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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Stray Suns and The State of Blues Rock

Blues Rock is one of the healthiest genres for this generation and will continue to be; “Blues Rock” being an operative term because it takes more work to find rock with out blues than with. Thanks to the first wave being the 60s with The Rolling stones, The Beatles (Revolver era), and of course (oh of course) The Jimi Hendrix Experience, it hasn't really had time to slow down. Dire Straits in the 70s, (later) Queen holding it on a thread in the 80s, jam bands like Blues Traveler with a 90s revival, and without question the 00s blues duo explosion (Thank you so much, The Kills, Black Keys and White Stripes). So now that we are in the 10s, what is the status of the genre and how does this apply to Stray Suns?

Simply writing off any band past the 60s straight blues rock is an insult to the genre. Somehow this genre has been able to keep copycats and simplifiers in the background in ways other forms of rock have failed. Thanks to the big three duos (mentioned above) every two piece band thinks they’re a prime blues rock group and every classic rock band thinks they’re Jimi Hendrix. Keeping my rant at bay, I can successfully say Stray Suns is ready to meet the expectations of their predecessors. Every new blues rock bands needs to meet a set of requirements (most of these apply to other genres as well.

Stray Suns Report Card ([x]=check [_]=nope (you don’t have to read this)

1. Originality: there are many different styles to pull from but you need to know the difference between copying and influences [x]

2. Clear Influence Outside of Blues: (the White Stripes AC/DCd the hell out it) [x]

3. Actual Emotion: fake whininess is the reason why music gets simplified too much to handle [x]

4. Disrespect the Hell Out of Your Inspirations: Do you really think music would go anywhere if we stuck to any “rules”. [x]

4. Screw Rules: Blues is as much of a statement as it is a form of music but it’s creators didn't care if anyone liked what they did, they just expressed their feelings strait to record. [x]

This is that part you put in your press kit v
                                                                V
Stray Suns is a blues rock band and there is no question about it but they also managed to take the heart of grunge and crush in between their guitar strings. At times Jake’s vocals sound creepily similar to Eddie Vedder’s and every once in awhile you’ll hear a Stone Temple Pilots sounding riff sneak its way into the mix. Live they play out like you would expect jam bands like Blues Traveler would. Thanks to all the 90s influence is part of the reason that their version of Blues Rock is so hard to pin down and that’s what I’m looking for to start off the next decade of blues rock. I’m definitely a fan and that’s saying something because I’ve only heard them live and the three demos they’ve put on soundcloud. After seeing them live and knowing that they have more songs I have to ask... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

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