thePULSEWayne Static’s Pighammer
By Jennifer Russo
Do not judge a CD by its cover. When I picked up my copy of Pighammer my initial thought of the album image was, “Really? What the f**k?” I admit it. Granted, this guy looks like a cross between a psychotic Sonic the Hedgehog and Mugatu (Will Ferrell’s character in Zoolander), but it’s all good…and so is his music. I found it unexpected and irresistibly catchy, a little bit of the trippy industrial accented with well- placed blasts of speed metal and a techno backdrop. 
The Static-X front man begins his long awaited solo-album with the title song, “Pighammer;” a gruesome story about a deranged plastic surgeon with an unhealthy obsession with pigs that endeavors to turn beautiful women into disgusting pieces of pork-art, but a closer listen reveals the song is a metaphor for life transformation and creative growth.
“The Creatures are Everywhere” teleported me into a world of post apocalyptic machinery and jagged remnants of skyscrapers in a colorless, gray and dystopian society lorded over by robots. I’m not sure if that was Wayne’s intention, but that’s definitely where it brought me. Think the Terminator running around in the Matrix. I felt as though I wanted to be in a video game shooting at zombies.
The overall feel of the album is technical yet gritty, high energy and yet zoned in. Wayne Static takes music in its most chaotic form, twists it around like a Rubik’s cube, and makes sense of it all. In the end, the colors line up and your brain feels like it ran a marathon.
For more information on Wayne Static and Pighammer, check out his official web-page at www.waynestatic.com or check out his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/waynestatic.
Grand Hotel’s In Color
By Bruce Elliot
I have awoken in an alternate universe ~ and no, not of the damn dirty ape variety. This one is a much more surprising upside-down musical world where the newest indie power-pop sensations emanate from Portland, ME. I know. I know. The apes thing is much more believable, but bear with me, because this sci-fi tale comes with a happy ending (so to speak!). The band is called Grand Hotel, and their new CD, In Color, is catchier than an STD during a ten cent lap-dance.
Vocalist / guitarist Kyle Gervais has all the indie pop swagger and attitude of a rebellious young Elvis Costello, with equal parts Adam Levine and Mick Jagger thrown in for good measure. His band mates, Glen Capen on guitar / vocals / keyboards, Jason Elvin on bass, and Aaron Lachance on drums, create a sonic power-pop tapestry with equal parts satin sheen and torn red flannel.
In Color is a dynamic aural experience which ranges from the guitar heavy, Costello-esque “Walken” to the indie-pop groove of “BoomBoomBoom.” The album’s strongest track is the soulful love plea “Denise.” Here, Gervais is at his best, moving easily from passionate rasp to smooth falsetto. In the tradition of girl-named pop songs, “Denise” is one of the best, with a killer white-soul vocal, strong back-beat, reverb-heavy guitar riff, and funky bass line. The entire album is a sublime pop experience that must be heard.
Check out Grand Hotel’s In Color on iTunes, or at www.facebook.com/grandhotelmusic.
Matthew Bonazzoli’s Quiet Little Towns
By Alex Kantarelis
Hudson, MA born Matthew Bonazzoli is known on the local music scene for his band Gearhead, which played quite a bit in Worcester until just a few years ago. After Gearhead, Bonazzoli moved to Florida and continued to write songs. His brother Damian, who did some time with Gearhead (and still lives in Worcester County) flew down to help by adding some lead guitar to the recording. “He is a virtuoso guitarist, and has an undergraduate degree in music,” said Matthew. 
As the recording process rolled on, Bonazzoli found himself with 11 tracks of rock tunes that manage to cover every element of rock you can think of ~ and maybe a couple that you can’t. The result is Quiet Little Towns, a concept album about coming back to your home town for after the death of a loved one, and how different the world you know has become. “The album itself is a metaphor for the changing culture and the disappearing small town America,” he explained.
Throughout the album, songs take twists that add a certain element of surprise that is really nice to hear. “Where Did Tomorrow Go” has a bit of a gospel blues feel to it, while “Most Beautiful Place in the World” has more of a swing or ragtime feel, which can be attributed to the piano work of Patrick Thompson, who really evens out the band’s sound. “[Patrick] is a ragtime jazz piano player, and he plays like it’s 1922,” Bonazzoli said. But then things take a turn with “Every Color Blue,” which can easily pass as a punk song. It’s quite the eclectic (and magnetic) mix that Bonazzoli has put together on this album.
With the genre mashup that Bonazzoli and his band has created, fans of real rock music will be psyched to hear the CD. Check it out, along with the Gearhead back catalogue, at Bonazzoli.com.
The Trews’ Hope & Ruin
By Jennifer Russo
The Trews have already made quite the name for themselves with radio hits up in their homeland of Canada, but with their newest album offering, Hope & Ruin, they’re rocking the states as well. Having won four East Coast Music awards and boasting five Juno award nominations, working with notable music producers like Jack Douglas and Mike Fraser and sharing the stage with rock and roll heroes like the Rolling Stones and KISS, this band has catapulted themselves right over the industry’s brick wall.
Their music struck me as highly commercial (not in the overdone sense, but in the appealing to a very wide crowd sense) and the lyrics are extremely well written and somewhat poetic. The band obviously strives to reach their audience and tap into real life emotion. True musicians, they told me that “It’s important to remain open to whatever it takes to serve the song and not get attached to any methodology.”
The album ranges from the mellower and laid-back rock style with ballads like “Burned,” and then picks up with heavier tunes like “People of the Deer,” a song title taken from a book the band saw on the shelf in the studio as they were writing. “It’s about a group of nomadic native Americans who move across the arctic tundra following the deer they’re hunting. I guess in a way a touring musician can relate to that lifestyle.” “The World I Know” official video takes you on a hallucinogenic tour of some “freak show party” with bikini clad pigs and a transvestite. Not really the world I know, but hey…whatever floats ya!
About their new album the band tells me, “It’s the most natural feeling album we’ve done and the most exploratory while staying within the parameters of what we do as a band. I don’t think we were 100% sure what kind of record we wanted to make, but by the time we found ourselves working in Bath we had hit a new stride and ideas were flowing effortlessly. It’s our most collaborative effort to date.”
Check out The Trews on their official web-page at www.thetrewsmusic.com for news, media and tour info. They will be playing for us at Church in Boston on January 19th and may possibly have more Massachusetts dates coming up, so stay tuned!
