, and try to do better continued on next page
Albert Castiglia continued from previous page next time. But now it seems like lately that people mess up and instead of admitting making a mistake, doing something wrong, they just Double Down and that they’re not or they never did anything wrong. Especially in the music business, you see a lot of that. You see a lot of double dealing and people doing underhanded stuff and then they get caught with their hands in the jar and instead of admitting that they did, they just lie and believe their lie. So that’s where that came from. It didn’t really come from a particular incident, it’s just an observation. Like I said, I had a lot of time to watch TV and go online during those two years, so I got to observe a lot of this stuff more than normal. Rock And Blues International: Well that brings us to “Long Haul Daddy.” That’s not about a trucker is it. I understand that’s a term they give to people that are still feeling the symptoms from Covid long after they’ve recovered. Albert Castiglia: That song is about when I caught Covid. In the beginning of the Pandemic, in the lockdown, my “Masterpiece” album did so well, that I got a handful of royalty checks that were able to help maintain me during the lockdown. So, I was okay for awhile. From March to November things were okay and I was able to survive and get a gig here and there, and I was able to teach. But then the money that I had saved had run out, so I had to not be as selective about gigs. As we got later in the year, there were more gigs happening in Florida, but of course, there were a lot of places that I would not have set foot in at the time. There were places that weren’t very sanitary. They didn’t believe that this thing really existed. I had to play these places because the money ran out and as much as I wanted to be selective and I wanted to be careful, I had to pay the mortgage. You gotta do what you gotta do. Life is not black and white. That’s why everybody had their own struggles the last couple of years. So anyway, the money ran out and I had to take a few more gigs than I liked. Sure enough, I played somewhere in Florida and the next day I started feeling funny and I felt I was coming down with a cold. The next day after that I felt worse and I had a slight fever and my wife said I needed to get checked out. So I went down the street to this local park where they were having tests and I got swabbed and sure enough a couple of days later I got the results back and I had caught Covid. So my wife locked me up in my office and I was relegated to being in my office or in the master bedroom. She
took the spare bedroom, because I had access to the bathroom in the master bedroom, so that’s where I convalesced. It was supposed to be for 10 days, but after my recovery, I still didn’t feel good. I was getting pins and needles in my hands and feet. I started gigging again after the quarantine. I did my first gig after quarantine, and after that I couldn’t work for a week. I was in bed for a week after that. It took that much out of me. Luckily I didn’t have that much work. I had to cancel my lessons since I could not function. So during that period, I was just miserable. I couldn’t sleep. That’s another thing… I had bad insomnia. My whole sleep was screwed up, so I was miserable. One day while I was freaking out, I had the pins and needles going. I grabbed my guitar and I just started jamming on a shuffle. I started rattling off these lyrics about how sick I was and how I felt, and how I got it. It was all about what I was going through at that time. ‘Long Haul’ is what they would call people who were encountering symptoms after they caught it and after they recovered from it. That’s what I felt I had. I felt I was suffering from ‘long hauler’s symptoms. It sure was, because I couldn’t smell for three months and I kept burning up. I was burning up and I could not sleep. I would lie in bed starring at the ceiling. I could not sleep at night and I could barely sleep during the day. I felt like I couldn’t get any relief. It took a long time to get over it and that’s where that song came about. I’m telling you man, if it wasn’t for music, I would’ve lost my mind. Music is a great healer for me. I think it’s a great healer for everybody, I think for both the listeners and the artists. It does really help us a lot mentally. Rock And Blues International: I understand. I went out and started doing
‘open mics’ and singing for the first time. It was interesting. Albert Castiglia: Well, how did it make you feel? Rock And Blues International: Scared as shit the first couple of times, but after that it made me feel a whole lot better. It was cathartic. It was interesting. I understand what you’re saying about the music being a healing process. Albert Castiglia: It definitely helped me during that period. Working on that song definitely helped me get through that. I was just miserable. I was not reacting well to that, but fortunately I got through it and the doctors helped me out. But that song was definitely about getting Covid and what I went through. Rock And Blues International: What is the song “Freedomland” about? Albert Castiglia: Actually I was talking about the struggles that everybody had to go through during the last two years. Here’s where I was going at with this… This is all tied to social media as well. Everybody had their own feelings about what to wanted to do and needed to do. Some people took it seriously. Some people didn’t. Some people went a little to far either way with how they felt and there was all this talk about what they should do or shouldn’t do. The bottom line is the individuals themselves had to do what was best for them. What’s best for you might not be best for someone living in Montana or living somewhere else, so you need to do continued on next page
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Albert Castiglia continued from previous page what you have to do to survive in a time like this. That’s what “Freedomland” is all about. When I was struggling in 2020, I did not want to go out. I was not ready to go out. My parents were of age, and if I had gone to see them and I had gotten them sick, I would have never forgiven myself. With that said, I had to pay the bills, and I had to do what I had to do. So I took the precautions, whatever the precautions were, but when there were gigs to take, I had to take them. I had to pay the mortgage and get us through that month. I took them, and I took a lot of heat at times from people. There was serious judgement on both sides. I got criticized for wearing a mask. I got shamed for wearing a mask in the early part of this ordeal, and then I got slammed for taking gigs. So I got it from both sides. And all I was trying to do was try to stay safe, try to make my money to pay the bills, because nobody was going to pay my bills for me. So “Freedomland” is about that. “We’re on a mission to stay alive. If you ain’t gonna hustle, you ain’t gonna survive.” What are you gonna do? You gotta try to protect yourself and be safe in these uncertain times, but you also gotta figure out a way to make a living. Let me tell you something Kevin, it was really hard. It was really hard for musicians to make a living unless you had a unique set of skills. My drummer, for instance is a handyman. He was painting and he was doing construction, and he was doing whatever he could. That’s what he grew up doing. That’s not me. I don’t have that skillset, so I had to figure out a whole new way to survive, and I did. My bass player did the same thing too. She took up office work because she was so good at doing office work, and organizing and administrating. So she did that. That was also not going to be enough just to pay the bills, so we had to take gigs. And when we took gigs, we got slammed. When we wore masks we got slammed. It was like being bombarded from both sides and the bottom line is, in a situation like this you gotta be on your own side. You gotta do what the best is for you. That’s what “Freedomland” is all about. You might think this is a land of freedom. We do live in a free society and the price for living in a free society is people’s freedom to run their mouths and judge other people. And so “Freedomland” is about doing what I had to do for my family and ‘fuck’ everybody else for what they think. That’s pretty much what that was all about. Rock And Blues International: You also do the song, “Depression Blues” by Melvin Taylor. That song is pretty much self-
explanatory. Different time, but almost the same problems.
interesting title on here, “Take My Name Out Of Your Mouth.”
Albert Castiglia: Well, I’ve just loved that song for years. I used to play it with Melvin. When I was in Chicago, I played with Junior Wells, and when Junior died, I was picking up gigs and I was a sideman for other people, and Melvin was one of those guys. I just loved playing with him and I was a big fan. Years later, I started thinking about him and “Depression Blues” came on and I just loved that groove on it. It just happened to be… at the time. It just happened to be really spot on, although it’s only two verses. But when you’ve got a great groove going, all you need is two verses. The two verses were very effective and it was very right on. It was a song I could have written at this time…. living in the depression and hoping things would get better. This period of time, it may have been fruitful for a handful of people and not just a big deal for some. It was our depression, it was a musician’s depression. It had us freaked out and if you were a full-time musician, who lacked other skills outside of music, this was your depression. And so that song fit, and the groove was awesome and I just wanted to put it out. It’s the only cover on the album. Mike (Zito) wanted me to do an album where there was a minimum of covers and I agreed with him. I wanted the album to be more original heavy, but I had to do this one. It was a no-brainer for the times.
Albert Castiglia: “Take My Name Out Of Your Mouth!” Yeah! (laughs) See, this was another song inspired by the Internet.
Rock And Blues International: And then you’ve got the song with the most
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Rock And Blues International: Do you have a problem with the Internet? Albert Castiglia: (Laughs) I don’t. I don’t have a problem with the Internet. I have a problem with evil people on the Internet. That’s what I have a problem with. Rock And Blues International: I don’t really see a lot of evil stuff on the Internet. Primarily what I see is a lot of stupidity… people saying stupid and absurd things that other people start believing. Albert Castiglia: Exactly, but check this out. This was just directed at… I don’t want to say icky, but it was directed at some of these people that just think they are Blues experts, and they like to judge what other people are doing. Everybody thinks the Blues needs to stay true traditional and that’s it. I played with some of the pioneers of the Blues, and quite frankly, from playing with them they didn’t want me to sound like them. They wanted me to develop my own style. They wanted me to take things from their bag and work it in, but they wanted me to be original. Junior Wells didn’t want me to continued on next page
Albert Castiglia continued from previous page spend my life copying his style, just playing his songs. He wanted me to carry the torch in my own way and keep the blues alive in my way. There were a lot of people attacking my friends and I didn’t like it. I came across a post on Facebook awhile back, about the same time I wrote this song. Somebody said something to somebody and the other person responded, “Don’t you talk about my daddy like that! You take his name outta your G.D. mouth!” He said, “you take his name out of your god dammed mouth!” That’s what he said, and I was like “Whoa! That’s awesome. That’s gonna make a great song and I took the title and I started thinking about myself. I was taking a beating at times for people. I’m not complaining, it goes with the territory. If you’re an artist, you’re going to take your hits. The bigger the name, the bigger the target. I’m not the biggest name out there, but my name is getting out there more and more every year. The more exposure you have, the more exposure you’re going to have to idiots. So I took this title and I ran with it. I started to reflect about how people don’t know me and don’t know my friends, and they don’t know what’s in their hearts and how they are and I tell them to just take their names out of their mouths when they speak of us in the wrong way. That’s pretty much where I got it from. I’ll give you an example. A few weeks ago when Baseball went on strike… I’m a huge baseball fan and every ten years they’re going on strike or they’re locking out players, and I got mad and made a comment about how Billionaires locking out Millionaires are hurting the fans. Somebody called me out and said, “you’re a hypocrite,” and I said, “Why am I a hypocrite, and they said, “You’re a millionaire. Why are you demonizing millionaires.” I said, “I’m a millionaire? What are you talking about? What on earth made you believe I’m a millionaire? And the guy kept insisting that I was a millionaire. I’m not even a thousandaire. I’m barely a hundredaire. But people don’t know people and they think they know you just because you give them a little bit of yourself on social media. So, that’s the thing. When you speak of me in a bad way, ‘take my name out of your doggoned mouth.’ That’s pretty much what the song means. It’s like that for anything, it doesn’t even have to be limited to the Internet. It’s just overall. The Internet is just a high tech way of gossiping. There’s been gossip since the beginning of time, so it really just applies to gossipers and people talking nonsense about things they don’t understand.
Rock And Blues International: I understand. I really do… and when you become a millionaire, I need to borrow some money.
Hypothetically, after playing with Junior Wells for so many years, what do you think Junior would think about this album?
Albert Castiglia: If I become a millionaire, I will share it with my friends and you are one of them, so yes, I’ll lend you a few bucks if that happens (laughs). Rock And Blues International: Great! Great! Albert Castiglia: Unfortunately I am not. I’m not a millionaire. Somebody looked it up… My drummer’s girlfriend looked it up on Google and there was a handful of websites that said I was worth 13 million dollars. One said I was worth a million and a half, another said I was worth five… and apparently I did an album with Kanye West, which is pretty shocking to me. I’d like to know where I was when that happened. Rock And Blues International: Kanye West… I didn’t know you were into rap music also (laughs). Albert Castiglia: Apparently I’m a rapper. I didn’t know that. At this point, it’s better to be on Kanye’s side than against him. He’s upset with Pete Davidson because he’s going out with his ex-wife. I’d rather not tangle with Yeesus. That’s his nickname… Yeesus. Rock And Blues International: So what is it you want people to get out of this new album. When they finish listening to it, what would be the underlying thought you’d like them to walk away with? Albert Castiglia: I just want them to like it and rock out to it. It’s very rockin’. If you like what I do, then just take the top down, drive down the highway and rock out to it. It’s a very rockin’ record. I just want people to enjoy it and understand that the Blues is life and the Blues is truth. That’s why we love it and why people who listen to it love it and this is my Blues. This is my Truth for the last two years. If they can enjoy it and rock out to it, then more power to them. I just want them to enjoy the record and enjoy the ride. Rock And Blues International: Musically, how do you think your guitar work on this album compares to your previous albums? Albert Castiglia: I think my guitar playing gets better every day. I’ve had more of a thirst for knowledge in the last ten years than I did in the previous years. I’ve gotten older and maturer. I just spent my youth running around playing and playing. I think I’ve become more of a student as I’ve gotten older. I think it’s made me a better player and I definitely think my guitar playing is head and shoulders better than it was in previous years. I think it gets better every day, quite frankly. Rock And Blues International:
Albert Castiglia: I think he would appreciate the fact that I was being original. I hope he would be proud of me and I think he’d be happy with this record. I think he would’ve liked it. Junior was one of those old school guys that pushed the envelope too. He added elements of Soul, R&B and funk into his music, particularly in the latter years of his career. I think he would’ve liked what I was going for. Of course, we’ll never know, but I hope he’d be proud of me. Rock And Blues International: I’ve listened to the album several times now and I’ve really gotten into it. I really like it. It seems very heartfelt and very personal… perhaps your most personal yet. The song that got to me the most was “Take Your Name Out Of Your Mouth.” I love that one. Albert Castiglia: I think everybody can appreciate that song. It’s a defiant tune. Nobody likes to be made a fool of, or spoken about in the wrong way, or misjudged. That song kind of fell from the sky. When I write a song they either come from extreme emotions from me. I’m either extremely happy or extremely angry. A lot of the songs on Masterpiece came from pure joy… from finding out about my daughter and my grandkid. When I get in a bad mood, some good stuff comes out of it as well. I try to make the best of it when I get into that kind of mindset. I’m very lucky that I have an outlet for my anger. As you can see, there were a lot of trials and tribulations that Albert had to endure during his adventures in The Covid Era. The subjects he covered are probably very common to a lot of folks that had to endure the effects on Covid and the ongoing process we all still have coping with the situation. We’re not out of the woods yet. I hope that you enjoy this fine Blues album, I did and I’d recommend it to all you Blues aficionados out there. This is one of the finest Blues albums to come out this year so far. Get it now and listen to it intensely. To sum things up, Albert further tells us that “This album is for everyone. It’s also a thank you to those who helped keep us alive; the folks that contributed to my virtual shows and took guitar lessons from me. This album’s also for Rick Lusher, who retired from the radio promotions business and handed the keys over to my wife at a time when we really needed it. It’s about love, gratitude and becoming a better person from the shittiest of circumstances. It’s my blues in its truest form. I Got Love is the most thematic album I’ve done since Masterpiece. My daughter and grandchildren were my muse for Masterpiece. With I Got Love, it was the deepest darkness and the brightest light, two extremes that tested every fiber in my being. I’m glad I lived to tell the tale!”
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Blues Attack: Will and courage By Edoardo Fassio In his 2008 essay Moving to Higher Ground - How Jazz Can Change Your Life, jazz icon Wynton Marsalis recalls one time he and his band were playing a gig in Turkey. «A guy came up with some Turkish instrument we couldn’t even identify. He was asking what song can we play. Judging by his instrument, our first answer was “nothing.” But, after he shook off a few songs, we said, “What about some blues?” A big smile came over his face and he said, “Of course.” He fit right in and people loved it because they could hear their traditional music and our music together in a digestible form». No wonder there’s a keen interest in the blues in Turkey, a country that has played, albeit indirectly, a crucial role in the universal affirmation of black music: one of the most important labels in history, Atlantic Records, was founded in 1947 in New York by Ahmet Ertegun, who was born and raised in Istanbul when it was still called Constantinople. The spread of the blues in non-English-speaking countries is evidence of the emancipation of the genre as a citizen of the world, often generating cross-fertilization with local cultures. Göksenin Tuncali, a genuine singer and bandleader from Istanbul, in her composition “Hala Vazgeçmedim” (“I haven’t given up yet”) takes hold of the style by mastering it in her own language. The song is included in her 2020 album Women’s Blues, which caught eyes and ears of international reviews and radio airplay. It combines classics of African American female blues with adaptations of melodies and harmonic structures from the Turkish folklore. Göksenin, who is also president of the Turkish Blues Association, is passionately committed to the double effort of promoting the blues at home and making the most deserving domestic bands known abroad. Her latest tip concerns Blues Attack, a quintet led by singer and guitarist Güray Oskay. Their debut album Bringing Down the House has ten original songs composed and sung in English, including the killer title track with its soulful pace and “Country Joan”, a relentless invitation to dance until your last breath. A veteran of the live scene, Oskay is not your typical purist. He also loves classic rock and funk, but sees everything that comes after the blues as an extension of the blues itself. He is convinced that his band is not an isolated case. Blues is played a lot in Turkey, he states, and at high quality levels too. Not long ago “producing, recording, releasing, and promoting music was an expensive business”. Now, changes in both technology and the music market allow to lower the costs: “almost everything has become more accessible. I guess it’s a matter of will and courage”. 20
Rock and Blues International
• April 2022
Blues Attack: volontà e coraggio By Edoardo Fassio Nel suo saggio Come il jazz può cambiarti la vita, il jazzista Wynton Marsalis ricorda un episodio avvenuto mentre era in concerto in Turchia. «Un tipo salì sul palco con uno strumento turco che nessuno di noi sapeva neppure identificare. Ci chiese che cosa potevamo suonare insieme. Dall’aspetto del suo strumento, la nostra prima risposta fu “niente”. E dopo che tentò un paio di attacchi, noi si disse: “Che ne dici di un blues”? Sul volto gli apparve un grosso sorriso e rispose: “Of course”! Si adattò subito e al pubblico piacque, perché vi sentivano dentro sia la loro musica tradizionale che la nostra musica, insieme e in forma digeribile». Non c’è da stupirsi dell’interesse per il blues in Turchia, un paese che ha avuto, sia pur indirettamente, un ruolo decisivo per l’affermazione universale della musica nera: una delle etichette più importanti della storia, la Atlantic Records, fu fondata nel 1947 a New York da Ahmet Ertegun, che era nato e cresciuto a Istanbul quando ancora si chiamava Costantinopoli. La diffusione del blues in paesi non anglofoni ha confermato l’emancipazione del genere a cittadino del mondo, generando anche fertili contaminazioni con culture locali. Göksenin Tuncali, verace cantatrice e bandleader di Istanbul, in “Hala Vazgeçmedim” (“Non mi sono ancora arresa”) si impadronisce dello stile affrontandolo nella propria lingua. Il brano è contenuto nel suo lavoro del 2020 Women’s Blues, un album non sfuggito alle recensioni e alle radio internazionali di genere, che affianca classici del blues femminile afroamericano ad adattamenti di melodie e strutture armoniche del folklore turco. Göksenin, che è pure presidente della Turkish Blues Association, si impegna con passione nel doppio sforzo di promuovere il blues in patria e far conoscere all’estero le più interessanti band nazionali. L’ultima sua segnalazione riguarda i Blues Attack, un quintetto guidato dal cantante e chitarrista Güray Oskay. Il suo album d’esordio Bringing Down The House contiene dieci brani originali composti e cantati in inglese, tra cui l’entusiasmante title track dall’andatura soulful e “Country Joan”, che invita al ballo fino all’ultimo respiro. Oskay, veterano della scena live, non è un purista. Ama anche il rock classico e il funk, ma considera tutto ciò che viene dopo il blues come un’estensione del blues stesso. È convinto che la sua band non rappresenti un caso isolato. Il blues è molto suonato in Turchia, afferma, e anche ad alti livelli di qualità. Ora che con l’evoluzione della tecnologia i costi legati alla produzione e alla promozione si sono ridotti, “quasi tutto è diventato più accessibile. Credo che sia solo questione di volontà e di coraggio”. April 2022 • Rock and Blues International
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New Music From South Korea
SUNMI Releases EQUAL x Spotify Singles Track “Oh Sorry Ya” in Celebration of 2022 WORLD TOUR ON SALEDay NOW International Women’s 22 Rock and Blues International • April 2022
LISTEN & SHARE: SUNMI - “Oh Sorry Ya” Spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/track/03HYOtfzbzx0HPHMcfLFOe
LISTEN & SHARE: Ed Sheeran - “Shivers” (ft. Jessi, SUNMI) Spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/track/1A3T3npKsrElQTjTEcr3LR Apple Music @ https://music.apple.com/us/album/shivers-feat-jessi-sunmi-single/1596902121 YouTube @ https://youtu.be/DDu3ZmwqAkM K-pop megastar SUMNI has partnered with Spotify to share her first new single of 2022, “Oh Sorry Ya.” The single comes as part of Spotify’s EQUAL initiative, which was instilled as a measure to uplift women in the music industry. SUNMI is the Asian representative of the new series of Spotify Singles to be released in celebration of Spotify’s EQUAL initiative this year, and as part of their celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8. This is also SUNMI’s first track created with a team composed solely of women, including a female team of producers from England, LYRE. “Oh Sorry Ya” catches the ears of listeners with a heavy, yet rhythmic baseline from the beginning. ‘Oh Sorry Ya,’ as an extension of ‘Borderline’ that talks about her story from deep inside her heart, deals with the conflict between the Old SUNMI and the New SUNMI. SUNMI’s vocals play a variation as if the Old SUNMI and the New SUNMI have a conversation with each other, which presents many different sides of K-Pop Queen SUNMI at the same time. Unlike the serious story in the lyrics, “Oh Sorry Ya” introduces SUNMI-Pop characteristics with the danceable retro-vibe that you can get lost into. EQUAL is Spotify’s global evergreen program, promoting gender equality and diversity in the global audio industry. EQUAL leverages the power of Spotify on platform and in culture, increasing representation of women with a mixture of Spotify’s best-in-class
editorial and marketing abilities. Each month, a new class of EQUAL artists is celebrated and supported by their local and global teams, within the EQUAL ecosystem and beyond. The EQUAL playlist ‘Created by Women’ — which will include SUNMI’s new track — features songs that are fully written, produced, and performed by women. SUNMI debuted in the music industry as a member of girl group Wonder Girls in 2007 and received a lot of love as a national girl group with mega hits such as “Tell Me” and “Nobody.” In 2014, she stood out as a solo artist when she released her two songs “24 Hours” and “Full Moon.” Later, Wonder Girls transformed into a band and released the album “REBOOT” and “Why so lonely,” showing new and different sides of themselves. SUNMI particularly received credits for participating not only in writing songs and lyrics but also as a visual director. SUNMI took a huge step forward as a solo musician when she released her first single “Gashina” after joining Make Us Entertainment (now known as Abyss Company) in 2017. “Gashina,” with unique choreography and many different sides of SUNMI, broke the stereotype that she’s from an idol group and was remarkably successful while SUNMI craze swept across. Afterwards, whenever she released her songs such as “Heroine” (2018), “Siren” (2018), “Noir” (2019), “Lalalay” (2019), “pporappippam” (2020), “Tail” (2021),
and “You can’t sit with us” (2021), SUNMI succeeded in making them mega hits and has been the one and only unrivaled K-pop female solo artist. Starting off with the mini-album WARNING, released in 2018, SUNMI participated in the album work and stood out as a producer. As she released her third mini-album 1/6 (One Sixth) in 2021, she variously and freely expressed her own music style and broaden her musical spectrum even further. Moreover, SUNMI has continuously collaborated in diverse ways; she released “Too young to die (Prod. FRANTS)” at Mnet show Street Woman Fighter, which brought K-Dance sensation, and worked together to create a new mix of “Shivers” with British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. SUNMI has also proved herself an extraordinary artist in performance as she successfully held her first solo world tour, ‘2019 SUNMI THE 1ST WORLD TOUR [WARNING].’ All the tickets for her first world tour, which took place in 19 regions around the world, including Asia, North/South America, and Europe, were sold out. SUNMI held ‘SUNMI THE 1ST ONLINE CONCERT [GOOD GIRL GONE MAD]’ in 2021 and presented sensuous experiences to her fans around the world with unique performances combined with XR technology.
SUNMI LINKS Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/miyayeah/ Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/officialsunmi/ Spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/artist/6MoXcK2GyGg7FIyxPU5yW6 TikTok @ https://www.tiktok.com/@official_sunmi?lang=en Twitter @ https://twitter.com/miyaohyeah YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/c/official_sunmi/about April 2022 • Rock and Blues International
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New Music From Belgium
Stromae Reveals Official Music Video For ‘Fils De Joie.’ Latest Album, ‘Multitude’ Out Now North American Arena Tour Announced ‘FILS DE JOIE’ WATCH AT https://youtu.be/M7Z2tgJo8Hg LISTEN AT https://interscope.lnk.to/FilsDeJoie ‘MULTITUDE’ LISTEN AT https://interscope.lnk.to/multitude Following the release of his critically acclaimed studio album, ‘Multitude’ (Mosaert/Darkroom/Interscope Records), internationally acclaimed Belgian-born artist, writer, performer, producer, designer and director Stromae has shared the official music video for his latest single, ‘Fils De Joie.’ The video is a national tribute from a fictional country to a missing sex worker, “raised to the rank of heroine.” Stromae elaborates. “The idea for “Fils de Joie” came from watching Faustine Bollaert’s (French) talk show “Ca Commence Aujourd’hui”. One of her shows was dedicated to the children of sex workers. I was struck because I discovered a world that I did not know at all. A child testified by explaining that a client of his mother had come to tell him
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Rock and Blues International • April 2022
“Ah well, yesterday I banged your mother.” He continues, “I found the phrase and the attitude most out of place. How can you afford to say such things to a child? I wanted to take everyone’s point of view since everyone has an opinion on her, but unfortunately we don’t often ask her for hers. I therefore speak in place of the son, the client, the pimp and the policeman. “Fils De Joie” is in a way, a tribute to these women who do this very difficult work, very little recognized, but which exists and which will exist, whether we like it or not.” Watch the official video for ’Fils De Joie’ here at https://youtu.be/M7Z2tgJo8Hg continued on next page
Stromae continued from previous page ‘Multitude’ was composed by Stromae, produced by his creative label Mosaert and came after a period of forced hiatus from the stage. With it came enforced furlough and its silver linings: settling down, leading a more relaxed, structured life, closer to family, making work exciting again, expanding his sources of inspiration and, most of all, making what he went through worth it by reinvesting the dividends of this challenging phase into the core of new songs. Far from any self-centered self-pity, Stromae took advantage of this time to identify more closely with others, putting himself in the shoes of the characters of others. The unstable men in La Solassitude and Mon Amour, the prostitute’s son in Fils de Joie, the depressed and suicidal protagonists of Mauvaise Journée and L’Enfer, the mismatched couple in Pas Vraiment, the invisible people in Santé, the suffering women in Déclaration; he embraces them all with kindness and altruism, providing each with a touching portrait. By doing so, he gives the title ‘Multitude’ a deep resonance, the same one that Walt Whitman conveys in his poem, of which Stromae could take up the opening: “I am large, I contain multitude, I am of every hue and caste, of every rank and religion.” “Multitude’ is a window on the world, on people, and a rare moment of communion and pleasure to be shared. An alchemy of opposites, shaped by the will to testify without judgement or contempt to the human condition in all its diversity, and to the urge to explore the lives of others, sometimes your own (Que du bonheur on fatherhood, Invaincu on healing). ‘Multitude’ is Stromae’s other way of exploring the world, while staying firmly attached to his roots. Last month, Stromae also announced his North American arena tour, set to commence this fall on October 21in Vancouver, making stops on the east and west coast including the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York City, where Stromae made music history as the first ever exclusively French-singing artist to sell out the venue in 2015.
Still from ‘FILS DE JOIE’ Sante), which has since accumulated more than 100 million audio streams and 23 million views on YouTube (watch here at https://youtu.be/P3QS83ubhHE ). In December, the song debuted on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Watch here at https://youtu.be/CW7gfrTlr0Y. In January, Stromae released his second single, “L’enfer” (translation: “Hell”); a talisman to fight the darkest of thoughts, where Stromae skillfully juggles a spectrum of emotions, exploring the most intimate of themes of suicide and depression (listen here at https:// interscope.lnk.to/lenfer). The song debuted live on the French news channel TF1 on Sunday night, where Stromae created a true performance-art moment on live TV and surprised viewers by answering the last question from the news-anchor with the first few lines of ‘L’enfer.’ He then continued to perform the entire song while sitting at the news desk. Watch the captivating performance here at https://youtu.be/YAG6nj7Sff8. The music video — co-directed by Julien Soulier, Luc Van Haver, Coralie Barbier and Stromae himself — is a sequence shot that starts on Stromae’s eye. As the camera pulls back, we discover him alone in a setting that is both sober and disturbing in its immensity. This continuous zoom out is punctuated by the singer’s dark thoughts that gradually take over. The clip ends with a return on the eye of the singer, like the endless loop that can sometimes represent suffering and depression.
Tickets are on-sale now at https://www.stromae.com/en/ Following a sold-out arena tour across all continents, also becoming the undoubtable breakaway highlight act from 2015’s Coachella Festival, critically acclaimed Stromae went on an 8-year hiatus to focus on other creative endeavors via his creative label Mosaert (est. 2009) with co-founders Coralie Barbier and Luc Van Haver, including making award winning music videos for the likes of Dua Lipa (IDGAF) and Billie Eilish (Hostage), as well as continuing to release high-end fashion capsule collections. Fast forward to October 2021, Stromae made a much welcomed and surprise return with Santé (listen here at https://interscope.lnk.to/ ‘MULTITUDE’ 1. Invaincu 2. Santé 3. La solassitude 4. Fils de joie 5. L’enfer 6. C’est que du bonheur 7. Pas vraiment 8. Riez 9. Mon amour 10. Déclaration 11. Mauvaise journée 12. Bonne journée
Watch the official music video for ‘L’enfer’ here at https://youtu.be/DO8NSL5Wyeg. Ahead of his North American tour, Stromae , who remains undoubtedly, one of the greatest live performers of our time, will be returning to Coachella on April 16 and 23 for what is certain to be a truly unforgettable live experience. ‘Multitude’ is out everywhere now
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES 04/16 – Coachella Festival – Indio, CA 04/23 – Coachella Festival – Indio, CA 10/21 – Pacific Coliseum – Vancouver, BC 10/25 – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium – San Francisco, CA 11/21 – Madison Square Garden – New York, NY 11/25 – Bell Centre – Montreal, QUE 11/26 – Bell Centre – Montreal, QUE – SOLD OUT 11/27 – Bell Centre – Montreal, QUE 11/29 – Coca-Cola Coliseum – Toronto, ON 12/03 – The Anthem – Washington, DC 12/06 – Agganis Arena – Boston, MA 12/11 – Centre Videotron – Quebec City, QUE www.stromae.com April 2022 • Rock and Blues International
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recorded an electronic version for our charity album Âlem, and then started to play it live with the band. We liked it so much that we decided to record a live band version. Happy to play it for our fans this spring!” The second offering on the digital single is “Cips Kola Kilit”. It is the original version that appeared on Âlem. It is defined by an 80’s feel, and beat patterns enhanced with synth washes and a softly spoken, seductive rap. Mojo magazine praised its “New Order-y fluidity.” NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2022
New Music From Turkey
Altin Gün Release Two New Singles; North America Tour This Month
Credit, Vision Addict
New Double Single Follows Breakthrough Album ‘Yol’ 14 Date U.S. Tour Next Month Including Coachella & L.A. With Nilüfer Yanya Listen To “Badi Sabah Olmadan” & “Cips Kola Kilit” Here at https://idol.lnk.to/Badi-Sabah-Olmadan Listen To Their Recent Apple Radio Interview With Beastie Boys’ Mike D at https://music.apple.com/ca/station/altin-gün/ra.1610598717 Amsterdam based Turkish-psych the track can be found on their innovators Altin Gün are launching a Bandcamp-only album Âlem – released new 2-song digital single to kick-off in the summer of 2021. The band tells us their spring tour dates in Europe and this about their boiling new version: North America. The focus track “Bad? Sabah Olmadan” is a pulsing, dark “‘Bad? Sabah Olmadan’ is a hued rocker that captures the energized traditional love song from the town of essence of a band at the height of their K?r_ehir, where the poet begs his lover powers. The band’s original version of to come to him before the night ends. We 26 Rock and Blues International • April 2022
April 4 – Montreal, CAN @ Le National April 5- Toronto, CAN @ The Axis Club April 7 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall April 8 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater April 12 – Vancouver, CAN @ Rickshaw Theatre April 13 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile April 14- Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall April 17 – COACHELLA FESTIVAL April 19 – San Francisco @ August Hall April 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Roxy (co-headline with Nilüfer Yanya) April 24 – COACHELLA FESTIVAL April 26 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair April 27 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg April 28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg April 29 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts April 39 – Washington, DC @ Capital Turnaround
April 2022 • Rock and Blues International 27
New Music From Germany
In Response to the War in Ukraine As a direct reaction to the war in Ukraine, LORD OF THE LOST set a sign for peace and international understanding with new music. Shortly after the first attacks on Ukrainian targets became known, the band around Chris Harms set out to express their thoughts and feelings through a new song and to make a clear statement for peace. To release the song as soon as possible, the accompanying music video was shot by the band with selfie cams instead of their usual large-scale production. Throughout the years, the German band has repeatedly taken steadfast positions on social issues and expressed their solidarity with disadvantaged groups of people. LORD OF THE LOST on the current conflict and “Not My Enemy”:
LORD OF THE LOST Set a Sign for Peace with New Song “Not My Enemy” LORD OF THE LOST WILL DONATE ALL PROFITS FOR THIS SONG TO REFUGEES FROM THIS WAR! Watch the Video here at https://youtu.be/bXrIiLxNzJ4 LORD OF THE LOST online: WEBSITE @ https://www.lordofthelost.de/ FACEBOOK @ https://www.facebook.com/lordofthelost/ INSTAGRAM @ https://www.instagram.com/officiallordofthelost/ TWITTER @ https://twitter.com/LordOfTheLost NAPALM RECORDS @ https://label.napalmrecords.com/lord-of-the-lost 28
Rock and Blues International • April 2022
“What’s happening in the world right now is not a war of people. It’s a war of the authorities. Civilians of different backgrounds are dying and suffering because of this war - inside Ukraine and outside. No human being chooses before birth within which borders they will be born. No border, which is held, moved or broken by the bloodhounds of the autocrats of this world, is worth that sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers hate each other and that innocent children are born and raised into these paradigms and ideologies. This hatred does not begin in a conflict like this, fueled by censorship, information warfare, and fake news - this hatred begins in the minds of each of us, as well as in the comment columns of increasingly anti-social networks. Especially in days like these, as well as in the years to come, it is even more important to understand that the only thing that separates us is what we allow to happen, yet at the core, everything unites us. You’re not my enemy, you’re a part of me. You’re not my enemy, wherever you come from, whatever you look like and whatever you believe in. You’re not my enemy! This song was created as an immediate reaction from us, shortly after the attack on Ukraine. We produced and released it as soon as possible in the hopes that it would touch and make people think. If even one person is reached with it, it was already worth it.” #notmyenemy “I don’t believe in their borders or sides Our bond will never be torn by their fights” “You’re not my enemy for we can see We are sharing the same sky Yes our mother tongue may be different But our yearnings unify” LORD OF THE LOST are: Chris Harms - vocals, guitar, cello Pi Stoffers - guitar Class Grenayde - bass Gared Dirge - piano, synthesizer, percussion, guitar Niklas Kahl - drums
December 2021 • Rock and Blues International
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New Music From Canada
Toronto-based artist GOVI emerges to share his new single “EUPHORIA” via Platoon. The new song follows the buzz he ignited with his 2020 standalone single “FORGOT MY WAY” ( https://youtu.be/JNK5oXwXkig ). “EUPHORIA” arrives alongside a Jorden Lee-directed video that follows two characters residing in a Toronto high-rise who are experiencing the daunting push and pull of both intimacy and isolation in their relationship, while the city propels forward around them. This first vignette accompanying GOVI’s production establishes the arc for what’s to come, and the emotions at the center of his forthcoming project. “EUPHORIA” captures the distinct combination of club-ready dance music that GOVI has become known for as a DJ in Toronto’s underground electronic scene, with the more ambient, cinematic sound that’s inspired by his love for scifi movies and scores like Tarkovsky’s Solaris. He’s spent the last several years honing that singular sonic identity, all while producing for others (Drake’s “Race My Mind,” Nicki Minaj’s “Seeing Green,” Sabrina Claudio’s “On My Shoulders,” etc) and becoming a household name in Toronto’s clubs with his live sets and a regular on OVO Sound Radio. “Euphoria” marks GOVI’s intent to establish himself as the next burgeoning talent out of the multicultural hotspot that is Toronto, and cementing his own place in the larger electronic landscape. Check out “EUPHORIA” above and stay tuned for more from GOVI coming soon. Connect with GOVI: Twitter @ https://twitter.com/govibeats YouTube @ https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp SoundCloud @ https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp
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Rock and Blues International • April 2022
GOVI SHARES NEW SINGLE + VIDEO CHECK OUT “EUPHORIA” NOW “EUPHORIA” WATCH: https://youtu.be/Al6-Zg_VYqI LISTEN: https://platoon.lnk.to/GOVI-EUPHORIA
April 2022 • Rock and Blues International 31
New Music From Canada
SIDDHARTHA Photo Credit to Soloman Chiniquay
‘The Bees’ LP Due April 29 via Paper Bag Records
Frog Eyes Shares “I Was An Oligarch” Single + Lyric Video PRE-SAVE: Frog Eyes - The Bees Pre-Save at https://ffm.to/zp6xpnz Bandcamp at https://frogeyes.bandcamp.com/album/the-bees LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: Frog Eyes - “I Was An Oligarch” Stream at https://ffm.to/xje39np YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: Frog Eyes - “When You Turn On The Light” Stream at https://ffm.to/254meeo YouTube at https://youtu.be/jSe4M9VyMo0 32
Rock and Blues International • April 2022
‘The Bees’ continued from previous page Vancouver indie-rock greats Frog Eyes share “I Was An Oligarch,” the second track off their forthcoming comeback album (their first album in four years), The Bees (due April 29 via Paper Bag Records). Speaking on the brand new single, Carey Mercer (vocals/guitar) wrote: “The song comes from considering a very specific and rarified moment in my life. I was 19, 20, 21. I wasn’t playing much music, maybe a little drums. I didn’t care about music—I might have had ten tapes that I would listen to while painting, mostly recordings of Brave New Waves that I had taped to listen to in the day. Everyone else had music, they were always playing it. I did love to go to little concerts at the sports bar, in part to mess with the band, to tear them down from their 8” stage in the corner of the sports bar, to swill pitchers and disrupt their set and somehow, in my thinking, become one with them, to ascend like a little oligarch. Then I bought an Aria Pro II hollowbody guitar from my best friend’s uncle Denny and, regrettably, became one of them.”
electric piano) — has chosen 2022 to release their latest album, The Bees. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of their debut LP, The Bloody Hand, a record that defined a moment in the post 9/11 Pacific Northwest music scene. From the very first guitar riffs on The Bees’ opening track, “Rainbow Stew,” one can sense this latest album is an exploration of the past, a synthesis of what came before, a celebration of having developed a singular sound within the confines of rock music. “At some point, I started thinking a lot (too much?) about a very specific kind of pressure put on record producers, music makers, to constantly innovate or reinvent ourselves,” says Carey Mercer. And so, after thinking through the idea that “novelists and painters are allowed to have eras, periods, bodies of work that find a small bit of psychic space and then, over years and decades, testify to the ecology of that space,” Mercer began to write. “So I wrote songs that take in the view of my past, or explore the little stake I have made over the past twenty years of work: I thought of my past as my future, and it felt a bit radical,” he says.
Eyes is known are on full display in the track “Scottish Wine”: “These are such sad songs But why would I write such sad sad songs Because the memory or the grief or the sunset hits me And yet its angle is wrong And so I am compelled to write such sad sad songs.”
SIDDHARTHA
The lyric video’s director Derek Janzen wrote: “The main thing I wanted for this video was to try to juxtapose the driving rhythm of the song by holding on shots a bit longer and keeping the motion in frame to a minimum. I was fortunate enough to film in an old house near Deer Lake in Burnaby that my friend and fellow musician, Nicholas Krgovich, was staying in that looked perfect for what I was after. The hope is that these ghostly wafts of smoke within this empty home represent a sort of haze of memory that I think Carey’s lyrics so wonderfully portray in the song.” The Bees arrives after the band’s stint under the name Soft Plastics, following Frog Eyes’ “final” album, Violet Psalms, released in 2018. The beloved Vancouver-based band Frog Eyes is back. Their foray into making music as Soft Plastics is over. It’s fitting that Frog Eyes — comprising Carey Mercer (vocals, guitar), Melanie Campbell (drums), and Shyla Seller (synthesizer,
When it came time to record, Frog Eyes chose musician John Raham to engineer the album at Afterlife Studios. “Mel and I worked together to find our old energy, that push-pull trainwreck hustle we used to boogie to,” says Mercer. Once this phase was complete, Frog Eyes then lavished the recording with Shyla Seller’s keyboards, which oscillate between a deep saturated wash and a shimmering granulation. The result is ten songs that feel expansive–taking the listener on a whirlwind adventure to meet the ghosts of Frog Eyes past, present, and future–each track possessing the tempo necessary to incite a room filled with people to move. Inertia has no place here. All the energy of previous Frog Eyes records resides in The Bees, with the track “I Was an Oligarch” a triumphant reclamation of a time when nineteen-year-olds wore white belts and cut the hems of their pants, all for the sake of being able to dance with utter abandonment. The minor-key spells for which Frog
FROG EYES LINKS Bandcamp @ https://frogeyes.bandcamp.com Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/frogeyesmusic/
Shyla Seller notes that the lyrics of The Bees “get across the happiness, shame, and sparks of potential of life at age twenty-one—not in a nostalgic way, but in a way that acknowledges these glorious and embarrassing and fleeting moments as part of who you are today.” Despite the past being an inspiration for the album, the sound is fresh, brimming with the vitality of the here and now. “And when we came to the end,” Mercer says of the recording process. “It only made sense to return, in name, to what we have always been (the band called Frog Eyes), because can you ever really sound like anything but yourselves?” With its evocative lyrics, confident instrumentation, and virtuosic ease of sound that only a decades-long collaboration can yield, The Bees is the perfect album to herald in a new era. The Bees - TRACKLISTING 01. Rainbow Stew 02. The Bees 03. When You Turn On The Light 04. I Was An Oligarch 05. He’s A Lonely Song 06. A Speck Of Dust 07. Scottish Wine 08. A Rhyme For The Star 09. Here Is A Place To Stop 10. Everything Dies
April 20222 • Rock and Blues International 33
New Music From Mexico
LOS AUTÉNTICOS DECADENTES & BRONCO + TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA Present “ORO” This Is The New Single & Videoclip From “CAPITULO D” - The Second Album in the A D N trilogy Listen here at https://orcd.co/decadentesoro Watch now at https://youtu.be/S6jKa7lx2G0 Mexico is an essential component of ADN Decadente. It’s not a coincidence that Los Auténticos Decadentes have chosen one of the most important classics in regional music to continue the album project that, as part of their 35th Anniversary, offers a tour through their broad sphere of musical influences over the course of three discs of covers. Oro, an original song by Bronco, is the new official single off of Capitulo D, the second album in the ADN trilogy. The cover features a special appearance by Don Lupe Esparza, Bronco’s frontman, and the explosive Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra from Japan, who starting at 1.5 minutes on the track dominate the musical performance,
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giving rise to a fresh and completely surprising collaboration. The artistic production is by Martín Lorenzo, Mariano Franceschelli and Los Auténticos Decadentes in co-production with Gustavo Borner, who also did the mixing and mastering at the Igloo Music studios in Los Angeles. The song was recorded by Gustavo Borner at Sony Music Mexico’s studios, Shojiro Watanabe at Onkio Haus in Japan and José Demetrio “El Negro” Herrera at JGM studios in Buenos Aires. The cover art was designed by Alejandro Ros. The music video that accompanies this release was born from an idea that bassist Pablo Armesto had. Filmed in triple collabo-
Rock and Blues International • April 2022
ration of direction and production in the cities of Monterrey, Buenos Aires, and Tokyo, the clip portrays the journey of a young Mexican girl that migrates to the United States in search of a life of luxury and comfort. Capítulo D will arrive on digital stores on Friday, April 1 and will also be available in physical format in Argentina, Mexico, and Chile in special edition CD Digipack Deluxe and vinyl. The project will deliver new covers that will continue to reveal the matrix of Los Auténticos Decadentes’ music and more stellar collaborations. For more info visit www.LosAutenticosDecadentes.COM.AR
New Music From Mexico
LOS AUTÉNTICOS DECADENTES & BRONCO + TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA Presentan “ORO” Segundo Sencillo de CAPITULO D - El Segundo Album de la Trilogía Discográfica A D N Escuche aquí en https://orcd.co/decadentesoro Mira ahora en https://youtu.be/S6jKa7lx2G0 México es parte fundamental del ADN Decadente. No es casual que Los Auténticos Decadentes elijan uno de los clásicos más importantes que ha dado la música regional para dar continuidad al proyecto discográfico que, en el marco de su 35 Aniversario, propone un recorrido por su amplio universo de influencias musicales a lo largo de tres discos de versiones. Oro, obra original de Bronco, es el nuevo single oficial de Capitulo D, segundo album de la triada ADN. La versión cuenta con la participación especial de Don Lupe Esparza -líder de Bronco- y la explosiva Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra de Japón, quienes a partir del minuto y medio del track se apropian de la ejecución musical dando
lugar a una colaboración fresca y completamente sorpresiva. La producción artística es de Martín Lorenzo, Mariano Franceschelli y Los Auténticos Decadentes en co-producción con Gustavo Borner. Grabada por Gustavo Borner en los estudios Sony Music México, Shojiro Watanabe en Onkio Haus de Japón y y José Demetrio “El Negro” Herrera en los estudios JGM de Buenos Aires. Mezcla y mastering por Gustavo Borner en estudios Igloo Music de Los Angeles. El arte de portada es un diseño de Alejandro Ros.
producción en las ciudades de Monterrey, Buenos Aires y Tokio, el clip retrata el viaje de una joven mexicana que emigra hacia los Estados Unidos en busca de una vida de lujos y confort. Capítulo D llegará a tiendas digitales el próximo viernes 1º de Abril y contará también con edición especial en formato físico CD Digipack Deluxe y Vinilo disponibles en Argentina, México y Chile. El material traerá nuevas versiones que seguirán revelando la matriz de la canción decadente y más colaboraciones de lujo.
El videoclip que acompaña este Para info de LAD entra a: estreno es una idea del bajista Pablo Armesto. www.LosAutenticosDecadentes.COM.AR Filmado en triple colaboración de dirección y April 2022 • Rock and Blues International 35
New Music From Chile
Photo Credit: Mikey Lennartsson
SANTAFERIA Releases New Single And Embarks On Their First Mexican Tour LISTEN HERE AT https://farolatino.ffm.to/mis-muertos Santaferia, one of the most important cumbia groups in Chile is debuting their new song “Mis Muertos,” a track that wishes to commemorate through joy all those who are no longer among the living. The composition includes new and exotic instruments such as the guacharaca, the Colombian tambor and digital effects that envelop listeners in their sound, achieving a perfect and ingenious mix between a caja nortina and a typical reggaeton caja. The lyrics of “Mis Muertos” are inspired by the Mexican ancestral
tradition of celebrating and remembering their loved ones who have departed for another life. The song speaks of how that relationship is nurtured on the Day of the Dead, a tradition that fuses the Catholic celebration of All Saints’ Day with the custom of the indigenous pre-Hispanic communities to preserve the skulls of the deceased and use them for rituals in which they honored the dead and celebrated a new beginning. This single is a collaboration with El Flecha Negra, a multicultural band consisting of Chilean musicians and
Follow Santaferia Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/santaferia/ Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/santaferia/?hl=es Twitter @ https://twitter.com/Santaferia YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6_C1-Ey9EqOIXG7zDs_LHg 36
Rock and Blues International • April 2022
Latinos residing in Europe, who also share family ties with Santaferia. With a 15-year career, during which they’ve made music culture— specifically cumbia—grow and become a cultural symbol across their country, Santaferia will embark on their first tour of Mexico, a tour that is part of their anniversary celebrations that began last October with the release of their documentary and the spectacular concerts at the Gran Arena Monticello. Mexico was a pending challenge for Santaferia because Mexican music and culture have always been influential for the artists in Chile, and Santaferia is no exception. As such, on March 17, they made their debut on Mexican soil in the city of Puebla. They wrapped up the tour of 12 confirmed dates on April 3 in Ixtapaluka, Mexico.
New Music From Chile
SANTAFERIA Lanza Nuevo Sencillo Y Se Embarca En Su Primera Gira Mexicana ESCUCHA AQUÍ EN https://farolatino.ffm.to/mis-muertos Santaferia, una de las agrupaciones de cumbia más importantes de Chile, está de estreno con su nuevo tema “Mis Muertos”, un sencillo que busca recordar por medio de la alegría a todos aquellos que ya no están entre los vivos. La composición incluye nuevos y exóticos instrumentos, tal como la guacharaca, el tambor colombiano y efectos digitales que envuelven con su sonido, logrando una mezcla perfecta y sutil entre una caja nortina y una caja típica de reggaetón. La letra de “Mis Muertos” está inspirada en la tradición ancestral mexicana de celebrar y conmemorar a sus
seres queridos que han partido a otra vida; habla de cómo se alimenta ese vínculo en el Día de Muertos, una tradición que funde la celebración católica del Día de Todos los Santos con la costumbre de las comunidades indígenas prehispánicas de conservar los cráneos de los fallecidos y utilizarlos para rituales en los que se honraba la muerte y se celebraba el renacimiento. Este sencillo es una colaboración con El Flecha Negra, una banda multicultural compuesta por músicos chilenos y latinos radicados en Europa, quienes además comparten lazos
Sigue a Santaferia Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/santaferia/ Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/santaferia/?hl=es Twitter @ https://twitter.com/Santaferia YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6_C1-Ey9EqOIXG7zDs_LHg
familiares con Santaferia. Con 15 años de trayectoria donde han hecho que la cultura musical específicamente la cumbia - crezca y se convierta en el símbolo cultural de todo su país, Santaferia se embarcará a su primera gira por México, un tour que es parte de las celebraciones de su aniversario que comenzaron el pasado mes de octubre con el estreno de su documental y los espectaculares conciertos en la Gran Arena Monticello. México era un desafío pendiente para Santaferia, y es que la música y la cultura mexicana siempre han sido influyentes para los artistas en Chile y Santaferia no es la excepción. Así, el 17 de marzo debutaron en suelo mexicano en la ciudad de Puebla. Terminaron la gira de 12 fechas confirmadas el 3 de abril en Ixtapaluka, México.
April 2022 • Rock and Blues International 37
New Music From Canada
SAYA SHARES “NOVOCAINE” VIA EARLY RISING READY TO BURN EP OUT APRIL 7TH Photo Cred: Nelson Huang
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SAYA SHARES “NOVOCAINE” continued from previous page LISTEN & SHARE: Saya - “NOVOCAINE” Soundcloud @ https://soundcloud.com/sayaslaya/06-novocain-mastered-jcarv/s-LC5zJMpLG7m Spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/track/5bwAuezZuH8if87TRA3yXV LISTEN & SHARE: Saya - “SUPERFREAK” Soundcloud @ https://soundcloud.com/sayaslaya/02-death-of-me-mastered/s-5Y8dF2SIDJG Spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/track/5Gaok4m9HsDyF3ke7TtOcB LISTEN & SHARE: Saya - “Death of Me” Soundcloud @ https://soundcloud.com/sayaslaya/02-death-of-me-mastered/s-5Y8dF2SIDJG Spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/track/0gajiuqmtQDYxkbFpfFcbX WATCH & SHARE: Saya - “SICK” [Official Video] VEVO @ https://youtu.be/f8pA9E85fX0 LISTEN & SHARE: Saya - “SICK” Soundcloud @ https://soundcloud.com/sayaslaya/01-sick-mastered/s-J0EOS0ETRK3 Spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/track/1vuNMMrJKt2l3oaUgre2rC?si=bea470939bdf47dc&nd=1 Youtube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch A dark, Lana Del Rey-esque track, “NOVOCAINE” is Saya’s latest offering. From her upcoming EP READY TO BURN, out this April is all about the dark kind of love that pulls you in, the kind that falsely promises healing through pain. An all consuming passion, “NOVOCAINE” is all about giving pain and taking it away that sees Saya wrapped up in the relationship that feels impossible to leave. Known for her dark alt pop dance floor anthems, Toronto-based artist Saya is returning to music and ready to burn with her upcoming EP. After being signed to a major label and finding overnight success, Saya took a break from releasing for a few years. Now, with READY TO BURN it sees Saya triumphant and more confident than ever. READY TO BURN is due out April 7th, and continues the themes of Saya reclaiming her power, pushing the boundaries of genre, and breaking out of the projections previously placed upon her. After everything she’s been through, one thing remains clear: Saya is here to stay. Toronto’s Saya exudes confidence. She first impressed listeners with her inescapable 2016 debut single “Wet Dreams”, which shot straight to the top of Spotify’s Viral Global Chart racking up over 5 million streams and counting. This set the groundwork for her unconventional approach to music which
blends sultry R&B, with trappings of alternative pop. Following up with an aesthetically killer video for her viral hit “Wet Dreams”, she invites fans to become a part of her fantasies. Her sexually empowered self yet chillingly dark allure arises once again with her 2017 epic debut single and video Cold Fire, which landed her, her very own Spotify billboard towering over Toronto’s Yonge and Dundas core, and on the cover of playlists like New Music Now and Indie Pop. That summer she was set to play North By North East Music Festivals Main-stage and her debut Los Angeles show School Night LA . 2018 was full of high notes as Saya released her neatly packaged debut EP Chills & Thrills. Packed with sensual pop vocals and deliciously explicit word play, Saya takes us on a journey of intimacy paired with a series of vivid and striking visuals. To kick off this milestone Red Bull Music invited fans to Join Saya for an intimate listening party and performance in her hometown of Toronto. It wasn’t long before the project was featured on the home pages of Spotify and Apple Music, as New Artist of The Week, following up with being titled one of Apple’s 2018 Favourite New Artists. Saya carried on her streak with two retro-chic music videos to accompany her
Sophomore EP Sugarcoated. She showcases her versatility, while her sleek, unapologetic demeanour blazes through with hard hitting lyricism, paired with stylish vocals and brimming with luscious trap-pop production. She explores the emotional impact of a break up and the many facets associated with it. Saya was later invited to Live Nation’s Ones to Watch North Side Sessions for a live showcase of the EP . Saya’s artistic influence extends beyond music and she showcases that through her various music videos and photographs, all consistent with her fascination with vintage glamour. She continues to fuse sound and image inspired by various mediums across fashion, art and film. With a staggering count of over 12 million streams across various music outlets, radio support from Beats1 (DJ Ebro), BBC Radio 1Xtra and CBC Here and Now, two exceptional projects down in the span of a single year, Saya shows absolutely no signs of slowing down as she continues to rapidly grow her audience. It is evident the Toronto upstart has already left a lasting impression. Continuing to push the boundaries of pop, Saya is set to release her next project in early 2022. As one of Toronto’s most promising new voices, fans look forward to seeing what Saya has up her sleeve next.
LINKS VEVO @ https://www.youtube.com/user/SAYASLAYAVEVO/videos Twitter @ https://twitter.com/sayaslayaa Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/sayaslaya/ Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/sayaslaya/ SoundCloud @ https://soundcloud.com/sayaslaya April 2022 • Rock and Blues International 39
New Music From London
Greentea Peng
Photo credit: Stefy Pocket
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Rock and Blues International •• November April2022 20222020 April
Greentea Peng continued from previous page Greentea Peng returns today with “Your Mind”, the first taste of new music following the release of her critically acclaimed opus MAN MADE last summer. A genre-blending exploration of the inner battles of the mind, “Your Mind” takes listeners on an introspective journey, exploring a topic very close to Greentea’s heart. The gentle evolution of the track’s arrangement is extraordinary, from boom-bap drumming and orchestral strings to the dubbed-out percussive splashes and reggae horns unfolding within the second half of the track. It’s misty genre morphing is matched by the constantly evolving harmonies and muted hum of electric guitar melodies. With production credits from Janet Jackson and Wu-Tang collaborator Nat Powers, Grammy nominated Jon Mills & acclaimed British guitarist Dom Carmelo, it is an incredible next piece of the puzzle in Greentea Peng’s singular career. The release of “Your Mind” comes out alongside a “Be Kind To Your Mind” T-shirt and A3 print, with all proceeds donated to YoungMinds. Greentea Peng has candidly drawn upon her own mental health journey in her music previously, letting listeners into her unfiltered stream of consciousness. An underfunded NHS and extended waiting periods to receive counseling is having a widely damaging effect on our current and future generations, raising money and awareness for youth mental health feels paramount to moving forward the conversation. Appearing in end of year listings across the board from The Guardian to DJ Mag, MOJO and Dummy, Greentea Peng drew 2021 to a rapturous close. From collaborations with U.K heavyweights such as Goldie, The Streets and Swindle, Greentea continues to align with likeminded, game-changing artists who
Photo credit: Andy Cantillon
Greentea Peng Shares New Single And Announces 2022 Festival Dates HEAR “YOUR MIND” NOW “Your Mind” LISTEN: https://greenteapeng.lnk.to/YourMindPR WATCH: https://greenteapeng.lnk.to/YourMindVisualiser Connect with Greentea Peng: Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/greenteapeng/?hl=en Website @ https://www.greenteapeng.net/#/ exist in their own lane. Alongside a sold-out headline tour and a BBC Sound of 2021 feature, the Londonborn artist has firmly established herself as a soulful force to be reckoned with. With her beloved band the Seng Seng Family by her side, Greentea Peng will take the stage across UK and EU festivals this summer. Listen to and watch the visualizer for “Your Mind” above, find tour details below and stay tuned for more from Greentea Peng coming soon.
Festival Dates: *Month/Day/Year 6/5/22 - France @ We Love Green 6/9/22 - Germany @ Melt Festival 6/22/-26 - Somerset, UK @ Glastonbury 7/2/22 - Netherlands @ Down The Rabbit 7/6/22 - Séte, France @ Worldwide 7/16/22 - Belgium @ Dour 7/29/22 - U.K. @ WOMAD 8/12/22 - U.K. @ Boardmasters 8/19/22 - U.K. @ All Points East 8//27/22 - U.K. @ Lost Village Festival 9/1/22 + 9/4/22 - U.K. @ End of The Road
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New Music From Iceland
KALEO Debut Striking Performance Video “Backbone (Live at Brei_armerkurjökull)” Fight or Flight Tour On Sale Now Listen here at https://kaleo.lnk.to/Backbone Watch here at https://youtu.be/bv5RuxhBEqk After kicking off their Fight Or Flight Tour with multiple sold-out shows, GRAMMY-nominated Elektra/ Atlantic rock band KALEO debut a live performance video of “Backbone” from an ice cave located on Brei_armerkurjökull, part of the larger glacier Vatnajökull. Filmed in January 2021, the
performance video opens with a stirring view of the Vatnajökull ice cap juxtaposed with some of Iceland’s native wildlife running across the plateau. The viewer follows KALEO as they trudge over long stretches of desolate, mesmerizing glacier. The instrumental builds as the band arrives at the Brei_armerkurjökull ice cave before front man and songwriter JJ Julius Son
For more information, visit https://www.officialkaleo.com/ Facebook.com/OfficialKALEO, Twitter @ https://twitter.com/officialkaleo Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/officialkaleo/ https://www.youtube.com/user/KaleoOfficial. 44
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plays the opening chords to “Backbone,” from their latest album Surface Sounds ( https://kaleo.lnk.to/SurfaceSounds ). Drenched in pedal steel, the stripped-down version of “Backbone” showcases the brooding balladry of the song and Julius Son’s knack for storytelling allusions. As the camera pans out and the scene fades away, a message appears: “The ice cave where this live performance was filmed has melted and disappeared. By the year 2100, the entire glacier will be gone.” continued on next page
KALEO continued from previous page This release follows “Skinny (Live from Fagradalsfjall Volcanic Eruption)” ( https://youtu.be/6Vs6tExC-Go ), a fanfavorite track from Surface Sounds and another in a series of live performances from some of Iceland’s spectacular landscapes, including “Break My Baby (Live from _RÍDRANGAR)” ( https://youtu.be/y8q4zPjXd0M ), recorded and filmed at the iconic _RÍDRANGAR lighthouse, located atop a remote rock formation in the North Atlantic Ocean. From their 2016 breakout global success A/B, KALEO released “Save Yourself (Live at Fjallsárlón)” ( https:// youtu.be/oCi0RHLrauU ) and “Way Down We Go (Live in a Volcano)” ( https://youtu.be/9WIU5NN1Q0g ), which showcased the band’s 2x-Platinum smash. Captured in studios around the world, Surface Sounds is very much the brainchild of Julius Son. Co-producing a majority of the album alongside GRAMMY winner Dave Cobb, Julius Son was able to execute his singular vision, leaning heavily into his affinity for blues, folk and rock. Major label debut A/B spawned three hit singles for the Icelandic band – the GRAMMY-nominated “No Good,” the Gold-selling “All The Pretty Girls” and the chart-topping, RIAA Double Platinum-certified “Way Down We Go,” which was used in over two dozen television shows, leading it to No. 1 on The Hollywood Reporter’s Top TV Songs chart. KALEO made their triumphant homecoming to live entertainment this year, with the 50+ date North American leg of the Fight or Flight Tour (full itinerary below). The worldwide tour is on sale now. For ticket info, individual show details, tour updates and more, https://www.officialkaleo.com/ Since the release of their Gold-certified breakthrough album, 2016’s A/B, Icelandic rock band KALEO—led by frontman/songwriter JJ Julius Son—has taken their music around the world. The album spawned three hit singles – the GRAMMY-nominated “No Good,” the Gold-selling “All The Pretty Girls” and the chart-topping, 2x Platinum-certified “Way Down We Go” which was used in over two dozen television shows from “Grey’s Anatomy” to “Riverdale,” leading the No. 1 single to top The Hollywood Reporter’s Top TV Songs chart. After amassing over 1 Billion global streams, 39 international certifications, and countless sold-out headline shows spanning from London to Moscow, KALEO has proven to be a worldwide phenomenon. Known for their electrifying live performances, KALEO completely sold out their first U.S. headline tour and was a standout at Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo and were hand-picked to open stadium dates for the Rolling Stones. Since KALEO wrapped a nearly non-stop 3year touring schedule in support of A/B in October 2018, Julius Son went into the studio to work on the highly anticipated follow-up, Surface Sounds on Elektra/Atlantic, available everywhere now. KALEO’s Fight or Flight Tour 2022 launches Feb. 22 in Seattle, Wash., featuring 50+ dates across North America before wrapping at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo. on May 16. For more information, visit https://www.officialkaleo.com/ or follow on Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/officialkaleo/ and Twitter @ https://twitter.com/officialkaleo and https://www.facebook.com/officialkaleo.
April 1 April 2 April 4 April 6 April 8 April 9 April 11 April 13 April 15 April 16 April 18 April 19 April 21 April 22 April 24 April 25 April 27 April 28 April 30 May 1 May 3 May 5 May 7 May 9 May 10 May 12 May 15 May 16 July 24 July 25 July 28 July 29
KALEO’s North American Fight or Flight Tour 2022 Tickets for the Fight Or Flight Tour Available at Ohttps:// www.officialkaleo.com/ The Ritz Raleigh, N.C. The Fillmore Charlotte Charlotte, N.C. Ryman Auditorium Nashville, Tenn. The Pageant St. Louis, Mo. The Louisville Palace Louisville, Ky. Murat Theatre Indianapolis, Ind. House of Blues Cleveland Cleveland, Ohio The Anthem Washington, D.C. Terminal 5 New York, N.Y. The Met Philadelphia, Pa. House of Blues Boston Boston, Mass. State Theatre Portland, Maine Mtelus Montreal, Quebec Mtelus Montreal, Quebec History Toronto, Ontario History Toronto, Ontario The Fillmore Detroit Detroit, Mich. GLC Live at 20 Monroe Grand Rapids, Mich. Aragon Ballroom Chicago, Ill. The Fillmore Minneapolis Minneapolis, Minn. Centennial Concert Hall Winnipeg, Manitoba Grey Eagle Resort and Casino Calgary, Alberta Edmonton Expo Centre Edmonton, Alberta Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sport Centre Vancouver, British Columbia McDonald Theatre Eugene, Ore. Knitting Factory Concert House Boise, Idaho Belly Up Aspen, Colo. Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, Colo. Cain’s Ballroom* Tulsa, Okla. Jones Assembly* Oklahoma City, Okla. House of Blues* Las Vegas, Nev. The Van Buren* Phoenix, Ariz.
*Rescheduled dates. Tickets purchased for original dates will be honored at the newly scheduled shows. April 2022 • Rock and Blues International 45
New Music From Canada
Photo by Luca Venter
Royal Canoe Announce Surprise Release ‘Vault (2011-2021),’ Share “Worm ft. Dill the Giant” Single + Lyric Video New LP Out Now via Paper Bag Records Featuring B-Sides and Lost Tracks LISTEN & SHARE: Royal Canoe - Vault (2011-2021) Stream and Purchase at @ https://birthdaycakemedia.ca/vault_na LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: Royal Canoe - “Worm ft. Dill the Giant)” Stream @ https://birthdaycakemedia.ca/vault_na YouTube @ https://youtu.be/lpLFZjkBbeQ WATCH & SHARE: Royal Canoe - “Surrender” (Official MV) YouTube @ https://youtu.be/SIINLOx2Wo4 LISTEN & SHARE: Royal Canoe - Sidelining Stream @ https://birthdaycakemedia.ca/sidelining_exna Winnipeg-based indie-pop powerMotion and the band’s own Matt house collective Royal Canoe have Schellenberg. announced and shared a brand new LP entitled Vault (2011-2021), which Speaking on the brand new consists of 10 unreleased B-sides and collection, the band wrote: lost tracks from the past decade. It also marks the release of the record’s focus “Vault (2011-2021) is a collection track, “Worm (ft. Dill the Giant),” along of 10 songs that were pulled from a long with an accompanying animated stoplist of unreleased demos, B-sides and motion lyric video (https://youtu.be/ oddities that have been accumulating on lpLFZjkBbeQ) created by Mimi Stop our various hard-drives over the past 46 Rock and Blues International • April 2022
decade. These songs are the underdogs, the overachievers and the almost-fits that we just couldn’t quit. During this past winter we dusted off old backups, scoured mp3-vaults and even went back to the studio to finish up a few tracks that were uncompleted but long-time favourites of the band. For us, each song on Vault feels like a brief journal continued on next page
Vault (2011-2021) - TRACKLISTING 01. Worm (ft. Dill the Giant) 02. I’ve Got a Moment 03. Apriltime 04. Step by Step 05. When I Wake Up Next To You 06. Landslide 07. Closer 08. Horowitz 09. Hopping Like a Spot 10. Message (ft. Vanessa Bley)
Royal Canoe continued from previous page entry that captures a simple, but meaningful moment from the past decade of us making sounds together.” The band’s last LP, Sidelining, came out last year (via Paper Bag Records). Royal Canoe would never be characterized as having taken the simple, prescribed path over the past decade. This almost stubborn fascination with finding “the long way around” has resulted in a rich catalog of albums, EPs, videos and experimental live shows that are as adventurous in their process as they are in their creativity. Whether it’s releasing radio-singles in 5/4 time, performing concerts on instruments made of ice, adamantly dragging their multiple-drum-set, six-keyboard livesetup around the world in their van and trailer, or their various outrageous schemes to stay connected to their fans, Royal Canoe have stuck around because they’ve never lost sight of what drives them - the exhilaration that comes with the opportunity to do something completely new. This time, “something completely new” counter-intuitively meant revisiting their past. Vault (2011-2021) is a collection of ten songs that were pulled from a long list of unreleased demos, bsides and oddities that have been accumulating on various hard-drives over the past decade. These songs are the underdogs, the overachievers and the almost-fits that Royal Canoe just couldn’t quit. During this past winter,
they dusted off old backups, scoured mp3-vaults, and even went back to the studio to finish up a few tracks that were uncompleted but long-time favourites of the band. Each song on Vault feels like a brief journal entry that captures a simple, but meaningful moment in time from the past decade of this group of friends and collaborators making sounds together. Royal Canoe’s musical journey has taken them around the world and into projects they never dreamed of. They’ve played over 500 shows from Kiev to California, toured with Alt-J and Bombay Bicycle Club and hit major festivals like Bonnaroo, Iceland Airwaves, and Osheaga. Their records have received critical acclaim: a nomination for Alternative Album of the Year at the Junos, winning Best Independent Album at the Western Canadian Music Awards and love from music-press and devoted fans the world over. They’ve written and performed a musical version of Shakespeare’s Richard II, performed their sophomore album backed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and built a concert from Beck’s sheet-music only
album Song Reader at Winnipeg’s prestigious New Music Festival. Most recently, Royal Canoe performed an outdoor winter concert to more than 5000 attendees featuring re-imagined versions of their songs using only instruments made of ice harvested from local rivers and ponds. ROYAL CANOE TOUR DATES ^ with Living Hour * with Zoon 4/2 - Thunder Bay, ON, CA - The Foundry ^ 4/5 - Hamilton, ON, CA - Mill’s Hardware ^ 4/6 - Toronto, ON, CA - Baby G ^ 4/7 - Toronto, ON, CA - Baby G ^ 4/8 - Ottawa, ON, CA - Club SAW ^ 4/9 - Montreal, QC, CA - Diving Bell Social Club ^ 4/14 - Regina, SK, CA - The Artesian * 4/15 - Red Deer, AB, CA - Bo’s Bar & Stage * 4/16 - Calgary, AB, CA - Festival Hall * 4/20 - Vancouver, BC, CA - Fox Cabaret * 4/22 - Edmonton, AB, CA - The Aviary * 4/23 - Saskatoon, SK, CA - Broadway Theatre * 4/29 - Winnipeg, MB, CA - West End Cultural Centre 4/30 - Winnipeg, MB, CA - West End Cultura Centre
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New Music From The U.K.
U.K. Rockers Nazareth Releases New Album Surviving The Law April 15 It is difficult to sum up in few words the history and influence in the history of rock music that an act like Nazareth has had. Having celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 2018 with the release of their 24th studio album, “Tattooed On My Brain”, the longrunning UK hard rockers will enter their 54th year of existence in 2022 with the release of their 25th studio album, “Surviving The Law”. The line-up for “Surviving The Law” is the same as the previous release, consisting of Jimmy Murrison (longest serving guitarist in the band’s history), Lee Agnew (drummer since Darrel Sweet’s death in 1999), Pete Agnew (founding member, on bass) and vocalist Carl Sentance. “Surviving The Law ‘’ continues the new chapter that started for the band in 2018 with the arrival of vocalist Carl Sentance (exPersian Risk, Don Airey). In 2014, original singer Dan McCafferty had to leave the band for health reasons and with his blessing, Sentance began fronting Nazareth. “Tattooed On My Brain” saw Nazareth a rejuvenated band with a hard rocking album that had all the ingredients that make this band so great in the first place. As with “Tattooed On My Brain”, “Surviving The Law” was produced by Yann Rouiller at Sub Station in Scotland. The album features songwriting by all band members and continues the trend established with the previous album, showing that 25 albums into their career, the fire of rock ‘n roll still burns as bright as ever at the core of Nazareth.
Nazareth originally formed in Dumferline, Scotland in 1968, releasing their eponymous debut album in 1971. The band broke big when, after supporting Deep Purple on tour, they released the Roger Gloverproduced “Razamanaz” album in early 1973 to critical and fan acclaim. They then released an impeccable string of hit records, including “Loud ‘N’ Proud”, “Rampant”, and the smash hit “Hair of the Dog”, which was released in April 1975. The album included evergreen songs such as the title track (later covered by Guns N’ Roses on their “The Spaghetti Incident?” album) and “Love Hurts”. The band has continued to release albums and tour the globe since, coming up on their 54th year of existence in 2022!Get ready for a very welcomed return from Nazareth!
LINE-UP: Carl Sentance - Vocals Jimmy Murrison - Guitar Pete Agnew - Bass Lee Agnew – Drums
Social Media: http://www.nazarethdirect.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/ nazarethofficial/ https://www.instagram.com/ nazareth.officialband/
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Tracklist: Strange Days You Gotta Pass It Around Runaway Better Leave It Out Mind Bomb Sweet Kiss Falling In Love Waiting For The World To End Let The Whisky Flow Sinner Ciggies And Booze Psycho Skies Love Breaks You Made Me
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New Music From Canada
Monako
Photo Cred: Meltem Kaya 52
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Monako Shares “Killing Feels” Ft. Bibi Club, EP ft. Vagabon ‘Shapes I-III’ Out 4/ 13 Via [PIAS] Recordings Germany LISTEN & SHARE: Monako - “Killing Feels It” Ft. Bibi Club Soundcloud @ https://tellallyourfriendspr.us10.list-manage.com/track/ click?u=63f1674ecdb2a4574b77e600b&id=ca6d82d7f4&e=28146e6e7b Youtube @ https://youtu.be/kKWRuGthrbc LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: Monako - “Know My Name” Ft. Valentin Hansen Soundcloud @ https://tellallyourfriendspr.us10.list-manage.com/track/ click?u=63f1674ecdb2a4574b77e600b&id=a0ccf06650&e=28146e6e7b Youtube @ https://youtu.be/6FfRNS2m7OA German-Canadian alternative pop collective Monako share the second single “Killing Feels” off of their upcoming EP, In Shapes I-III out April 13th via [PIAS] Recordings Germany. Being the outfit’s first release to feature another artist, it marks the start of a new and upcoming project that includes several international features revolving around a collaborative approach to a short film and the accompanying EP. “Killing Feels” feat. Montreal based Bibi Club draws an arc to Monako’s origins. Singer Sadek MartinMassarweh and founding member Naomie De Lorimier were born and raised in the Canadian metropole and have been friends with Bibi Club’s members Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque for years. With Monako’s “In Shapes I-III” project in was time to revive this cross-globe partnership and work on a song together. “Killing Feels” is an alternative pop-folk piece that manages to sound as vulnerable as it sounds bold while maintaining a melancholia that has a cinematic feel to it: “I want it all” – the line that carries those epic sonic moments during the chorus is contrasted by the intimate verses that contemplate about giving up at last: “no there’s nowhere you can go with your legs covered in snow”. Bibi Club’s subtle guitars and soothing vocals add smooth textures to the song while Monako once again showcase how versatile and detail oriented they produce their pieces, always unfolding a journey rather than going for symmetrical compositions that wouldn’t challenge the listener. The accompanying music video was directed by fellow Canadian videographer and friend Adrian Villagomez who realized creative directress Elif Kücük’s vision and caught the cinematic sound of “Killing Feels” while literally embodying its intimacy through physically entangled humans. “Maybe I’ll walk away, no one knows how to fight these plain white fields“ – this line, that I wrote a few years ago when I first learned how fundamentally hopeless grief could feel, sums up the what killing feels is about: Contemplating on giving up at last, when all the high hopes and aspirations I had for myself were covered by an overpowering emptiness, that felt too heavy to stem. I wanted to experience all that life could offer: the love, the joy, the curiosity and its bliss, I knew it was there in front of me, but these snow covered plain white fields were hiding it. What if I just walked away?” - Sadek
Martin-Massarweh “It’s probably the most folky Song we recorded to this day interwoven with some experimental songwriting techniques and sounds we were working with over the last year. It perfectly represents the deep dive into Sadek’s emotional past that will always be a part of him and therefore crucial to our band and friendship today.” Monako ‘Killing Feels’ feat. Bibi Club, the new single from ‘Monako’ is out on March 16th via [PIAS] Recordings Germany. German-Canadian outfit Monako might be one of the only few upcoming artists that actually don’t fit into just one musical niche – when they say so. The sonic experience ranges from Canadian inspired folk, to grooved up R’n’B, finest indie-rock melancholia but also intelligently built neo-jazz tracks. Originating from several projects they operate as an interdisciplinary collective between Montreal and Hamburg. With their debut self-titled EP (14th Dec 2018, Euphorie) and the sophomore EP “Take Care” (17th Jan 2020, Euphorie) they’ve proven crafty in their unique sound and an excellent taste in creating their very own visual world around each project. Something that also caught the attention of US-American artist Vagabon, who then invited Monako to guest as the only feature on her critically acclaimed self-titled LP (2019) - which put the quintet on the radar of Pitchfork, The New Yorker and Complex UK. Having worked tirelessly on new material during the past two years of the pandemic MONAKO is now ready to present their evolved sound to the world again. Counting more than 2 Mio. Spotify plays, 60 shows and 3 support-tours through Austria, Germany and Switzerland. A 3-track EP “In Shapes I-III” will be released in April, featuring the Berlin-based multi- talent Valentin Hansen, the Cameroonian-US-American electro-pop multi-instrumentalist Laetitia Tamko aka Vagabon, as well as Bibi Club, a music project from Montreal. The band are currently working on a musical short movie featuring (musical and visual) artists from Germany, Canada and the US - including artist friend Vagabon. Monako are Sadek Martin-Massarweh, Jakob Hersch, Valentin Hebel, Pamier Hilal, Jan Hendrik Schnoor – founding member & Montreal based singer Naomie De Lorimier is a trusted collaborator on Monako releases. IN SHAPES I-III EP - TRACKLISTING 01. “Know My Name” (feat. Valentin Hansen) 02. “Killing Feels” (feat. Bibi Club) 03. “Hollow Moon” (feat. Vagabon) April 2022 • Rock and Blues International 53
band members, as well as allowing space for threads of their own personal stories to to make their way into the sonic tapestry of new tracks, The Dying Pines and Let The Buried Lie Forgotten. The rich instrumental layering and warm vocal harmonies are a vessel for conveying bleak themes of loss and existentialist contemplation. Once again, the evocative cover artwork has been created by drummer, Ray Knipe, complementing the organic sound of the EP, which was recorded at Electrical Audio/Hypercube studios by Sanford Parker, and mastered by Collin Jordan (The Boiler Room).
Photographer credit: Aaron Ehinger
Huntsmen Announce New EP, ‘The Dying Pines’, and ‘American Scrap’ Reissue Two years on from the release of HUNSTMEN’s sophomore full length, Mandala of Fear, the Chicago, IL group have today announced plans to release a new EP. Titled The Dying Pines, HUNTSMEN’s latest body of recorded work will be released via Prosthetic Records on April 22.
“The past couple of years have been a challenge for everyone across the board, with such uncertainty and considerable loss, we all had a chance to reflect on the past and were able to draw creative inspiration from it. Such themes are present in a lot of our songwriting and are an echo of what is in front of us.”
With European festival appearances at both Roadburn and Desertfest London on the horizon, the EP is a threetrack release comprising two brand new original compositions and a cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Carry On. Alongside the news of The Dying Pines, HUNTSMEN have also announced a new vinyl pressing of their debut album, American Scrap, which is available to order here at https:// huntsmen.bandcamp.com/album/ american-scrap.
The hiatus from regular band activity saw Huntsmen return to their roots as a band, writing on an acoustic guitar and leaning into the narrative storytelling found on their debut full length, American Scrap. An invitation from Roadburn festival in the Netherlands to perform American Scrap in full at the 2022 edition of the festival gave them cause to revisit the songs that saw the band strike out with an Americanametal sound that has been woven throughout their body of work.
Speaking on the announcement of The Dying Pines and the latest reissue of American Scrap, the band comments:
A collaborative approach to the songwriting has lent itself well to blending the strengths of the individual
Huntsmen Online: Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/HuntsmenBand/ Twitter @ https://twitter.com/huntsmen_doom Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/huntsmen.doom/ 54 Rock and Blues International • April 2022
Elements of the post-apocalyptic vibe of Mandala of Fear find their way into this new EP, but The Dying Pines sits outside of the story arc present on the band’s full lengths - a vignette that lets us know the heart of this band still beats strong, and offers a hint of what’s still to come. HUNTSMEN is: Aimee Bueno - Vocals Chris Kang – Vocals, Guitars Marc Stranger-Najjar - Bass, Vocals Kirill Orlov - Guitars Ray Knipe - Drums, Vocals Upcoming HUNTSMEN shows: 9 April - Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL (The Dying Pines live premiere and European send off) 24 April - Roadburn Festival - Netherlands, Tilburg 1 May - Desertfest - The Underworld London UK
The Dying Pines tracklist: 1. The Dying Pines 2. Let the Buried Lie Forgotten 3. Carry On (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover)
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What the critics are saying about Thirsty Curses’ To The Ends Of The Earth “There’s a ramshackle element to the music on the new record that firmly places this talented band alongside such Raleigh-reared greats as The dBs and Let’s Active.” — Rock & Roll Globe “A refined take on the band’s punk-pop sound that showcases its most sophisticated hooks to date.” — Big Takeover “Pretty impossible to pinpoint. It comfortably sits somewhere between punk and softer indie sounds of the 80s. ‘To The Ends of the Earth’ offers a fresh palette of sounds married with their DIY aesthetic.” — It’s Psychedelic Baby!
Raleigh, North Carolina’s Thirsty Curses Release Their New Album To The Ends Of The Earth Watch “Nothing Really Matters” video at youtube.com/watch?v=OhrIcKxbcUc To the Ends of the Earth is the fourth studio album by the Raleigh-based band Thirsty Curses. The band recorded most of the album at frontman Wilson Getchell’s home studio in Raleigh, NC over the summer of 2021. The band also spent a day in Bias Studios in Northern Virginia where they recorded three songs for the album and did piano overdubs on the studio’s baby grand.
album’s final track “Baptist and a Rabbi” circa 2008, but the song had largely been forgotten and was unfinished. However, during the 2020 lockdowns, Wilson ran across an old demo of the song and ultimately re-wrote some of the lyrics and transposed the song from guitar to piano. To the Ends of the Earth is the first Thirsty Curses album to feature Evan Miller on drums and Alexander Weir on lead guitar, replacing Phil Harrington and Kelley Otwell, respectively, who left the band over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hannah Chapman (who sang on “GDMNT” on Thirsty Curses) provided guest backup vocals on “Tell Me the Truth.”
The album is a moody mother, as it bounces between numerous rock subgenres throughout. A majority of the songs appearing on To The Ends of the Earth were written since the completion of the band’s last album, Thirsty Curses. Incidentally, lead singer and songwriter Wilson Getchell began writing the 50 Rock Rockand andBlues BluesInternational International •• April October 56 20222021
To The Ends of the Earth is available on CD and download, released on March 4th, 2022. Artist: Thirsty Curses Album: To the Ends of the Earth Record Label: Self-released Release Date: March 4, 2022 01. One of These Days 02. Are You Still There? 03. Your Next Move 04. What The Hell? 05. WhistlePig 06. Calmer Waters 07. Tell Me The Truth 08. Down & Out 09. Vera 10. Jenny 11. Nothing Really Matters 12. A Baptist and a Rabbi On The Web: www.thirstycurses.com www.thirstycurses.bandcamp.com
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Brother & Sister, Melody & Vaylor Trucks-Fronted Allman Brothers Family Tribute, Announce 2022 Mini-Tour
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Brother & Sister, Melody & Vaylor Trucks-fronted Allman Family Tribute, embarked last month on a March 2022 Three-City Mini Tour that started Thursday, March 24 at Aisle 5 in Atlanta, followed by performances at the Furniture Factory in Huntsville on Friday, March 25, and Asheville Music Hall in Asheville on Saturday, March 26. Melody and Vaylor (as a duo, without band) also recently hosted the “Blue Jay Concert Series” in their hometown of Jacksonville at Blue Jay Listening Room which kicked off the weekend of Thursday, February 24 and Friday, February 25 with famed longtime Southern vocalist continued on next page • April 2022
Melody Trucks
continued from previous page Jimmy Hall (Wet Willie, Jeff Beck, Hank Williams Jr.). Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3, also finds the siblings back at Blue Jay, with Melody and Vaylor jamming with respected blues guitarist-vocalist, Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi All Stars, The Black Crowes, John Hiatt). Then they will be performing at the Suwanee Rising Festival from April 7 through 9th at Live Oak, Florida. They are also scheduled to be performing at the Peach Music Festival from June 30 through July 3 in Scranton, PA. Vaylor and Melody Trucks, each with their own projects, are coming together to play their family’s music, the music of The Allman Brothers Band. Approaching this music with the intentions of the true spirit in which it was created. Joining them are Eric Sanders (Col. Bruce Hampton’s Fiji Mariners), Garrett Dawson (Butch Trucks and the Freight Train Band), Matt Stallard (Chris Duarte Group), Pete Orenstein (Frankly Scarlet), and Willis Gore (Bonnie Blue). “I am so honored to be playing this music with my brother. Vaylor has been just as much a musical influence for me as my father has. To be able to be part of this project with him, as well as the other incredible members of this group, is a dream come true for me,” says Melody Trucks. Adds Vaylor: “A good portion of the credit for the founding of Brother and Sister has to go to Eric Sanders. We had just finished playing in a Colorado-based tribute project called The Family Peach, and it went so well that Eric rightfully said that we should look into putting together something for the southeast. Now I never saw myself doing anything like a tribute band. Not because I am opposed to them, but just because I tend to, when left to my own devices, gravitate towards more esoteric music. “But I saw what an amazing job Dweezil Zappa did in bringing together a group of musicians that were capable of performing the music of his father, and I have tried to use that as a template for what I want to do with Brother and Sister, The Music of the Allman Brothers. First of all, if you’re going in looking for a specific look or stage show, then you’ve already missed the point a bit. Look at the cover of At Fillmore East. It’s a group of working musicians and their crew standing in front of a pile of road cases. That was their look.
“And as for the execution of the songs - there’s a razors edge you have to walk. On one hand, the compositional elements, which are many, must be executed as written. However, if you go up and play Dickey or Duane’s solos note-for-note then you’ve missed the point. The composed notes are essential, but so is the spirit of improvisation. The jams are just as important. And that’s what we’re trying to do with Brother and Sister - put together a group of musicians disciplined and schooled enough to execute the compositions, but also creative and quick-minded enough to jam without much of a structure.” instagram.com/broandsis_band twitter.com/broandsis_band facebook.com/broandsisband April 2022
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Delivering a powerful visual statement, buzzing vocal phenomenon Camylio shares the music video for his new single “I Tried” today via Republic Records. The black-and-white visual bottles the intensity of Camylio’s presence on screen. Tears practically well up in his eyes as he sings his heart out. Fittingly, key phrases from the lyrics appear by him. His heartbreak literally shines in the spotlight in this intimate and unforgettable clip. About the video, Camylio commented, “The goal from the start was to show the many emotions of a breakup without actually saying it. I think Nat, Rachel, and the Pond Creative team did an incredible job using lighting and different effects in a way that you can ‘see’ the different emotions of heartbreak throughout the video.” Meanwhile, Camylio’s 2021 debut EP, all the songs i used to love ( https:// camylio.lnk.to/ATSIUTLPR ), has generated over 20 million cumulative streams and counting and includes his breakout single “love and hate” (https://youtu.be/ 4Le3wMkPorU). Earning widespread praise, Kinda Cool Magazine raved, “With powerful vocals full of emotion, the New York native reaches through the speakers with his relatable lyrics and is able to connect with his fans to make them feel something, a feat he holds in high regard.” Meanwhile, The Honey Pop proclaimed, “At just 20 years old, he’s created a world of intricate details, stunning vocals, and intimate lyrics.” Be on the lookout for more music from Camylio very soon.
Camylio Releases Emotional Black-AndWhite Music Video For New Single “I Tried” WATCH HERE AT https://youtu.be/GGTeklThdMU LISTEN HERE AT https://camylio.lnk.to/ITriedPR CAMYLIO: TIKTOK @ https://republicrecords.us5.list-manage.com/track/click FACEBOOK @ https://www.facebook.com/camyliomusic/ TWITTER @ https://twitter.com/camylio_?lang=en YOUTUBE @ https://republicrecords.us5.list-manage.com/track/click 62
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Clad in a classic black shirt against a dark backdrop, Camylio leans into his microphone, presses down on the ivory of his keyboard, and sings with enough passion and power to stir the world to its feet. It’s a scene meant for a stadium, but he’s in his bedroom framed by a smartphone camera yet beamed out to an audience of millions on social media. Throughout 2021, he performed like this at a dizzying pace and quietly emerged as a phenomenon renowned for a Richter Scaleregistering voice. For his 16th birthday, his parents allowed him to choose either “a car or a laptop.” Thankfully, he chose the latter, spending countless hours pouring over song credits and learning how to produce via YouTube and Twitch. During November 2020, he launched his TikTok with one video daily. He filled an Amazon shopping cart with a $200 backdrop, ten black hoodies, ten black long-sleeve shirts, and five black short-sleeve shirts in order to maintain a consistent aesthetic. His cover of “Dusk Till Dawn” by Sia and ZAYN exploded with 7 million-plus views. Eventually, he broke the internet as his take on SLANDER’s “Love Is Gone” feat. Dylan Matthew generated north of 50 million views in under ten days. He caught the attention of Republic Records and signed to the label. After shaking the internet, the 20year-old New York singer, songwriter, multiinstrumentalist, and producer properly introduces himself with a series of singles and his debut EP all the songs i used to love in 2021.
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photo by JP Cordero
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Photo Credit: Carl Timpone
Coming to Your State! COLD to Embark on “Black Sunday” US Headlining Tour This Month! Alt-rock trailblazers COLD are getting ready to head back out on the road! The band will embark on their “Black Sunday” Tour later this month. The 36-date trek kicks off on March 29 in Mechanicsburg, PA, and concludes in Warrendale, PA on May 15. Joining COLD on this run is support from University Drive and Black Satellite. A complete list of dates can be found below. At the turn of the century, COLD unveiled the seminal 13 Ways To Bleed On Stage, which went Gold and yielded hits such as “Just Got Wicked”, “No One”, and “End of the World”. Their 2003 followup, Year of the Spider, marked their highest chart position, bowing at #3 on the Billboard Top 200, receiving a Gold certification, and spawning the smash “Stupid Girl” accompanied by Rivers Cuomo of Weezer. 2005’s A Different Kind of Pain illuminated melodic strides to the tune of 37,000-plus copies sold first-week and a Top 30 debut. Meanwhile, 2011’s Superfiction continued this streak, crashing the Top 10 of the Top Rock Albums Chart upon arrival and extending a growing legacy. The past few years have been transformational for COLD – most notably with the successful 2019 release of their latest studio album, The Things We Can’t Stop. Enduring the challenges of the COVID pandemic, the band has managed to tour consistently over the last few years and will return to the road in North America in 2022. COLD online: WEBSITE @ https://coldarmy.com/ FACEBOOK @ https://www.facebook.com/Cold INSTAGRAM @ https://www.instagram.com/ColdMusic/ TWITTER @ https://twitter.com/Cold NAPALM RECORDS @ https://label.napalmrecords.com/cold 66 Rock and Blues International • April 2022
COLD “Black Sunday” US Tour w/ University Drive & Black Satellite April 2 - Debonair, NJ @ Debonair Music Hall April 5 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Scandals Live! April 6 - Greenville, SC @ The Radio Room April 7 - Jacksonville, NC @ Hooligans April 8 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits April 9 - Orlando, FL @ The Social April 10 - Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum April 12 - Paris, TX @ Buffalo Joe’s April 13 - Houston, TX @ Scout Bar April 14 - Austin, TX @ Come And Take It Live April 15 - San Antonio, TX @ Vibes Event Center April 16 - Dallas, TX @ Amplified Live April 20 - Scottsdale, AZ @ Pub Rock Live April 21 - Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues April 22 - San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick April 24 - Hollywood, CA @ Whisky A Go Go April 26 - Denver, CO @ Herman’s Hideaway April 27 - Colorado Springs, CO @ Sunshine Studios Live April 28 - Sioux City, IA @ The Marquee April 29 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Icon Lounge April 30 - Chippewa Falls WI @ Every Buddy’s Bar May 2 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club May 4 - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge May 5 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue May 6 - Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall May 7 - Bristol, TN @ Sidetracks May 8 - Memphis, TN @ Growlers May 10 - Bowling Green, KY @ Capitol Arts Center May 11 - Kent, OH @ Skully’s Music Diner May 13 - Flint, MI @ Machine Shop May 14 - Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall May 15 - Warrendale, PA @ Jergel’s
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Only genuine thoroughbred musicians with substantial creative talent succeed in staying at the top of their game as long as Axel Rudi Pell has. For more than thirty years, the guitarist and songwriter from Bochum, Germany, has released new albums at regular intervals with his ARP band. Reactions from fans and media alike have been consistently positive while impressive record sales, high chart positions and everincreasing audience numbers at his concerts and tours say it all. From 15 April 2022, Pell’s latest studio offering LOST XXIII – his 21st to date – will be available as a digipak, CD, double vinyl album, strictly limited box set and for digital download, as usual on Steamhammer/SPV. To make the wait more bearable for his fans, the first lead single ‘Survive’ (including video clip) will be released on 18 February 2022. LOST XXIII is a very special album in Pell’s longstanding career, extremely varied, consisting of ten deeply melodic hard rock songs (plus intro) in typical ARP style, as well as a number of fast-paced highlights and surprising compositions. Among the focal points is the title track with its chorus featuring Arabic scales – as Pell explains “a longer, epic track that’s pretty characteristic of me”. At the same time, LOST XXIII sees Pell welcome a number of familiar faces, underlining his consistency both on a musical and on a personal level: As on his previous four studio recordings INTO THE STORM (2014), GAME OF SINS (2016), KNIGHTS CALL (2018) and the highly acclaimed SIGN OF THE TIMES (2021), which made no. 5 of the German charts, plus the covers album DIAMONDS UNLOCKED II (2021) and two live releases, the ARP band mark 2022 continues to consist of singer Johnny Gioeli, bassist Volker Krawczak, keyboardist Ferdy Doernberg and drummer Bobby Rondinelli (ex-Rainbow), a perfectly oiled hard rock machine that never fails to deliver Pell’s compositions outstandingly and at the same time enhance them with each musician’s own trademarks. Even more enduring than his current line-up is Pell’s 33(!)-year collaboration with Steamhammer/SPV (in the 33rd year of his solo career!). A real exception in a profession characterised by discontinuity and short-lived trends. Not least ARP’s countless fans benefit from this reliability: The ten songs (plus intro) on XXIII present the band in top form,
Axel Rudi Pell Releases New Album Lost XXIII On April 15 with compositions that are among Pell’s strongest to date, be it a typical guitar riff number such as ‘No Compromise’, ‘Gone With The Wind’ which is based on a true story about a dog that waited in vain for a year on a train platform for its deceased master, the fast-paced ‘Follow The Beast’ with its NWOBHM references, or the ballad ‘Fly With Me’, which kicks off with an atmospheric piano part and goes on to create a haunting goosebumps atmosphere. Not forgetting the classy instrumental ‘The Rise Of Ankhoor’ (Pell: “The title is a play on words based on the terms ‘anchor’ and ‘encore’”) and the stylistically as well as lyrically exceptional ‘Down On The Streets’ (scheduled for release as the second lead single on 25 March 2022) and ‘Freight Train’. “Thin Lizzy and AC/DC could have had a finger in this particular pie,” Pell explains, tongue-in-cheek, adding: “Both songs are about life on the streets, about people who are Tracklisting: 01. Lost XXIII Prequel (Intro) 01:47 02. Survive 05:02 03. No Compromise 04:57 04. Down On The Streets 04:46 05. Gone With The Wind 08:56 06. Freight Train 06:08 07. Follow The Beast 05:02 08. Fly With Me 05:42 09. The Rise Of Ankhoor 03:48 10. Lost XXIII 08:35 Digipak Bonustrack: 11. Quarantined 1 07:03
homeless for various reasons and – in the case of ‘Freight Train’ – hop on trains in the manner of American hobos to travel across the country.” Last but not least: LOST XXIII ends with the instrumental bonus track ‘Quarantined 1’, which Pell had already recorded on his own at home in spring 2020 and presented to his fans on YouTube as a kind of “COVID support package”. Bobby Rondinelli has now contributed proper drums for the album version, turning the song into a “real” ARP track. LOST XIII was produced by Axel Rudi Pell, mixed by Tommy Geiger, mastered by Ulf Horbelt, and the mysterious cover artwork was once again designed by Thomas Ewerhard (Gotthard, Edguy, Sons Of Apollo, among others). All that remains is to solve the little mystery of the album title. Pell explains: “XXIII is the Roman numeral for 23 and stands for W, the 23rd letter of the alphabet. Which in this case is an abbreviation of ‘world’, so you could also call the album ‘Lost World’, a reference to the currently pretty alarming state of our planet.” He and his exceptional band will answer any remaining questions live on tour in spring and autumn of this year. Line Up: Johnny Gioeli - Lead and Backing Vocals Axel Rudi Pell - Lead, Rhythm and Acoustic Guitars Ferdy Doernberg - Keyboards Volker Krawczak - Bass Bobby Rondinelli – Drums
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Brazilian Metal Band, Semblant Release New Album “Vermillion Eclipse” April 15 Frontiers Music Srl is proud to present the latest release from Brazilian metal juggernaut Semblant, “Vermillion Eclipse”. Their second for Frontiers, and fourth overall, “Vermillion Eclipse” sees the band continue their evolution into a powerful musical force that is hard to pin down with one musical categorization. With wide ranging influences under the metal and rock umbrella, Semblant are at once wholly unique and entirely familiar on “Vermillion Eclipse”. Beginning with their last album “Obscura” (2020), Semblant began to truly flex their musical muscle and showthat they are more than ready for the world stage.Having already received international praise from the metal community with the release of the album “Lunar Manifesto” (2014), with themassivesingles’What Lies Ahead’,’Dark of the Day’,and’Incinerate’combining for more than 30 million views on YouTube,”Obscura”showcased a band having taken massive steps forward in their sound and presentation.Tracks like ‘Mere Shadow’, ‘Murder Of Crows’, and ‘Dethrone The Gods, Control The Masters’ are just a a few examples of how much the band had matures musically in both songwriting and performance.
for world domination drastically. Grounded in Brazil and unable to head to Europe or the United States to tour as they had planned, Semblant, in 2021, eventually began work on what would become “Vermillion Eclipse”. With pent up energy from being unable to tour and the emotional toll of the pandemic (multiple band members lost a family member to COVID-19), the band’s songwriting and performances here illustrate even more forward progress than what was achieved between their last two releases. “We hope you guys love “Vermillion Eclipse” as much as we love it. I usually say this about each new album we deliver, but, now, I feel that this sentence has reached a point of real meaning. All our hearts and dedication are present in this music. All the experiences we lived through during the pandemic and all the moments where we kept ourselves locked in our studios focused on creating music are finally in song form and reaching out to your hearts and souls. This album is an emotional breaking point. Over the course of making this album, we lost family members, one of us is celebrating the news of our first child being on the way, and we helped each other to keep our minds healthy and strong as best we could during this insane time. This is all reflected in the new album,” says vocalist Sergio Mazul.
The band was geared up and ready to Semblant formed in 2006 in Curitiba, take “Obscura” on the road to spread their Brazil when singer Sergio Mazul and metal message, but, like every other band in keyboardist J. Augusto joined forces to create the world, the pandemic changed their plans 78 Rock and Blues International • April 2022
music that featured all the dark and aggressive elements they appreciated and loved in metal music. After a few years of changing line-ups, the group established itself with the addition of Mizuho Lin (female vocals), Juliano Ribeiro (guitar), Welyntom “Thor” Sikora (drums), and Johann Piper (bass) to the band. LINE-UP: Mizuho Lin - Vocals Sergio Mazul - Vocals Juliano Ribeiro - GuitarJ. “Guto” Augusto Keyboards Johann Piper - Bass Welyntom “Thor” Sikora - Drums Social Media: www.semblant.com.br www.facebook.com/semblantband www.instagram.com/semblantofficial
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The Biker, The Blues, & What Goes Around Comes Around This story is completely fictitious. There’s no place named Las Vegas, there’s no blues there, no loose women, no gambling, no single malt scotch, no cigars, no nothing - that’s my story and I am sticking to it. Finally, no animals were hurt during the creation of this marvelous piece of American fiction. Ok so I pulled out of Winslow Arizona and headed west on I-40 until I arrived at the junction of 93 North near Kingman. Destination: Lost Wages NV. I was tempted to drop down to Phoenix and go to Bob Corritore’s Rhythm Room which is always a cool place to go but the bright lights were drawing me like a moth to a flame. My friend Uli Geissendoerfer was performing at The Gambit in Henderson and the jazz great always presents great music and guests. Gotta take in what’s happening there, then down the road and on into Las Vegas. Some people don’t know it but Las Vegas is a hot bed of resident blues artists and it has some blues clubs that are as real as real can get. There is just something about being in a city that pops twenty four hours a day, it’s sort of like McDonald’s always being open when you are ready. I have a favorite no tell motel that I stay at because I can roll my scooter into the room on the first floor. After all a man has to have his priorities. So I arrived, got settled in and walked on down to the laundry room to run through a few clothes. While it was doing its thing I pulled a chair from inside the motel room out onto the walkway in front of the room. Time for a cigar and I had some time to burn of course, waiting on the laundry. It wasn’t too long afterward when I was sitting in the chair smoking away when a good looking gal carrying an ice bucket walked by. She smiled and asked if knew where the ice machine was, I didn’t but I did direct her to the laundry room, maybe it was there. Soon she passed by again this time with both hands holding on to the ice bucket, she said thanks and that was that. The evening was perfect, low humidity and dusk had been especially colorful as the sky moved from deep orange to beautiful shades of purple. Now here I was kicking back taking it all in. Don’t know why but the famous blues rock album Super Session came to mind and so I tapped my iTunes app and chose Fat Grey Cloud, perfect. No headphones just kept the volume low and kicked back. I needed to check on the laundry and sure enough it was time to move the wet items into the dryer. That’s when I ran into that gal again. She was coming into the laundry room with a handful of her own clothes. She asked me if I was going to the poker tournament and I told her I didn’t even know there was one. I told her I was just moving through and wanted to stop and take in some class blues acts while in town. She asked where and I told her a place named Saddle And Spurs over on Jones Road. I added, “if you win come by and buy me a drink”. She smiled and said she might well win and thanks for the offer. I finished my cigar, waited for the dryer to stop spinning and topped off the music with Santana’s Witchy Woman. The question in Vegas is always where do you want to eat? I mean a person can eat well in this town for very little money. Dinner buffets for $5.99 that include prime rib, ham, and every kind of side dish a person could ever want or you can pay $1.00 for a Heineken and footlong hot dog. Cheaper to eat out in Vegas then prepare at home. Got to love that… So I made my way to a place named Harleycontinued on next page
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Page 2 - The Biker, The Blues, & What Goes Around Comes Around Davidson Café and chomped down on some barbeque and took in the scenery. I decided to make a full night out of it and called Uber to drop me at a place named The Sand Dollar Lounge. This place has a history of bringing top names to the stage and some really cool up and coming acts as well. Sax man Jimmy Carpenter performs here and this man is no slouch. His band lays it down and the groove is always 100% blues. Jimmy was the President of the Las Vegas Blues Society. He may still be but I am not sure. Here’s an insider’s hint for you - if you are going to Las Vegas and you like the blues always check out the Las Vegas Blues Society entertainment page to learn who is performing where while you are in town. Las Vegas is two towns. For about 95% of those that visit Las Vegas the strip and downtown are the faces of the community. If you live there however off the strip is just like any other town in America except maybe for the slot machines in the grocery stores and laundromats. Oh and the liquor filled candies manufactured at Ethyl M Chocolates. But anyway I digress. Back at the Sand Dollar the good looking gal behind the bar asks me what I would like and I order a single malt scotch. No music playing when I entered so I grabbed a five and made my way to the machine. Punched up some Little Feat, Allman Brothers, and B.B. King. That always makes the beer go down a bit better and sets the ambiance. The band was setting up, looked liked a three piece blues rock band and sure enough that was exactly what it turned out to be. Strong sound, some cool originals, and the place was filling up. The guy sitting on my right was asking everybody where they were from as he was from out of town and curious. Clean cut looking guy, polite enough, maybe a bit too inquisitive for his own good but harmless none the less. Out of nowhere he looks at me and says “I’m Bobby from Little Rock, I play bass in a band back home.” I asked if he would play tonight and he said no but he would like to play there. I told him about a place that encourages new folks arriving in Las Vegas to drop by and sit in. About then I heard the distinctive roar of a number of Harleys arriving and about eight people entered the bar. It was obvious this was not their first time there as they knew the wait staff and the bar maid by name. One of them went over and talked to two of the band members and came back to their table and sat down. The band began to tune up and the bar maid shut the music off. Then out of nowhere this gorgeous, sexy woman wearing an outfit that resembled Cat Woman’s clothes took to the stage. If she could sing half as good as she looked I was going to stay for quite some time. If I’m lying, I’m dying and she wasn’t just good this woman could deliver the blues brothers and sisters. She nailed down two songs and then as fast as she came out of nowhere she was gone in a flash. The band jumped right into their next song and the action never stopped all night and by the way the bars in Las Vegas are open 24/7 so all night means all night. The sun was coming up when I called the Uber dude and he took me back to the no tell motel without a hitch. I could see the maid’s cart on the sidewalk in front of a room and realized that I probably needed to stay awake until after she cleaned my room but I didn’t want that as my pride and joy was enjoying their carpet and I didn’t need her diming me out. So I approached her and asked her if she would not clean my room and gave her a five dollar bill. She smiled, nodded, and said something in Spanish. I went to the room and flopped onto the bed and instantly went to sleep. I woke up around four pm due to a young couple arguing outside in front of my window. They were darn near broke, both continued on next page April 2022 • Rock and Blues International
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Page 3 - The Biker, The Blues, & What Goes Around Comes Around accusing the other of gambling away too much of their money. You didn’t have to eaves drop I mean they were not exactly being quiet about their discomfort with each other. The man told her to chill out a bit as he was going to win it all back that night. Oh those are some famous last words spoken many times in Vegas I am sure. She was determined to put him in his place and commenced to denigrating his existence as a human being including commenting on the fragrance of the perfume on his clothes. The dude was busted…. I don’t know what happened outside I assumed he walked away because she remarked that it was just like him to turn tail and run. I don’t know why I was smiling, maybe because it wasn’t me on the receiving end. The songwriter Paul Thorn has a number of songs about the way love is, humorous in nature but many of them hit rather close to home for some of us. Well they are young, in Las Vegas with a pocket full of money, what could possibly go wrong for a young couple? Time to shower and shave and check out the bright lights and see who’s in town. One of the off the strip places that usually has something hot musically going on is Sam’s Town Casino on Boulder Highway and Tropicana. They’ve got a sports book, live music, great buffet, and the odds seem a bit better than up on the strip. Called the Uber folks and a nice lady arrived and drove me to Sam’s. As I walked by a $5 machine I put in a $20 in and won a thousand dollars. Nice way to start the day off. I made my way to the buffet and their food choices were above par and the service was timely but not pushy. It’s an interesting place as it attracts locals with its huge bowling alley underneath the casino and its music room choices. After filling up at the buffet I turned my attention toward their sports book to see what games they were posting for tomorrow morning. I could see some good odds on some of the games already and thought I would check back later. I made my way to a crap table where a lady was talking to the dice, shaking them like hell, and then telling them what to do. My kind of table action. I ordered change for a C-note and waited for the woman to either make point or lose her turn. She made point. I put $25 on the pass line and backed up the bet with another $25. She rolled a seven coming out and I had more than just doubled my money. I liked this place. Waitress came by and brought me a scotch at no charge, not bad tasting scotch whatever the name of it was - she didn’t know. Nice smile and timely service so I tipped her $10. I was having fun and then I really screwed up. Somehow I spilled that entire drink on the front of my pants. I was totally embarrassed and the pit boss called for a clean up crew. He then came over and whispered in my ear that I could go over to the gift shop and see what they had that might be suitable to me. That was a good idea and so I just walked away from the table not even taking my money or pulling my bet. The gift shop did in fact have some Levi’s and a pair that fit. I paid up, went to restroom and changed my pants. Then I remembered my money at the crap table and moved quickly to get to it. It was still there and my bet had still been in play. Looked like I gained about three times what I had bet before I left the table. I tipped the boys working the table $50 and scooped up my bet and the other money I had laying in the tray and walked away. Talk continued on next page
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Page 4 - The Biker, The Blues, & What Goes Around Comes Around about an interesting day, well actually it was night time by now. I moved into the showroom where I had heard a young blues rocker making his bones on lead guitar. This young man was good and I mean good. No cover charge and plenty of places to sit. Now they have a game in Vegas named Keno, it’s a lot like bingo well sort of anyway. So at each table there is crayon, a Keno ticket, and you choose maybe six to twelve numbers. If all them come up you win. A lady wearing sheer black stockings and a really short mini-skirt comes by, picks up the ticket, and takes your entry fee. I bet $2.00. I chose six numbers and three of the six were called so I gained what is known as a push. In other words I got to do it over again at no charge. So I chose five numbers this time. This time I hit all five numbers and she brought me a winning slip for $1,100. Now get this - I entered the building bet $20 and won a thousand. I bet at the crap table and maybe made another $400 or so. Then I go into the showroom play keno and win $1,100. Obviously I tipped the gal in the sheer black nylons $100. I was having a really good evening. My instincts told me to leave now but I was weak and stopped at the roulette wheel on the way out of the casino. I cornered a $700 bet on number 26 and waited for the ball to land on a number. It did but not on one of the cornered numbers so I was out $700. I was still up but losing $700 was a bit sobering. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around and I was wondering if that just happened or it was a fluke? Only way to know that would be run the bet again, which I did not. Instead I went back to the sports book and placed my bet on a game for the next day. For some reason I bet the same amount here, $700. I decided to call Uber and leave. I didn’t know where I was going but I knew I wanted to take my tote bag with the wet pants back to the no tell motel. Now this is where it gets funny. I arrive without a problem and when I square up with Uber guy and get out of the car that same young couple is having another conversation outside in front of God and everybody. He’s telling her she doesn’t know how to gamble and she is telling him that he should not gamble after he starts to drink. I walked past them and the man asks me if I have a light, which I did, and stopped to make it happen. She asked me if I gambled and I said yes of course. She asked me if I had won that day and I said a little bit. She then began to tell me how the man she was with doubles down both when he wins and when he loses and she wants to know how that can work. I just shrugged my shoulders, smiled, and walked away. I unlocked the door and went inside dropping the tote bag on the small table by the window. I went into my stash of cigars and took out a nice maduro, grabbed the chair by the table and went outside. As I sat down I noticed a car with a male driver and three kids. Then I heard a door to my left close and it was the maid. She had been working since I saw her earlier until now. As she walked by I stopped her by holding my hand up like a crossing guard. I reached into my pocket and took out a $50 and gave it to her. She looked at me funny as if I had something bad in mind and while we couldn’t understand each other’s language I said this is for you and your family. She nodded and said gracious senor. The next morning I over slept and there was a sound on my door like a light rap and then the door opened up. It was the maid and she saw my bike. Her eyes got wide and began to back out of the room. I heard that same rap on the door next to mine. I got up and put on my new pants and the same shirt and went outside. When she came out to get things off her cart I pointed to my room and said ok. She nodded yes. She cleaned the room, made the bed, all while I smoked another stogie outside. You know it’s funny it was almost like she didn’t even see that bike at the foot of the bed. She just cleaned, smiled, and pushed her cart down a room. It was a good day on the road….. April 2022 • Rock and Blues International
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