Brownboot is a bit of a curiosity on the Boston original’s scene. A lot of their music sounds like it was recorded during the classic rock era of the 1970s. That they’ve received some notice by returning to the past instead of cranking out something new and different is oddly appealing. Their debut CD Here’s The Thing will rock your speakers off their shelves.
Brownboot is singer Rodrigo van Stoli, singer Jordan Valentine, bass player James Vincent, guitarist Matt Sullivan, keyboardist Joe Kowalski, and drummer Jason Baldock.
Opening song “Shame” sounds a bit like 1970s bands like Kiss, Sweet, and Alice Cooper. The beat is rocking, straightforward, cruising down the highway music. It even has a very hip, likable organ riff running all the way through it. The vocals have that bombastic, rebellious, anthem quality; the band is singing like there is no tomorrow. A lead guitar comes in and ignites the song into wider sonic soundscapes. “Shame” reaches a mellow space when the organ and some light symbol work carry the final verse from this rocker, elements that pleasantly hearken band to an earlier time in rock.
The vocal harmonies on “Bandido” have the swagger of something Bad Company would have recorded back in their day. Lead singer, van Stoli, is edgy and driven, reminding a little bit of a circus barker with his over the top attitude. Anybody over 40 will listen to this song once and think they’ve heard it many times over. It’s not cliché. It’s just steeped in musical motifs from the past and that gives this whole thing a quality of being a blast out of the past.
There is nothing dull or weak in Brownboot’s music. If you’re looking for something new and different, you’ll be sadly disappointed with this band. But, if you like your rock and roll raw, with a lot of hard-charging instrumentation and a lot swagger in the vocalist you will likely enjoy them. You’ll like them even more if you like female singers with raw, raspy, powerhouse vocals like sex bomb Jordan Valentine
“Fade Out” begins with a nifty bass guitar riffs that forms the song’s backbone and keeps it rocking hard. Cascading organ notes remind a bit of Deep Purple while the vocals remind of Sweet. When the guitar and the rhythm section lock into a groove, look out. This band is tight and focused and they know how to put in layered vocals to make their songs loom larger in the listener’s imagination.
Brownboot’s mellow piano song, “Mae Stay” featured a very smooth, wide lead vocal. Two singers trading places at the microphone give the tune an extra layering of color and tone. It reminds of Meatloaf when he was doing his more thoughtful and reflective crooning and interacting with his female guest singer.
Brownboot gets comedic in their song “I Can’t Wait (To Get Away)” as the verse goes “I can’t wait to get away from this douche bag, from this douche bag.” The language may sound a little bit into the punk rock forum, but the term has become widely adopted when someone is talking about an unpleasant person. Handclapping and singing after the band stops playing is a technique put to good use, as Brownboot’s humorous lyric gets even funnier during this portion of the song. Throw in a sprightly electric keyboard and knobby bass and you have a heavy dose of danceable, finger-snapping fun.
Drums go into overtime on “Iron & Ledson” and the tune becomes an aggressive barroom hangin‘, highway cruising masterpiece. Tough guy rhythms crisscross with a lead guitar that penetrates the groove like a stab wound. The two singers work together in a way that contributes to a larger presence, something that looms in the imagination with undeniable stature.
“Spacepipe” commands the attention with heavy, bopping organ chords and a rhythm section that locks into the keyboards for something that reminds briefly of the 1980s. The lead guitar takes over here and pays out a lot of coolness. The guitar returns later and is even more impressive in its icy cold phrasing. A girl singer is needed here and Jordan Valentine is the epitome of woman rock gravitas. She carries her notes with a heft, huge presence in the music.
There are a lot of fun things to like on Brownboot’s debut CD. Don’t be a douche bag. Go buy it.