thePULSEDrowning Pool’s Drowning Pool
By Mary Ouellette
With three prior releases under their belt, it may seem odd that Drowning Pool chose to self title their fourth release, but given the path they had to travel to get here, it’s perfectly fitting. With the devastating death of their first singer Dave Williams and the short-lived success of their second singer Jason Jones, when Ryan McCombs joined the band no one really knew how long it would last. Now, two albums in, it seems as if the band has solidified their line-up (with C.J. Pierce on guitar, Stevie Benton on bass and Mike Luce on drums) and perhaps this new album signifies the true rebirth of the band.
The album encompasses the true essence of the hard rock genre ~ fist pumping, guitar driven, bass booming, in your face choruses, with track after track of relatable messages throughout. Calling this their most emotional music to date, the band has crafted some song lyrics that dig really deep but always leave the listener feeling as if the song is about his or her own personal battles. The first single, “Feel Like I Do,” sets the tone with a welcoming chorus: “Raise your hands if you feel like I do, scream it loud if you feel like I do.” You could call this Drowning Pool’s personal invitation to join them on their rock n’ roll escapade. The rest of the album follows fluidly with a diverse array of songs from the aggressive crescendo of “Horns Up” to the acoustic based “Alcohol Blind” to the gut-wrenching tale behind “More Than Worthless.” After a few listens, one of my favorite tracks on the album is “Over My Head,” a song McCombs penned in honor of his father who passed away during the recording of the album. It’s a beautifully written tribute to losing someone too soon.
Spending the summer of 2009 on the Cruefest Tour and playing live together every night seems to have cemented this quartet as a unified entity. Ryan McCombs has found his place in this band and perhaps the journey to get here is what has made them who they are today. This album unquestionably gives Drowning Pool the identity they seem to have been searching for all along and there’s no place that it’s more evident than in these new songs on Drowning Pool.
www.drowningpool.com
www.myspace.com/drowningpool
OK Go’s Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
By Tine Roycroft
OK Go’s latest album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, is so full of sexy and danceable songs that the listener may find him/herself bopping his/her head on crowded trains or shaking his/her thang while waiting for the pedestrian walk light to turn. No song on this CD lets you stop to rest and muse ~ the amazingly mixed vocals and crazy beats just propel you forward. “End Love” and “I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe,” for example, almost demand that you pick up the phone and make a booty call and worry about the messy strings later.
The band ~ Damian Kulash (vocals and guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar and vocals), Dan Konopka (drums and percussion) and Andy Ross (guitar, keyboards and vocals) ~ has been kicking it since 1998. They gained worldwide notoriety in 2007 when they received a Grammy for their video “Here It Goes Again,” which featured the four band members hopping around on treadmills in a complicated movement routine ~ all filmed in one continuous take.
Andy Ross, 31, joined the band in 2005 and is originally from Worcester. Born at St. Vincent’s and raised in both Spencer and Worcester, Ross was thrown into the music world in junior high when his friend gave him a Led Zeppelin mix tape. Ross literally ran out and bought a guitar that day. Later, he learned to play keyboard while studying electrical engineering at Columbia University. These days, the passionate Pisces is touring for up to 30 months at a time with OK Go and loving it.
“On the new record, there’s a lot of fun songs for me,” he said. “We have these crazy guitar solos. ‘WTF?’ is fun. ‘White Knuckles’ is fun. But any song where I have to jump back and forth from guitar to keyboard is my least favorite to do.”
OK Go has run through the talk show circuit, hitting everyone from Colbert to Kimmel ~ and according to Ross, the traveling has taken its toll. Luckily, despite the craziness, Ross is now happily engaged and his dog Penelope is still always by his side.
Don’t miss OK Go live at the following venues:
Apr 27, Northampton, MA ~ Pearl Street
Apr 28, New Haven, CT ~ Toad¹s Place
May 7, Boston, MA ~ House of Blues (moved from Paradise Rock Club)
For more info on OK Go, visit www.okgo.net.
Tornado Rider’s Tornado RiderBy Jillian Locke
And now for something completely different: “Wild Western Neolithical Cello Banditry meets Thunder-twinged Yodeling Elf Rock of the 4th Dimension!” Yes, you read that right. Welcome to the outlandish world of Tornado Rider, featuring Rushad Eggleston, as they present their one-of- akind “Sneth Rock, Rock and Roll from the Land of Sneth” for the masses.
This merry, mischievous group includes the wondrous talents of Rushad Eggleston, aka “The Cello Panther” on electric cello and vocals, Scott Manke, aka “Baron Skatorthius Von Doodooheimer” on drums and vocals, and Graham Terry, aka “Grameecious the Black,” on bass and vocals. Eggleston, a Grammy nominee and graduate of Berklee College of Music, leads this eclectic troupe, spreading his musical vision and oh-so-unique cello technique to the far-reaching corners of the new world and back.
Tornado Rider’s unique twist on pop-rock, or should I say, elf-rock, is made possible in part by replacing the traditional guitar sound with that of the bold, bodacious soundscapes of the ancient cello, turned modern in a whacky, mind-altering alternate universe that only the likes of Tornado Rider could have created.
The self-titled Tornado Rider is comprised of 10 tracks, each different from the next, ranging from the usual pop to what can only be construed as modern interpretations of Tornado Rider’s original takes on folk songs and outlandish nursery rhymes such as “Kissin’ a Lady” and “Back in the Nork.” Comparisons to other bands? Well, that’s a tough one. Tornado Rider most closely resembles Primus during their Sailing the Seas of Cheese days. And is that cowbell? MORE COWBELL! The dark side of the cello is unleashed on “Mountain Jumper,” a track that stands out in texture, tone, and overall vibe, carrying a heavier, grittier, gnarlier sound than its brother tracks.
No one song is comparable to the next, as each exists in a seemingly different realm of the Land of Sneth. The energy and enthusiasm of this merry trio of elf-rockers is unparalleled in the sea of mainstream rockers in this day and age…perhaps ‘tis some otherworldly essence of the 4th dimension that lends to their magical allure. Invite Tornado Rider into your ears and your homes, but don’t let them into the sacramental wine…!
