Blues for people who hate blues. a mixture of everything but the kitchen sink

15 MP3 Songs
BLUES: Rockin' Blues, ROCK: Roots Rock



Details:
"Tow Truck," the follow-up to 2005's Juno-nominated and WCMA-winning, "the gas and the clutch" and 2003's self-titled debut, is the Perpetrators' first album with drummer, Chris "MAMA" Bauer.

CD REVIEW FROM VUE WEEKLY by Eden Munro
The Perpetrators' third album opens wide up with the crazy surf-riffing of "The Z-Rays Cured My Hangover." It's surf music, all right, but the kind of out-of-control soundtrack that you'd expect to accompany a dangerous ride through shark-infested waters while you're dripping blood. The disc closes tight at the end with the title track, "Tow Truck," a grimy, grungy, grease-covered groove that creaks and groans while the three Perps scream until you can practically hear their vocal cords ripping and tearing.

The sonic landscape between those two bookends veers from the sort of roadhouse blues that usually comes from a stage protected by a chain link fence kind of joint to the pedal-to-the-metal stomp of "You're Gonna Kill Me" to the old school country of "Josco" to the crazy, carnival-rodeo sounds of "R Cowboy" to the apocalyptic wonderland of "Woman of My Dreams."

There's a lot of ground covered on Tow Truck, and the album is a fine example of just how good the blues can be when the players are pushing and pulling the music, stirring it up constantly to keep it from stagnating. It's nice to hear a band that continues to evolve naturally instead of chasing the latest musical fad. The Perpetrators do what they do not because it's the cool thing, but because that's who they are. And that's what makes them so damn cool.