Detonics voelt zich fantastisch.

2 weeks ago

Trots op deze net ontvangen review van “Raise your bet”! A big thinks to Rick Davis!

Raise Your Bet
Detonics
11 Tracks


The year was 1937 and the swing era was dominating America from coast to coast as the sound of big band jazz rang out in every ballroom where dances like the jitterbug and Lindy Hop took the public by storm. Benny Goodman’s blockbuster recording of "Sing, Sing, Sing" was very popular during the swing era and has become an iconic reminder of that era in the decades that followed the initial release in 1937 on Victor Records.

As the 30s and 40s swing era changed the course of American music, in 1989 there was swing revival in Southern California and from the ashes of the 1937 big bands and swing, emerged Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and their 1994 hit "King Of Swing." Inspired by the explosive West Coast blues, swing, and boogie, we fast forward to 2018 and introduce to the world the new release by The Detonics and that same energy heard in American big band jazz during the swing era. This time we travel to the Netherlands as The Detonics open their new album, Raise Your Bet, with their blistering tribute to the swing era entitled "Swing King." If you are being introduced to swing for the first time, you will understand why tunes like this one have changed the course of time. With the dynamic vocals of singer Kars van Nus, the fiery guitar solos of Jeremy Aussems, the driving rhythm from Mathijs Roks on drums and Rene Leijtens on bass, and the powerful keys of Raimond de Nijs, this tune will send you straight to the dance floor. The Detonics prove that they can deliver the blues with the same expertise that they cover swing with the next track "Out Of Sight." With superb guitar solo phasing, Jeremy Aussems reminds me of the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan on this tune. The West Coast blues elements come alive on "Butter Side Up," as The Detonics resurrect that energetic vibe that we heard from "Rock This House," released in 1993 by the supreme Hollywood Fats West coast band. The rhythm section opens with an international Latin-American rhythm on "She Is In Command," as Kars taps into the emotion of the tune with his vocals. Raimond de Nijs rekindles some of that boogie-woogie piano from 1940s blues artists like Albert Clifton Ammons on "Can't Get Enough," simmered with vocals and harp this time from Kars, only to be joined with Jeremy Aussems for some Chuck Berry style guitar. The scene gets serious with darkness and gloom prevailing as the desperate Kars van Nus pours all his emotion into his vocals with "Bullet Through My Heard," building to a powerful crescendo added on the keyboards. The band leads listeners to the Delta for some Louisiana swamp blues with strong Cajun ingredients for some Southern hospitality on the tune "My Dad Taught Me To Rock." With ghost riders in the sky, the lonely ballad "Route 101" begins with a rugged journey from San Francisco to New Orleans to rendezvous with the "girl he loves the most." With the rhythm section setting that galloping rhythm of a spaghetti Western on this track, the anticipation on the voice of Kars rings out over the echoing twang of Jeremy's guitar leads. Jump blues can be heard once again with Jeremy Aussems taking center stage on guitar with "The Rat." The tune "Mr. Barber" lays down some rockabilly tracks with Kars van Nus taking control on vocals and a short harmonica performance. They end the album with the R&B ballad "I Still Remember" as Kars sings with expressive, soulful vocals that reach your soul, combined with both stellar piano and organ solos.

It is quite obvious that all these musicians have studied American roots music and have traced its origins to be this versatile and knowledgeable of blues and all the genres that followed. Blues music is truly a universal language, especially when it comes from the heart and "that is what this music is all about." Raise Your Bet establishes The Detonics as one of the premier blues bands in Europe today.

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