Begin Your Formal Introduction Here With The Big Gun Show

You'd be wise to check out Austin's own The Big Gun Show on November 4th at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon because the band refuses to be pigeonholed into any one genre. For Exhibit A I present "Begin to Begin". Into honky tonk? Guitarist Chris Collins has you covered. Enjoy a tall cool Lone Star Beer knowing that the roadhouse vibe has been well represented. As for the drumming, Yates Hagan, in the spirit of Rolling Stone Charlie Watts, does an excellent job simply keeping time, moving the parade along commendably. He knows exactly when to move into cruise control and let his bandmates come front and center to the spotlight. Speaking of which vocalist Gunter Woodson does his job above and beyond the call of duty. Good storytellers are always welcome in the music business and Gunter lays down the right chops to keep the casual and veteran listener engaged. This outfit draws from indie rock, country, and if the organ laced background harmonies are any indication, the gospel end of the spectrum as well. I fancy myself an equal opportunity appreciator so...hearing this many types of musical soup stirring around in my ear makes it warm and fuzzy from top to bottom. The song's tempo doesn't leave you gasping for air. Nice of them to allow us along for the ride, respecting that we don't wish to be blasted into shell shock mode. Homestyle guitar showmanship at the bridge adds some body to this rarin' to go classic machine. The "ba-pa ba-pa" playfulness of the endeavor also adds a brotherly love connect that would go well with a local pilsner or pale ale from Ginny. The Big Gun Show is a modern band steeped in the knowledge of legendary musical roots. Gunter has as much as shared with me the notion that he grooves on The Rolling Stones era when Mick Taylor and Gram Parsons were part of the package. To him those were heady days. But back to the song itself. Many a night could be spent nursing smoke rings, whiskey, or both in the company of "Begin To Begin". I wouldn't call it brood music but you could do far worse than drown your discontent in a bottle of Jack Daniels while this track is going. I'd be shooting this post in the foot if I didn't bring up Dave Duce's bass abilities. They're smooth hickory sauce which complements Gunter's steady vocals and Yates Hagan's drumming suitably. In "Begin To Begin" you'd need extra napkins to soak up the grill-mark enhanced goodness. Don't hold your fire on these guys. The Big Gun Show merits some time in your personal holster or as a willing spectator at Ginny's place. It seems hope springs eternal in the Live Music Capital Of The World. The Big Gun Show doesn't need to wish on a star to boost its fan base. Artistic know-how should work nicely. http://www.thebiggunshow.com/

Ghost Nails A Real Beauty With "Square Hammer"

Right on time for a Halloween fright fest comes Ghost, the Swedish doom metal act that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that none of its members are quite right in the head. The latest track from "Meliora" has fast become a favorite of mine for a number of reasons. For one Earth, the drummer, bangs away right out of the box or, should I say, coffin, since that's the ghoulish aesthetic this outfit tends to be top heavy on. Let me warn you in advance...if you're nursing a wicked hangover this probably isn't going to be your soothing reentry into the land of the living. Ghost pulls out all the stops where pathos goes. Wind puts keyboard fills in precisely the spaces where they achieve the greatest impact, namely during the second verse. We've already been bashed over the head by pulse pounding drumming. Bassist Water's imprints run far and deep all over "Square Hammer". That bass starts from the base (homonym joke possibly intended) of your spine and sends icy chills upwards that pierce the extra sensitive parts of your skull until you're screaming for the mercy you know these gents aren't about to send your way. Fire really doesn't put his lead guitar virtuosity to great use until the bridge where he then lets fly like his own gruesome demise hung in the balance. Ghost does far more than rock out. The Swedes give you the smashing show you'd give your right arm to tell your friends you were a part of. The lyrics remind you that you're not dealing with folks playing with a full deck. How can you claim them to be all there when they open the show tossing off bygone era candy like, "Living in the night, 'neath devils torn asunder. You call on me to solve a crooked rhyme. "As I'm closing in imposing on your slumber. You call on me as bells begin to chime." Then comes the chorus/ultimate moment of truth staredown initiated by the lines, "Are you on the square? Are you on the level? Are you ready to stand right here right now before the devil. That you're on the square. That you're on the level. That you're ready to stand right here right now right here right now. I haven't brought up lead vocalist Papa Emeritus III up to now but I hereby add his name to the mix because this story would blow away on the breeze were it not for the convincing cobwebs in the belfry way in which he conjures up such a sanctuary reminiscent fervor. The man could quite literally raise the dead on the strength of those pipes. It's at the chorus where he really gets down to brass tacks. That's real send the rocket blast through the roof kind of emotion. Earth and Wind are in perfect sync throughout this cut and that, my friends is what makes "Square Hammer" the world beater I suggest that it is. No matter how heavy into campy Phantom Of The Opera over the top parlor tricks the guys get, the opening one two punch is never far from the memory bank. Would I be surprised if "Square Hammer" ended up as the first track on the soundtrack to the apocalypse? Not on your life or, to put it more appropriately, not on your dead. Ghost scares up a dandy one thus hammering home the notion that it's a force to reckon with, Day of Reckoning or not.

Red Sun Rising Doesn't Forget To Remind Us Of What Matters

From Akron, Ohio we get Red Sun Rising back in the soup of what we call rock and roll lunacy. From "Polyester Zeal" I give you "Amnesia". It is a thoughtful meditation on applying the whole Carpe Diem mantra to everyday life, to making hay while the sun shines. Ryan Williams has a mean spirited guitar swagger going here. It's the main reason why "Amnesia" scores so vehemently. Whatever lead vocalist Mike Protich lays down on the lyric sheet, Ryan chomps into his instrument with a malevolent fervor the likes of which only the Kirk Hammetts of the ax slinging hemisphere would relate to. Take a really close listen and you know Ryan means business.Drummer Pat Gerasia doesn't skimp on ferociousness either. His skin bashing gives "Amnesia" its crackling urgency. In fact urgent sums the cut to a t. Got a must do item? Don't hesitate to put the plan into action. Feel unrequited love for a blond bombshell? Don't hesitate to let that someone know she's front and center in your mind. Don't write your life story and have regret spill over most of the pages. We all are dumbfounded at the speed with which our day in the sun can escape through our fingers. Mike merely wants us to maintain the appropriate perspective. Ricky Miller takes his bass and applies scowl in all the right places. Again, it's a reason why "Amnesia" isn't your garden variety rock number. There's a brain underneath those metal menace mouths. I highly endorse the well blended melody hard at play. The players know their cues and execute them perfectly. No problem following alongside this medium rare pacing. Mike comes into his own at the chorus as his voice adopts new drama that heightens the urgency already going on in the studio. Check out how driven he becomes at the juncture where he utters "moment in time". He hits a whole new level of bloodletting. Knowing how to maintain rock credibility amidst a landscape where the tried and true brevity of life theme looms large proves to be a trick Red Sun Rising has got down to a science. This band applies fresh paint on an old house that's been weather beaten by this message more often than any of us have in our collective memory banks. Why we keep being lured in stems largely from this notion that here and there we need reminders, gentle or otherwise that time is the currency all of us have and it's not a limitless means of spending. We'd best speak our peace and then step away from the card table, content that we've played the best hand we knew how. Never again will you hear "nothing" described as "fun". Most people shudder at finding so much as one moment left unoccupied. Stillness of heart gets them a little uneasy, as if Armageddon would be preferable. Red Sun Rising need not worry about our suffering group amnesia as it pertains to this song. "Amesia" merits a heady spot in our memories because Mike and his mates awaken mass complacency by appealing to our rational side, the side that knows our futures are right now. Squandering them would be a regrettable fool's errand.

Highly Suspect Applies The Human Touch On Their New Single

Such great memories I have of Highly Suspect's "Lydia". It had a scrappy edge to it, particularly where the lead guitar was concerned. Grit as far as the ear could hear. Fast forward to now and the Cape Cod outfit pulls from its bag of tricks, straight from "The Boy Who Died Wolf", "My Name Is Human", which delves into our collective atomic makeup. For openers give Johnny Stevens the nod for mesmerizing listeners with a guitar starter apparently plucked from the center of the Earth's molten core. Quite a probing sound at work, getting to the heart of what it means to be us. Johnny's vocals are also right there in our faces, daring us not to notice he has our vulnerabilities by the jugular. Highly Suspect shines on chorus work. In this instance it pulls up cosmic dust and washes it over us in rampant styles that leave us totally awestruck at how heavy their world weightiness truly becomes. The opening notes practically have you in mindset of hovering over the Earth, dazzled at what you are seeing and at the same time intimidated by our relatively small place in it, which is amusing given how many of us go through life trying to find just where our place in this world might be. If we're lucky we get to that place but, many fall short of self-actualization. Rich Meyer excels on bass, especially in laying down a particularly daunting backdrop for we the people to hit the most ebony corners of our soul, that part of us which doesn't die. The song, at least to these ears, sounds broad in scope and message. It digs deep to get that alt rock production value Soundgarden would have approved of. Lyrically the general gist can be summed up in one concept. We're all on a level playing field here. Nobody's better than anybody else. Chinks in the armor are par for the course here amongst us armor clad warriors. This track clocks in at 4:18 seconds but the lush orchestration gives it a 5:00 plus bravado that rubs off indelibly. Rich's brother Ryan lays down modest drumming that doesn't demand we pay too much attention, just enough to note that he's going about his business in a workmanlike way that allows Johnny's chops to assume control of the playing field. "My Name Is Human" doesn't pull any punches at any time. It sets us straight regarding how much we really matter. From a fusion vantage point all the players join up to make an incredible noise that is bigger than any one person. The shift from main verse to chorus is jarring but easily embraced after you wiggle your toes around in that water. That shows Highly Suspect isn't a one trick pony at all. It starts of pondering in a Carl Sagan kind of style then leaps into a beefier melody. If you want a scientific perspective they don't come much more textbook Sagan than "Hello, my name is human and I came down from the stars." In summation Highly Suspect puts the human condition under a microscope and what we get back in return staggers the imagination.