Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Seasoned Canadian Bluesman David Deacon Decries Our Endless Summer of Superficiality with "California Has No Winter"




We live in a world that increasingly celebrates youth and beauty in snapshots and doctors’ reality to taste, all while ignoring the value to be found in people and things with age, history and experience. Accomplished Guelph, ON-based blues/roots singer-songwriter David Deacon is eschewing instant aesthetics with his provocative new single “California Has No Winter”, released in tandem with his new album “Four” - both available now.
 
Soaking in the sunshiny tropes of the Golden State and delivering knowingly dark, spoken verses å la Leonard Cohen, Deacon points a poetic finger at the see through superficiality of today’s youth culture in his new release - and he certainly can. After five decades of creating poetry, music and visual art, careers as a race car driver, an advertising executive and a businessman and almost losing his life in a terrible motorcycle accident, turning a critical, musical eye on our modern societal state of affairs is Deacon’s hard won right.
 
“‘California Has No Winter’ is an observation about the thinness of the veneer of American youth culture, which stresses the beauty of the moment and has so little charity for the long term, the historic, the aging, the difficult,” explains Deacon. “It is my soft, non-belligerent, and very short version of Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’.”
 
While Allen Ginsberg’s 3-part opus is a voluminous hallmark of beat poetry, Deacon’s artistic observations are delivered in a tidier, four-and-a-half-minute song that packs its own, slow burn punch. Deacon’s softly commanding, world-weary baritone juxtaposed with an octave-higher female vocal rises into a crescendo in the outro, insistently asking “without seasons, without signs, how do we know when it’s over?” A very good question we should all ask ourselves from time to time.
 
You won’t see the leaves fall, there’s no snow at all
Time is only a clock, no need to take stock
You’re in the summer of life, you’ve got a California wife
California has no winter
 
While it certainly looks perfect on the surface, there’s a dark side to that shiny California coin. “It seemed to me that images of nature are perhaps the best possible way to contrast the idea of an eternal summer of life and the consequences of actually living that way both culturally and politically,” notes Deacon.
 
The third single from Deacon’s just released album “Four”, “California Has No Winter” is the album’s smoothly cynical cornerstone. As with all ten tracks on the new album, it was co-written by Deacon and his guitarist Andy Ryan. Deacon and Ryan also co-produced the new album, which was recorded by Grammy nominated and Juno winning producer Eddie Bullen and mastered by Lacquer Channel’s Noah Mintz. Rounding out Deacon’s musical quartet are Etric Lyons on bass guitar and Aaron Spinks on drums.
 
An album that marks a re-invigorated return to music making after a long hiatus, Deacon describes “Four” as ‘a ride that starts out on a freeway, takes a long stretch down a winding road, makes a few off-road excursions, and ultimately has faith that just keeping on will get you somewhere interesting.’ After years of writing, recording, and performing in decades past and detours into periods without music over the years, it’s the creative road ahead that excites Deacon now.
 
A chronicle of thoughtful and soulful reflections on life paths, relationships, and the state of the world around us, “Four” is a comprehensive example of Deacon’s approach to songwriting, which is two-pronged.
 
“I think the main starting point about writing songs for me is sorting out whether in my mind the song is a story or whether it’s a poem,” notes Deacon. “For example, the song ‘Poetry’ is a poem. That probably didn’t surprise you, did it? The song ‘Hard Time’ is the story that happened after the poem. They are both about the same woman, the same relationship but they were from different times and different points of view.”
 
It’s those different points of view about personal events and world perspectives that only an artist with David Deacon’s history and experience could possibly gather and turn into the poetry of his fourth album. With renewed vigor and creative spirit, the fourth time is the charm for this blues and roots journeyman.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Conquering Rockabilly, Toronto’s Miss Tammy Darling Makes Sparks Fly in RnB/Soul Single "Electric Love"




When you start getting romantic feelings for someone, you might feel a surge of passion that comes from feeling a strong connection with them. Miss Tammy Darling can distinctively be found in the rockabilly world, but for “Electric Love,” she’s expressing these buzzy feelings of romance in authentically sliding into the RnB and Soul genres.
 
At the start of the song, smooth horns, and Darling's passionate vocals slither into the listener's ears. Once the first verse kicks in, so does the guitar. When combined with Darling's vocals and the horns, the guitar's casual strums seem to gently dance along. This enhances the song's feel-good romance mood.
 
"There’s a strong pull in your direction,
Never felt this kinda connection.
Sparks start flying when you’re around.
I’m soaring way off the ground.
Surge of passion through every cell,
Open the windows, it’s hot as hell
Fireworks ignite right through my veins,
Lock me up, I’ll be your ball and chain."
 
Of the song's inspiration, Darling states, "With a love of old Hollywood and a fascination with the past, my original music is influenced by the iconic sounds of the 1950’s and 1960’s. I hope to revitalize these retro sounds, keeping them alive for future generations to enjoy. "
 
In fact, Darling's song is almost like a modern version of Wanda Jackson's "Cool Love." While Jackson's track displays the blues and country roots of rockabilly, Darling's track uses jazz and country. A commonality that they both share is that they both unabashedly state their desires for an exciting and sensual romance.
 
Darling asserts this when she states, "I enjoy writing tunes that appeal to a multigenerational audience and encourage listeners to take a step back in time. Occasionally midcentury music presents outdated values. In sticking to the contemporary vintage community’s mantra, “vintage style, not vintage values,” I infuse these old styles with modern values and a fresh female perspective.
 
Miss Tammy Darling combines her love of vintage Hollywood movies and a retro 50's and 60's sound with modern sensibilities to introduce rockabilly to a new generation. She began performing covers of iconic artists such as Brenda Lee and Doris Day, most notably covering Gayla Peevy's "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" in 2019.
 
Two years later, Darling took inspiration from being a cocktail enthusiast and released her first original song, "Mr. Bartender", which resulted in Darryl Sterdan of Tinnitist to name her “Toronto’s Queen of Rockabilly”. In March 2023, Darling released her debut EP "Electric Love".

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Mel Garsek



Mel, born and raised in Fort Worth, is a fifth generation Texan. From a young age, Mel showed a great interest in music, banging away on his toy piano and pretty much anything else he could use to make noise. 


When COVID hit, he had a simple request, he wanted a gaming system. Instead, his folks bought him a guitar. It was from there, with many hours on YouTube videos, he really dove into honing his craft. Self-taught, he spent countless hours practicing, singing, and learning the finer nuances of his favorite pastime. Focusing primarily on Country and Singer/Songwriter genres. At the age of twelve, Mel began playing gigs around town, growing to playing more than 150 gigs around Texas and Nashville during the calendar year 2023. Today, you can catch him playing gigs around Texas, from local bars and honky tonks to festivals and farmers markets.


www.melgarsek.com



Thursday, March 21, 2024

Country Blues Rockers The Prairie Dogz Can “Almost See The Sun” In New Single



Okotoks, Alberta-based country-rock and blues band The Prairie Dogz announce the release of their new single, “Almost See the Sun,” this month. The song is a hard-driving, heartfelt exploration of how to cope with the feelings of isolation and lack of connection that have no-doubt plagued many over the past few years. 
 
The song’s narrator “finds himself in a dystopian world, in a society suffering from years of oppression,” vocalist and co-writer Keith Hambrook says. “He sees the loss of hope on peoples’ faces but finds solace and peace by seeing the woman he loves. He gains a brighter perspective because of his connection with her.” It’s that holding out for hope of a happier future that keeps him going in bleak times, with the hard-rock riffs and rhythms bolstering the emotional lyrics. 
 
“Break down these walls that kept us alone/ Through the grace of God, I’m coming home,” Kohen sings.
 
The track was produced in collaboration with Calgary’s Jeff Muller and the Oregon-based Ron Nevison (Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Heart). It was Nevison’s idea to recruit the participation of renowned drummer Denny Fongheiser (Heart, Tracy Chapman, Counting Crows, Theme song from “Friends,” “Hakuna Matata”). 
 
“It was humbling to work with people responsible for so much iconic music,” Hambrook says. 
 
The current five-piece lineup of The Prairie Dogz includes Kohen on lead vocals, Hambrook on guitar, vocals and keyboard;; Terry Studd on guitar and vocals; Dave Fast on bass; and Martin Wright on drums. 
 
Hambrook, Kohen and Studd first met as members of a successful classic-rock cover band and decided after years of touring together that it was time to strike out on their own. They owe their sound in part to the blend of Kohen’s blues-influenced vocals and Hambrook’s rock guitar stylings, while their country credibility comes straight from lives spent on those wild Alberta prairies. 
 
From party anthems to moving ballads, The Prairie Dogz aim to not only entertain but also challenge themselves – and each other – to express themselves the best they can.
“We are constantly pushing each other to share our deepest thoughts, fears, joys and sorrows in our lyrics,” according to the band. “We talk about it all the time and dare each other to take more risks.”
 
With “Almost See the Sun,” they invite listeners to stand with them as they battle the darkness and look toward the light.

Monday, March 18, 2024

25,000 Streams In A Week – Toronto Rocker Emily Mac Raises The Stakes With “Kills Me To Love You”




Relationships are supposed to be a two-way street and when you feel like you are drowning in that partnership, then it’s time to get out and move on. Female classic rock sensation Emily Mac exposes those truths on her newly released single, “Kills Me To Love You.”
 
"Kills Me To Love You" begins with a thunderous blast of drums bringing electric shock through the listener's ears, combining Emily’s powerful, yet husky vocal prowess and rebellious energy. You can hear the conviction of sheer vulnerability in her vocals when the song opens as she shouts, “F--K your games. All I do is lose. Your love is fake. And your lips are loose. All you do is take. I gave it all to you. Now I’m done playing. The Devils muse.” 
 
“Kills Me To Love You was written in the studio with my producer Dajaun Martineau. We were throwing ideas around and nothing was sticking,” Mac says. “Then the line ‘Kills Me To Love You’ popped out of my mouth and we were both like - Ooo yah! There’s something there!”
 
The gritty and fierce rock star from Toronto, Ontario conveys the pain and struggle of being in love with someone who is no good for her, as she expresses this message in the chorus:
 
“Your blood runs black.
You can take all your darkness back.
It kills me to love you.
It kills me to love you.”
 
“The lyrics are honest and raw and points out the conflicting emotions that come with trying to let go of someone you know you shouldn't be with,” Mac explains. “I wasn’t just thinking about romantic relationships gone wrong. I’ve had those in my life, but I’ve also had friendships that were toxic where I had to break up a friendship which can sometimes be harder than ending a romantic relationship.”
 
Co-written and produced by gold certified producer Dajaun Martineau, Emily had a solid supporting cast in the production for her new hit single which is evident when the song erupts into a climatic electric guitar solo from Ben Healey, bringing the listener back to the glory days of ‘80s hard rock; that compliments her empowering delivery and allows for the vocals to shine and take centre stage.
 
“I love classic rock and wanted to have an epic guitar solo in this song like they used to back in the old days,” Mac says. “My guitarist Ben Healey channeled all of his emotions and frustrations into his guitar playing, giving a performance full of angst and fire which fit in perfectly with the edgy mood of “Kills Me To Love You.”
 
This marks Emily’s first release since her debut single, “Whiskey Like Me”, that has amassed over 27,000 streams from listeners throughout 94 countries. Over the course of her career, she has performed at numerous festivals, such as: Canadian Music Week, Indie Week, TD Toronto Jazz Festival, Beaches International Jazz Festival and internationally with performances at New York City’s The Bitter End and The Rockwood Music Hall.