Trabants – Lockdown
Self – Released
10 Tracks – 27 minutes
From 1957 to 1991, the Trabant was the only automobile built in East Germany. Basically, it was a big can with little or no features other than the absolute necessities to drive. Automobile enthusiasts have generally concluded that it was the worst car ever built. Not exactly a name that you would associate with a music group and certainly not as definitive as The Cadillacs, The GTO’s or The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
The Trabants were first formed in 2011 in Boston and later moved to Los Angeles. Several instrumental albums have been released over the years that they have generally labeled as surf rock & grunge, perhaps offering an identification with the ignoble Trabant car.
Multi- instrumentalist Eric Penna heads an ever changing group from album to album. Eric plays guitar, piano, organ, bass, melodica and percussion on various cuts on the album. He has a history of working on film and tv soundtracks which reflects in their music. The album is divided in two parts, five songs in each part. Part 1 was recorded in the early days of the pandemic. Part 2 was recorded post pandemic after Eric moved to the Northwest. He said that with the pandemic, it moved him to perform the blues, rather than the sounds Trabants were more known for. He sought to find the instrumental sounds from 60’s and 70’s blues artists such as Freddy King, Rory Gallagher, and Peter Green.
For Lockdown, he brought in Los Straitjackets/ Nick Lowe drummer and bassist Pete Curry and Acid Tongues’ Glenn Brigman to play the Farfisa organ for Part 1. Brigman remained for Part 2 with drummer Anthony Brisson from The Secret Drum Band and The Reverberations’ Dave Berkham on bass and Hammond organ on Part 2.
“Detour” opens the album with a guitar run that can bring to mind Freddie King or even a touch of Stevie Ray Vaughan. “Lockdown” is more of a muscled guitar approach maybe touching on T-Bone Walker. “Mambo on Moore Street” carries a bit of the surf guitar into the mix with Brigman’s organ standing out. “Chicago Born, California Raised” rocks out with thoughts of many Chicago guitarists. “Quarantine” features both acoustic and a light electric guitar add obviously touching on the isolation felt during the pandemic.
“Leaving Town” fuzzes up the guitar and rocks out. “Tears In Rain” is a somber sounding slow motion blues with Berkham’s Hammond organ backing. “Make It Snappy” picks up the pace with Brigman’s organ taking a strong upfront sound. “Dreadwind” is another slow burn guitar run with a tinkling piano under the guitar. The album ends with “Mudlark” offering slide guitar and an upbeat, bouncing end to the album.
The album will appeal to guitar instrumental enthusiasts. At 27 minutes for ten songs, most are short snippets of various guitar styles some clearly rooted in the blues, while others miss the mark slightly with other styles slinking in.
