Thursday, June 21, 2007.
2:53 AM
0621 - Dead_Rock_West-Honey_and_Salt-2007
ARTIST: Dead Rock West
TITLE: Honey and Salt
LABEL: Populuxe
GENRE: Rock
TIME: 42:12 min
SIZE: 60,4 MB
RIP DATE: Jun-21-2007
RELEASE DATE: Jun-21-2007
WEBSITE: n/a
Track List:
01. Highway One 03:15
02. On The Outside 02:39
03. Rocket From The Crypt 02:29
04. Pretty Disaster 03:39
05. Desert Rose 03:26
06. Don't Worry About Me 03:11
07. Boredom (How Did I Get Here) 03:39
08. Going Home 04:19
09. Telephone 02:22
10. I Really Wanted You 03:46
11. Burning House of Love 04:01
12. All I Know 05:26
Release Notes:
"Dead Rock West have packed a career's worth of
potential hit songs onto a single disc. Honey and
Salt spans the history of rock, from Elvis to
post-grunge." - Amplifier
As heard on ABC's "Men In Trees"...
The best music tends to hit a listener from
seemingly out of nowhere, fully formed and ready to
infiltrate the psyche. Of course even the newest
discovery has paid their dues somewhere, which means
there are often real treasures often right under our
very noses. So it is with Dead Rock West.
Flying just under the radar, this quintet featuring
Cindy Wasserman (vocals, starbourine,) Frank Lee
Drennen (vocals, guitar, harmonica,) Phil Parlapiano
(mandolin, octave mandolin, Hammond organ, Vox
Continental,) Bryan Head (drums) and David J.
Carpenter (Bass) has honed their sound in California
clubs, building a rep and an audience while road
testing the material found on their debut disc Honey
& Salt. Now with word of mouth building and an
armful of new recordings the group is ready to hit
the next plateau.
With a name like Dead Rock West, youd be correct in
assuming there are occasional country and folk
influences, but really thats just touching on the
bands capabilities. Dashes of garage, power pop
jangle, and rock n roll populate the set list,
played with passion to match the songcraft. The
secret weapon here? Its the vocal harmonies. Dont
misunderstand. This is one tight band all around.
But Wasserman and Drennens voices are a seamless
blend that add melody to already impressive hooks.
Icing on an already pretty tasty cake.
While Dead Rock West has been together since 2002,
the group is really a culmination of years of work
in Southern California nightspots. Drennen spent
time playing the acoustic clubs in San Diego,
teaming up in the early 90's with former Alarm
guitarist Dave Sharp and forming pop group Loam
shortly thereafter. They would go on to release two
albums in the U.S. and Spain, and win a San Diego
Music Award in the process, with their song
Telephone later recast by Dead Rock West as an
amphetamine fueled Byrds flavored rocker. Drennen
also spent time with The Hatchet Brothers, teaming
up with troubadour Gregory Page for two albums and a
barroom sing-a-long that kept San Diego clubs packed
for years. He also joined Page and Carpenter in The
Troubled Sleepers. In fact it was with the latter
that the seeds of Dead Rock West were sown.
I met Cindy through Gregory, remembers Drennen. She
and I recorded two songs at Dave's house just for
fun with the Troubled Sleepers as the backing band.
It was then that we realized we had something
special in the sound of our two voices together.
Describing the inspired vocal interplay, Drennen is
effusive. He notes the soulfulness of Wassermans
voice, but also points out their varied vocal
approach. Cindy thinks of the mic stand as an
antenna to the spirits and that they use the stand
to speak through her. I'm more visceral, prowling.
Looking to hunt that connection down and kill it.
For her part, Wasserman is no stranger to either
stage or studio. Most recently she has toured and
recorded with Grant Lee Phillips. In fact all the
members have extensive touring backgrounds.
Carpenter has toured and recorded with Toni Childs
as well as Doe and Phillips. Head does double duty
with his band Abandoned Pools, and has toured with
Shelby Lynne. Most impressively, Parlapiano was
previously in Geffen Records act The Brothers Figaro
and has performed with Grant Lee Buffalo, Tracy
Chapman, Lucinda Williams, Rod Stewart, Social
Distortion, amongst many others
All that experience is used to great effect on Honey
& Salt. Recorded at Grandmas Warehouse in Echo Park,
the disc was recorded the way they used to; 2" tape,
24 tracks, no click tracks or pitch correction
machines. In addition to the members of Dead Rock
West, the genesis of the album involves a few other
key players. The Section Quartet (Sam Phillips,
etc.) provide strings and pedal steel player Greg
Leisz also contributes, with the album mixed by
Grammy winner Richard Dodd (Tom Petty, George
Harrison, Steve Earle, Traveling Wilburys etc.)
Basically I contacted him via his web site, Drennen
recalls. I told him about ourselves, that we were
recording to tape and I asked if he ever mixed any
one who was not rich or famous. To his surprise Dodd
replied. He responded saying he was interested in
hearing the works in progress. Nervously, I sent him
the songs. We were'nt even finished overdubbing at
this point. After a couple of long phone
converstions I was convinced this man loves music
and wants to be a part of projects he can be proud
to put his name on. Needless to say we ended up in
Nashville and spent six wonderful days hearing our
songs come alive and listening to his stories.
The trips end result are the Honey & Salt tracks, as
catchy and varied a collection of songs as youre
likely to come across. Whether Wasserman or Drennen
take the lead, the groups way with a melody cant be
denied. Our premise from the beginning was two great
voices singing great songs, simple as that, states
Drennen. And it's still our goal. Despite those
impressive credentials, Dead Rock West is more than
the sum of its parts, and its easy to hear why. Its
just good songs, he continues good naturedly. Those
tunes will pull you in;, their live performances
will cement the deal. There is no doubt Dead Rock
West is just getting started. We want songs that are
wrapped in real human emotion, god and sex, says
Drennen. Songs that will still be useful to the ear
in 20/30 years.
- Bart Mendoza
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