Band : The Bloodshot Gamblers
Album Title : Pain & Other Simple Pleasures
Label : Demon Deluxe Records (Own release)
Distributor : /
Release date : 2009
Release : CD

Based in Tombstone, Arizona, TBG is basically the studio project of bassist Brian Anderson, otherwise known as “Country McBrian”, whom had been working on a bunch of songs quite different (lyrically darker) from the ones singer/ guitarist Hillbilly Tim (aka Tim David Kelly) puts down as the material for their mutual band Kicking Harold (Anderson also plays in Ten Times Gravity, and Kelly is also active with The Skies Of America), band with which they released 3 official albums to date (at least, that was the count the last time I looked)

After sitting on his material for almost a decade, and following a 15-hour drinking binge in Las Vegas the twosome agreed to work together on this side-project. Being just a bassist, not much of a guitarist, and not a good singer at all, the tapes Anderson delivered into Kelly's lap (“to do with what he felt should be done”) were, to his own admission, not of very good quality...but the ideas were thére, and Kelly went to work exchanging Anderson's for his own vocals, putting down decent guitar tracks, and occasionally changing some arrangements...making 'em turn out (another of Anderson's confessions) “...better than I envisioned they could be...”! The album was issued, and to promote it the only thig the duo was able to do, wa to play a couple of songs from their side-project during Kicking Harold concerts. Apparently the material went in well with the fans...and now finally Anderson & Kelly have decided to expand their area of influence, by sending out their album outsides the strict confines of the US of A.

So...what is this “band” about? What you get is a Grunge Rock with Metal fringes, and a Southern Rock twang (which is the on element in the songs which set 'em apart from your everyday run-of-the-mill Grunge songs), on top of which come Kelly's well-balanced mid-high pitched vocals. Oh wait...there's a couple of exceptions to that musical description...like the semi-acoustic (acoustic in the first part, after which electric guitar comes in in waves, and in the latter third of the song there's even the addition of a weird-sounding keyboard) ballad “Someday” (the vocal melody of which recalls a memory of another song the title or provenance I cannot seem to put my finger on). For the ensuing semi-acoustic ballad “Before It Is Too Late”, (and for the great “Touch And A Smile”) the modus operandi is changed slightly, with the electric twang guitar being more present throughout the song (the latter doesn't even have acoustics in it...I think). And then there's the album's closing track “A Brand New Day”...which is much more straight-forward Hard Rock. Well, the slight Metal flavouring might let sóme people feel the underlaying current is Punk Rock. A mentioned earlier, the lyrical content is somewhat dark, and in fact they stem from periods in Anderson's life when he was struggling with certain things (well, you know, it's been said before that expressing oneself in music is an ideal cathartic healing process).

I've personally come to understand that the best way to listen to this album, is to put the headphones on! That way the listener really takes in all the fine little details (check out the wacky percussion on “Wounded Once Again”, for instance). Perhaps the track-list could've been slightly different to better effect (not a good idea to put two “ballads” in a row). With Kelly taking care of his own backing singing, things in that department are occasionally rather harmonic, but also somewhat...let's just say they're the part in the music you grow weary of the first, because it's just “more of the same”. The use of a female vocal backing here and there would've made quite a difference here! Oh well, in the end it's the listener whom needs to make up his/ her own mind about a new artist to discover. Granted, the album's been available for some time now, but to us in Europe the material is still very fresh indeed. So, if in the above descriptions you've found something that might please you, by all means check out the songs the band posted at (www.) myspace.com/thebloodshotgamblers (with 10 out of the 13 songs, you really get the occasion to acquaint yourself with TBG quite thoroughly). I'm afraid you may not be able to find the album in stores yet, so this is also where you would have to order it.

85/100

Tony.