Gary Cain Band – Twangadelic Bluesophunk
self release
10 songs time-37:42
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada’s Gary Cain puts his power trio through it’s paces on their auspicious debut CD. As a youth Gary spent many of his teenage hours learning Angus Young’s guitar solos note for note off of AC-DC albums. He takes his cue from their and other speed freak guitarists, while playing with taste and restraint when necessary. Drummer Donnie Mcdougall and bass man Tom Nagy are the sturdy foundation supporting his every move. Gary’s vocals are a bit rough and at times a bit smoother to fit in nicely with their brand of music. All of the songs are Gary Cain originals that are about 90% rockers with some blues rock, country and yes, a snippet of reggae thrown in the mix. Pure power trio here with no outside assistance.
The band dives in the deep end right from the git go with Gary’s lively and dexterous guitar slinging of a catchy and skip along riff on the boisterous “Live Wire”. His voice has just enough grit for their brand of music. Twiddling and scraping guitar propel “Pipes And Spoons”. From what I can gather it’s about drugs. The guitar gets slightly jazzy and string bending on “Though I Heard You Say”. The guys are tight as all get out and Gary’s guitar is in sync with his vocals on “No Foolin'”. If a cooler guitar riff exists, I don’t know about it.
Twangy speed freak country-ish guitar is just what you get on the instrumental “Twang Strut”. They throw in a 15 second reggae break in the middle and it makes sense. Their is an “explicit lyrics” warning on “Last Dance”, and the only explicit word is sh*t. The Angus Young school of guitar is best displayed on this track. The instrumental closing track “Faith Healer” mines the Jimi Hendrix-Robin Trower dreamy-spacey guitar vein with mesmerizing atmospherics.
Rockin’ guitar freaks have I got a CD for you! It’s very well executed with nothing left to chance and all the while remaining fresh and energetic. No slap dash guitar trio mess here. No deep lyrics, but hey that’s not what this music is about. This is as good as this genre of music gets. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.
