Vintage Trouble - The Bomb Shelter Sessions

Left to right: Nalle Colt, Ty Taylor, Richard Danielson, Rick Barrio Dill

New comers Vintage Trouble have been causing quite a stir on the music scene. Nominated as best new band by Classic Rock magazine and having supported rock legends Bon Jovi, Brian May and Thin Lizzy on recent tours, The Bomb Shelter Sessions shows why they are a hard band to ignore.

As the band name suggests, this record has a vintage feel to it. Harkening back to the musical style and ethos of the 1960s, the debut album from the Californian four piece features catchy, singable songs with a strong soul and blues vibe.

The first track, “Blues Hand Me Down”, blares through the speakers with an energetic blues riff. This simple bit of good old fashioned blues rock will have you wanting to get up and dance while listening to front man Ty Taylor's light-hearted lyrics about how the blues was passed down to him “Papa was a blues man gave me the blues hand me down/In alligator shoes man gave me the blues hand me down”.

“Still And Always Will” and “Nancy Lee” follow, slightly slower paced with the guitar being a less prominent feature. “Still And Always Will” has a soulful melody and catchy chorus while “Nancy Lee”, a song about trying to court the aforementioned women, has a sultry feel to it with a simple 12 bar blues based chorus.

One of the most notable and perfectly crafted tracks on the album has to be “Gracefully”. This stripped-down soul ballad perfectly showcases Taylor's silky smooth soul-steeped voice. The gentle rise and fall of the melody with soft Hammond chords acting as a backdrop gives the song a graceful feel, personifying the title. Taylor shapes the melody expertly and his passionate delivery makes it truly memorable, a high point of the album.

Contrasting with “Gracefully” is its successor “You Better Believe It”, an upbeat song with a feel-good sing-along chorus. The following two songs are easy-going soul ballads with “Nobody Told Me” showing that the band has more depth to their writing than just love songs. Its lyrics speak of not accepting the unjust actions and problems in the world today.

The final three songs completing the album are in varying styles of blues. “Jezzabella”, a song about a prostitute, demonstrates a seductive blues riff while “Total Strangers”, the penultimate song, is a fast paced, energetic blues rock with a driving drum beat.

The album draws to a close with an eight minute soulful slow blues about love loss. The repeated line “Baby you've been gone/This time too long” tells of the lyricist’s mourning for an absent lover. Halfway through the song the guitar kicks in to play a solo with an improvised feel. It begins slow and sparse, alowing room for the notes to breath, but gradually builds up to a rip roaring distorted frenzy and with Richard Danielson going wild on the drums the song comes to an atmospheric climax. It winds down again suddenly and ends as it began, softly.

This is a well crafted ten track album, throughout which influences of Chuck Berry and Otis Reading can be heard woven into the fabric of the songs. A glance to the past with a modern twist, if you fancy something different from the current rock and pop of today then this album is well worth a listen.


For more info see their official website.