Red Vienna is a band based out Vancouver BC; Vancouver is a hotbed for rock’n’roll in this country of ours that is matched only by Toronto. In the 80’s you had Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. In the 90’s you had Gob, Sarah McLachlan, Age of Electric and The Black Halos.Soon everywhere the kids will cry for Red Vienna. This is much different in the sense intelligent kids cry because of Nickelback. Red Vienna is a good thing… a great thing.
On Saturday March 26th 2010 Adam Becvare’s Chicago based rock band the LustKillers were in Saskatoon. Bass player Denyss McKnight and vocalist Becvare both previously of The Black Halo’s advised me that old band mates Jahmeel Russell and Robbie Zgaljic had a new project on the go called Red Vienna. This excited me, perhaps more than it should have. The next afternoon when I arrived back in Regina I checked to see if it was online yet. It wasn’t. The Sunday after LK’s Regina show however, I had facebook and myspace requests. It seemed to be timed perfectly. See I am as you may or may not know a huge fan of The Black Halo’s. A HUGE part of that is Zgaljic. See Robbie Z has always been one of my favourite drummers. He is the only drummer I like to watch as much is Shannon Larkin of Godsmack. Most drummers are just there. Not Rob. He is an incredible player that hit’s extremely hard, his machine gun snare rolls are out of this world and he carries himself very well. He drives the band and keeps your attention all at the same time. He still manages to stay grounded and is one of the kindest people ever.
Jahmeel is no slouch himself. The bass lines Jahmeel punches out on the record are solid as !@#$. While he is not only a talented bass player he is also the vocalist for this new sensation. The songs that Rob and Jam Master Jahmeel (that’s what I will call him from now on) have written for their self titled EP are sick! It’s hard to describe the sound because it’s really fresh, fun and rockin’ yet it has an earthy, atmospheric kind of contemplative sound that is still very familiar to the listener. From a thought Rob and Jahmeel had in the fall of ’08 to working on the first song “Reprise” in mid ’09, it was well worth the wait. The boys were accompanied by Devin Boquist and Mark Perry on guitars that solidify the bands line up. Red Vienna has definitely created a unique record that they can call their own. You will find yourself very comfortable quickly with it. The first two days after buying the record online at http://redvienna.bandcamp.com on April 6th were spent with the album on repeat, and really listening to it.
Photo by Gucio Photography
The first track “The Best Words” Jahmeel owns from the start really ripping on the bass. With his gentle sounding voice backed by a tight rhythm section “The Best Words” is an excellent start to the record. Again the second song on the record “Low Lights” gets thumping right away. The band is definitely defining their sound early and it works for them. “Low Lights” has a bang on chorus that I am sure to be the early single. I predict this to be the crowd favourite as far as pop goes on the record. The ringing guitars and radio friendly melodies appease the ears that put you in a state of complete peace and bliss. The epic anthemic rock song entitled “Victoria Victoria” crushes from start to finish with it’s guitar buzz and steady drum. I can only picture a gang of young men steadily approaching on this number. Run they look serious! The band leads you back to their gentle atmospheric sound by track four. “The Long Walk” is that song that when you hear live will be the song the band captivates you with. Wait and see, it will be that powerful live. It’s powerful enough on it’s own but wait and see live… mark my words. This song is going to be “the moment” you fell in love with the band live. Lastly “Reprise” is a brooding/melancholy song that Jahmeel wrote reflecting a friend who had recently passed away. “We don’t think about death except for inside jokes we know. With our arms around each other, playing songs we know from show to show. Our glass eyes are cracked and the tears begin to flow. Goodbye to our snowman friend, goodbye to the winter cold. I see my friend at funeral, he’s someone I used to know” laments Russell. The crescendo that is built by about half way through will make your heart stop. It’s a hard song to listen to in that Jahmeel’s heart felt thoughts for his friend vividly come across in the song.
This is the best thing I have heard in recent memory. Red Vienna probably the best thing I have heard since Winnipeg’s “Ripperz” a couple years back.
Stunning effort fellas!
Cheers Rockers!
http://redvienna.bandcamp.com
http://www.myspace.com/redvienna
No comments:
Post a Comment