Naming his band—and latest CD—after WW II U.S. General George S. Patton’s nickname Ol’ Blood N’ Guts, Boston based singer/songwriter Greg Brown pours out the sweat, does blistery battle with his voice and guitar and claims glory on a nine track, straight up set entrenched in hard rock yet seeded with elements of down-home blues, country and a generous helping of feedback and volume. Turning his back on current trends and musical fads, the veteran rocker presents a set of raw, energizing mostly first and second takes with his longtime band Ol’ Blood N’ Guts. The basic sessions were recorded a Horizon Studios in West Haven and the vocals were tracked at Flow New York. To help achieve their old school, no nonsense sound, they used vintage amps, including 1974 Marshall amps.
Brown’s group features bassist Eric Klaastad, a one time member of the hair metal band Trouble Tribe—which toured with Slaughter—whose credits include Billy Joel, Debbie Harry and Peter Frampton; and drummer Bobby Torello aka Bobby T, who toured and recorded with Johnny Winter in the 80s and has also played with Michael Bolton, Grace Slick, Black Oak Arkansas and Thunderhead. While they’re beginning to headline gigs in the Boston area, Brown’s been a presence on the club scene in NYC and his home state of Connecticut since the early 2000s, performing everywhere from The Bottom Line to Toad’s Place (New Haven) and The Webster Theatre. He released a previous album in 2003, but considers Ol’ Blood N’ Guts a truer representation of himself as an artist.
“Good rock music is timeless,” says Brown, whose influences include Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Willie Nelson, Zakk Wylde and old metal like Judas Priest and AC/DC. “Ol’ Blood N’ Guts was recorded live, taking a bold stand amidst a musical landscape full of overproduced and overexposed repetitive bands. We’re about grabbing you by the neck and dragging you kicking and screaming through rock music’s hallowed halls. We believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. The music on the album has a bit of everything and truly speaks to where my musical soul is now. Lyrically as well, it’s stripped down, transparent blood and guts. What you get is what you see. There’s no veil to be lifted. It’s all there. It wasn’t done consciously at the time, but listening back I can see a story developing about me and what I believe in, sticking to my guns no matter what people say.”
Thematically, Brown covers some very unique ground on the collection. The infectious, country flavored, big chord driven “In This Life” is about not letting the baggage of the past keep you from living in the present; we’re carrying it around but we can use the experiences we’ve been through in a positive way. Spinning 180 degrees around is the hard edged, blistering and hypnotic “Postal,” a dramatic anger saga about a normal man driving frustrated to his place of work where he plans to kill his boss; in the end he pulls the trigger but we don’t know if he shot his target or himself. There’s also the Black Crowes influenced “Black and White” (with angst and frustration giving way to a positive message) and the heartfelt “Cry,” which was inspired by images Brown saw on TV about African refugees standing in line for days just for some water. It’s ultimately an anthem of hope for peace and understanding, about a mother separated from a child who connects to that child via a star they can both see.
Naming his band—and latest CD—after WW II U.S. General George S. Patton’s nickname Ol’ Blood N’ Guts, Boston based singer/songwriter Greg Brown pours out the sweat, does blistery battle with his voice and guitar and claims glory on a nine track, straight up set entrenched in hard rock yet seeded with elements of down-home blues, country and a generous helping of feedback and volume. Turning his back on current trends and musical fads, the veteran rocker presents a set of raw, energizing mostly first and second takes with his longtime band Ol’ Blood N’ Guts. The basic sessions were recorded a Horizon Studios in West Haven and the vocals were tracked at Flow New York. To help achieve their old school, no nonsense sound, they used vintage amps, including 1974 Marshall amps.
Brown’s group features bassist Eric Klaastad, a one time member of the hair metal band Trouble Tribe—which toured with Slaughter—whose credits include Billy Joel, Debbie Harry and Peter Frampton; and drummer Bobby Torello aka Bobby T, who toured and recorded with Johnny Winter in the 80s and has also played with Michael Bolton, Grace Slick, Black Oak Arkansas and Thunderhead. While they’re beginning to headline gigs in the Boston area, Brown’s been a presence on the club scene in NYC and his home state of Connecticut since the early 2000s, performing everywhere from The Bottom Line to Toad’s Place (New Haven) and The Webster Theatre. He released a previous album in 2003, but considers Ol’ Blood N’ Guts a truer representation of himself as an artist.
“Good rock music is timeless,” says Brown, whose influences include Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Willie Nelson, Zakk Wylde and old metal like Judas Priest and AC/DC. “Ol’ Blood N’ Guts was recorded live, taking a bold stand amidst a musical landscape full of overproduced and overexposed repetitive bands. We’re about grabbing you by the neck and dragging you kicking and screaming through rock music’s hallowed halls. We believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. The music on the album has a bit of everything and truly speaks to where my musical soul is now. Lyrically as well, it’s stripped down, transparent blood and guts. What you get is what you see. There’s no veil to be lifted. It’s all there. It wasn’t done consciously at the time, but listening back I can see a story developing about me and what I believe in, sticking to my guns no matter what people say.”