This is the debut album from CHURCH SHOES, an American Country rock band that comes from Fort Wayne, Indiana. The band comprises Nick Allison on vocals and rhythm guitar. He is also the main songwriter for the band. Mitch Frazier on lead guitar and vocals, Max Forbing on bass and vocals, and Gabe Pastura on drums and vocals. The band formed in Spring 2010, after Allison and Forbing’s previous group, The B-Sharps disbanded.
There are thirteen tracks on this album all of which tend to fall between two separate categories: country/country rock and new wave. Both styles are covered equally professionally by the band.
The opening track, the wonderfully titled ‘Odell Williamson Bridge’ (an actual structure in Ocean Isle Beach named after a highly decorated World War II veteran) is a fast country strum that soon develops a rockier edge. The song appears to be somewhat nostalgic as Allison sings “This neighbourhood was centre of the earth.” This is a strong opening song, although I did have to give it a few pays in order to get some understanding, as at times the vocal delivery can be indistinct.
Following this is ‘Drop “D” Blues Weekend’, a track that could not be more removed from the opener. This is a blues rock / rock number with vocals that come across as very 1970s style new wave. The subject matter here has less to do with nostalgia, and is more in tune with today’s disposable lifestyles and habits: -
“Sunshine and lollipops, probably gone to crack rocks.” There is the amusing line here, when describing his girlfriend: -
“My baby likes heavy metal, Iron Maiden and the Devil”, which did raise a chuckle or two.
The lovely titled ‘Kill Your Dog’, is a fast country rocker, which basically name checks all the people that the singer doesn’t want to cross, from his preacher who offers some comfort, to his dealer who offers a different kind of ‘happiness’: - “I got my personal salvation – it cost me all my dollar bills/ I call my guy, the man who supplies me.”
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‘Players and Prayers’ tips its cap to The Velvet Underground with its chiming guitar line and dead-pan delivery: - “She’s got blood on her mind, a clear-cut mission, and I, I barely know what to think”.
‘Spiderz!’ is just plain weird, a Strokes style indie rocker about a girlfriend who is “killing your friends and having sex with spiders”! Er, let's not go there.
Far better than ‘Spiderz!’ is ‘Big Bad World’, a country song that is slow and tender, dissecting a relationship that is going wrong, going nowhere, but both parties can’t let go. The lyrics capture the moment and the emotions perfectly:- “We’ll talk a lot and when we do we don’t stop/ And when we’re done we’re both wishing we weren’t.”
By far, my favourite track on the album was the wonderful country rocker ‘Right On’, which is part put down to an (ex) girlfriend, and part expression of how the singer is feeling, sometimes wanting company and sometimes wanting space.
“If you never give your love to no-one, there aint no-one gonna love you in return/ And if you ever think you’re all-knowin’, you know you got a lot of stuff to learn.”
Overall, I liked this album, although I vastly preferred the country style songs to those that were more rock and new wave, as I thought that the vocals were spot on. It's a good start, whichever way you slice it.
Chain Smoking Records online
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