They’ll be throwing up the bunting in the streets of Gillingham as news breaks that local heroes The Zac Schulze Gang have triumphed in our latest Tracks Of The Week contest, ferried there by their Robert Johnson-inspired single Hellhounds On My Trail. So congratulations to them on what might be the most historic event the town has seen since the Dutch navy sailed up the Medway in 1667.
Congratulations also to King Kraken, who finished well back in second place, and to Halestorm, even further adrift in third. Let’s agree to meet back here in a week to see who triumphs in this week’s rock’n’roll rumble.
Airbourne – Here She Comes
The latest riffer-rolla’ from the Aussies’ long-awaited self-titled new album (the follow-up to 2019’s Boneshaker) is a jubilant affair, packing the lovable, slightly mad energy of a galloping pack of labradors crashing a beach party. It’s only rock’n’roll, but sometimes that’s precisely what you need. After over two decades in the game, few really get that – and don’t fight it – quite like Airbourne.
Hannah Wicklund – Red Gorilla
Written ten years ago – in the shadow of the controversial death of Harumbe the gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo – Red Gorilla is a deliciously juicy, funky hit of bluesy rock with an environmentally conscious heart. All raw soul and swagger, no flab or faking it. “Human beings are but a small piece of a far greater ecosystem, and we must radically choose to care for our environment,” South Carolinian singer/guitarist Hannah says, “or we will be even more lost as a species than we are right now.”
Brothers Osborne – R.I.P
Few bands nail that sweet spot between currntry and plain old rock’n’roll as happily as these six-foot-something Maryland-turned-Nashville siblings. On R.I.P that feels as true as ever, its rollicking, Stetson-topped heartbeat teamed with a bang-on-the-money groove. At under two minutes it’s on the ‘punk’ side for the Bros, but if the idea was to whet our appetites for what’s coming next they’ve succeeded. “R.I.P. is us getting back to our musical roots,” lead guitarist/older brother John says. “This new music is a rear-view glimpse into where we came from while still driving forward into the new and the unknown.”
Bleeker – Outside
Soaring, punchy alt rock/power-pop anthemic sensibilities – with a mahoosive chorus – are the order of the week with this Ontario five-piece’s latest. The sort of track that makes them sound like a much bigger band, Outside has hints of Sugar and The Struts in its biting combination of sweetness and shadows, and feels like something a festival crowd would hungrily lap up over a few beverages and group hugs on a hot summer evening. Find more on their next album, Elephant, which comes out in September.
Greta Van Fleet – Saw You Stand
Teamed up with genre-hopping producer Mike Elizondo (Tedeschi Trucks Band, Turnstile, Eminem…) for their next album, Palace Of The People, Greta Van Fleet deliver arguably the ballad of their career with Saw You Stand. Hard-hitting, bright-eyed but tender, it finds them prizing incisive songwriting above noodly nostalgia theatrics. And anyone who normally finds Josh Kiszka’s vocals a bit too Jon Anderson-shrill for comfort may warm more readily to his stellar performance here – still high, still mighty, but married to a tight, on-the-money melody and weighted with real depth, reflective of an eventful few years.
Bywater Call – Way To Go
Building upward from sweet, stripped-back Delta-fried opening notes, Way To Go finds the rising Canadian ensemble at their heartwarming, boot-stomping best. A stirring, thoughtfully written melody around which gospel-fresh harmonies, guitars and horns swirl, natural as sunlight on water, with a touch of bittersweetness in the background. If you’re a fan of Tedeschi Trucks Band, Blackberry Smoke and others in their rousing, soulful southern rock camp, and you haven’t heard Bywater Call yet, for god’s sake check them out now.
The Band Feel – Stay Around
St Louis rockers The Band Feel still sound like a band who could have parachuted into the set of Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous without anyone noticing they were from the future, but Stay Around does at least tinker with the formula a little. The Free-style riff is augmented by a chorus that leans into power pop, with perfectly pitched harmonies and a wibbly-wobbly keyboard that may or may not have been beamed in from deep space. Excellent stuff, as usual.
Cam Cole – Get Up Ya Honky Tonk
Cam Cole’s Fourth album, Lost In Creation, is out in October, and Get Up Ya Honky Tonk is a taster from what promises to be an uncompromising blast of twisted sonic savagery from the one-man London-based grunge-blues explosion. Cam’s vocals sound like Butthole Surfers’ frontman Gibby Haynes might were he guesting on a Jon Spencer single, and there’s also a bit in the middle where everything slows down and gets kinda spooky before business is rowdily resumed. What a lovely racket.
