| Issue
#94
Mar/Apr.
‘07
“Well now
/
It ain’t no sin / to take off your skin / and dance around /
in your
bo…o…nes / SHAA…AAKE!”
An electronic future groove invites us into
space and drops us in the South. Make no
bones about it, the Wailhounds are
a Southern
Rock band that jams with such psychedelic groovy-ness that 60s Haight-Ashbury
is a
requisite. Mixing the finer elements of The Grateful Dead and The
Allman Brothers with
countless artistic influences (all of the highest caliber), the Wailhounds eat the mushroom, drop the
tab, and
smoke the funk into a groovy trip that gets down into your bones so
deep that you will be
shedding your skin without even being aware of it. This flowing,
flowering release of
sexual, sensual, rhythmic, groovin’ rock-n-roll grabs hold
and slams you to the point
where the worries of the day are danced/tripped away blissfully in a
spiritual uplift of
peace and love, all delivered in a smooth ride of happiness.
SHAA...AAKE!
When the Grateful Dead called it quits,
everyone wondered who would carry the torch.
Phish stepped up and continued the glory, and thus the Deadhead
generation begat the
Phishhead (sic) generation. Now that Phish has laid it down, I
don’t hear many calls
for the next in line for the throne. Could it be that the Phishhead
generation isn’t
as hardcore as the Deadheads before them? Nonsense, they just need a
new messiah. I put
forth the Wailhounds. Josh Warney, Scott
Wasvick, Noah Golden, Joe Trammel, and Kyle
Haller have fashioned a “Psychedelic
Groovy with a Blues-Based sound”
that comes out of the gate with an amazing presence -
slammin’, jammin’,
rammin’ it right on through until the end. The Wailhounds
rock and roll it through 10 solid
performances of the tightest, loosest, hottest jamfest this side of the
Mason-Dixon line.
All this is done from their home base of Fort
Wayne, Indiana
with Special Guests: George Mallors
on keyboards and Lorrie Audette
(with the vocals on Lovewail).
After the Intro, Chickenbark,
and a cover of The Allman Brother’s Back Where It All Begins lay
all that (the
above 2 paragraphs) at our feet, the Wailhounds
prove their worth with Break Of Dawn;
it puts the icing on the
cake and drives it all home in 4:59. A solid funk, hip-hop throw-down
with suggestive
lyrics that (w)rap themselves around and drop it wherever they please,
from the stage to
the back seat of the jeep (“so we
can freak”),
to the party monster DJ who is gonna take control (“I’ve got to rock the mic until the Break
Of Dawn”).
Drop in a solo of some of the most infectious harmonica playing ever,
and if you
aren’t one of the “party
people
movin’” then you don’t belong
here, “ ‘cause, girl
I’ll rock your body / ‘til
the Break of Dawn.”
Lovewail has
Lorrie
Audette guest vocalizing and she nails Pink Floyd’s
Great Gig In The Sky to a
tee. I’m impressed as the Wailhounds
take
Southern music deeper into the murky roots of swamp while slanting in a
more Traffic-esque
style English blues. Two lines and a lot of Wail… vocally,
but when the David Gilmore
inspired guitar kicks in with an Anti-Hotel California soar over the
solid jam, you
realize that these guys are spiritually connected – listen to
the taught interplay -
my god, how good can they be?
Gee, Pink Floyd, Traffic, The Eagles, The
Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Phish,
how many more can you squeeze into 56 minutes? I did say
“countless artistic
influences (all of the highest caliber)” didn’t I?
How about The Beastie Boys,
Parliament-Funkadelic and Jam Master J? Rollin’ is the
WH’s homage to the
rappers, scratchers, and mix-masters “if
you
don’t know who we is / we suggest you fuckin’ find
out.” Man
In Me is
solid Santana, using a huge vocal along with a powerful pounding rhythm
to jam 7 minutes
of Latin Funk into a tight 3 minutes of absolution. Both the great Sea
Level and Little
Feat are conjured up for Boomers
Bass Boogie, the album’s only
instrumental track, which jukes and jives its way down in a gyrating
stroll that leads us
to the final (and somewhat oddly placed?) song: a spot-on cover of Pink
Floyds Echoes.
Too much? Nonsense. How can a band this good
give us too much? Listen to Satan’s
Blues and feel guilty when you realize that as
you’ve gotten totally wrapped
up in the backwoods Louisiana swamp get-down blues, the creepiness you
feel overtaking you
should not be celebrated because this song is a homage to the old time
blues of: She done
him wrong by sleeping with his best friend and now he’s
stalking her with the intent
to kill her in order to save her soul. And see, he must do this,
because he loves her so,
he’s the only one who can redeem her. And it works - you can
hear Robert Johnson
singing this as the body of his lover lays at his feet – Too
much? Too good?
Nonsense. Perfect.
And perfect is what drives C-Funk.
Call it Bootsy Collins in Cowboy boots with a James Brown vocal
– “Well you’re a
tall drink of water / and you make
me say / God Damn!” Groovin’,
Jammin’, Funkin’, reaching waaaaaaay
down and giving us some of the best fun we’ve had in years!
“Why don’t you bring your
fine self over here / and
shake it next to me.” And this is where the Wailhounds take it to the house. A
complete party,
‘cause:
“IT
AIN’T NO SIN / TO TAKE OFF YOUR SKIN / AND DANCE AROUND / IN
YOUR BO…O…NES
/ SHAA…AAKE!!!!”
Psychedelic
Groovy… is only one side of
the Wailhounds; their live sets are
made of
legendary stuff – visit their home page for live, extended
versions/jams of some of
these songs and a few surprising covers as well, and if you
don’t think they deliver
the goods, then you just don’t get it. Psychedelic
Groovy… was released in 2001, but right here,
right now in spring of 2007 it is
still the best Rockin’ Party Jam Fest your ears will ever
hear. Eat the mushroom,
drop the tab, and smoke the funk into a groovy trip that gets down into
your bones so deep
that you will be shedding your skin without even being aware of it.
"SHAA…AAKE!”
Psychedelic
Groovy... by Wailhounds
Now available for: $11.98 +s/h*
$5.00 +s/h*
 View
Shopping Cart / Checkout
Accepting Credit Cards and PayPal
*Shipping
&
Handling charges:
USA - $3.00
for the first 2 CDs
ordered,
Add $1.50 per each CD after.
Canada - $5.00 for the
first
CD ordered,
Add $2.00 per each CD after.
Everywhere else -$7.00
for the
first CD ordered,
Add $3.00 per each CD after.
|
