You ever have a band out there that intrigues you but you’ve not quite “bought in” yet?  Sure, we’ve all got our favorite bands out there where you religiously buy everything they put out but there are those bands where you may catch a song or two on the radio (HA, does that still happen?) or maybe see a YouTube link or catch them live via a late night talk show.  Vintage Trouble is like that for me-  my first exposure was a brief article in Classic Rock magazine that I didn’t really pay much attention to other than noticing the fancy “vintage” clothes they were sporting:

Second exposure was via photographer extraordinairre Ross Halfin’s diary with more fancy clothing pics.  However!  The third time was the charm as I was perusing a guitar blog and there was a post in there raving about these guys and a recent live performance on Letterman.  So I clicked on the link and was GOBSMACKED:

HOLY… SHIT…

The drum intro got my attention but once I heard that scream from lead singer Ty Taylor and that nasty riff I was hooked.  Talk about a band that was just going for it!  No cookie cutter, autotuned, choreographed dance routine crap here; these guys took their five minutes on stage, grabbed you by the throat, and knocked it out of the park. So much so that even Letterman wanted more!  Visions of James Brown, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, or Corey Glover fronting Led Zeppelin or Booker T and the MGs raced through my mind.  Now THIS is was a commanding performance.  By the end, I’d forgotten about the fashion (which is actually pretty cool, by the way) and wanted to seek out the release.

Which brings me to my “not quite bought in” comment from before-  as much as I’d loved the Letterman performance (and check out their Leno clip too) I didn’t quite fall in love with The Bomb Shelter Sessions.  Don’t get me wrong; I like it A LOT but my love isn’t quite there yet, which is probably due to just how hot that Letterman performance was.  The songs are good (some are very good) but something is missing as if they were playing it safe in the studio by having everyone record their parts separately instead of facing off and pushing/pulling against each other.  On the rocking tracks, dirty up that guitar a little more and bump it up in the mix.  Lay back on some of the soulful cuts and let the track breathe a little- keep it in the pocket, no need to rush your performance.  The elements are there to make a great record down the road as these guys are good players and they do a fine job mixing the rock with the soul-  a bit of Black Crowes, Rolling Stones, James Brown, Al Green, Wilson Pickett, ZZ Top, Zeppelin all thrown into the same stew.  Fave cuts are “Blues Hand Me Down”, “Still And Always Will” (great Stones-y vibe), “Total Strangers”, “Pelvis Pusher” (kin to “Land of 1000 Dances”), “Run Like The River”, and the gospel-ish “Gracefully”.

That said… based on those live performances I’m bought in enough to check these guys out this Thursday at the Thompson House in Newport, Kentucky!  Hey fellas-  BRING IT!