Being a good but distinctive musical act is a hard task, many end up as poor imitations of their heroes or quickly fall into that forgotten musical trap known as “The bland”, whereby their songs drift over a listener like a “Greatest Hits” compilation of elevator music.
UK based band, Gasfoodlodging, have no desire to end up on such a sleepy compilation as their debut LP, “Blue Collar Rain” signifies with confident execution. Songwriter, guitarist & frontman of the band, Dave Griffiths, has put pen to paper and conceived a marvellous collection of original songs that fans of Tom Petty, The Clash, Lou Reed, Chuck Prophet, Iggy Pop, Dylan, Hendrix, would most likely enjoy. The use of melody, lyrics, guitar playing styles, vocal styles are cleverly combined to create original songs that fuse together all the above influences but remarkably they manage to retain and keep a distinctive sound at all times. Gasfoodlodging sound like Gasfoodlodging and they are completely refreshing as a consequence. There are sparkling elements of punk/blues through to beautiful alternative country/indie ballads where lyrics move from angst to sarcasm, to the love torn and full on humour. “Blue Collar Rain” is a very impressive debut LP where the tracklisting flows extremely well. Each track kept me thoroughly interested and entertained without me having the urge to press the skip button to the next track.
This is a band that has a very competent songwriter at it’s helm which is a very valuable asset to have. There are also some really nice flourishes of guitar playing that shine through the entire LP, proving that Griffiths has yet another string to his musical bow other than his songwriting and vocal duties.
There could be very interesting times ahead for Gasfoodlodging and it’s a band that’s definitely worth your attention if you’re seeking distinctive original music with a heavy rootsy flavour.
http://www.gasfoodlodging.co.uk