Bright Giant
Ankeny, Iowa, United States | SELF
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Jesus! How long ago did that first Black Crowes album come out? And whatever happened to Drivin' & Cryin'? I would swear to God that these guys were those guys' younger brothers if I didn't know better and as good, if not better. From the dyslexicly unbalanced fade-in of Women to the extremely Black Crowes-esque No Flies On Me, Bright * Giant melds the best of those two bands with their own subtle in-your-face style on five of the best rockin' tracks you'll hear this year.
While the above video shows a process, it does not show the power Bright * Giant generates. Built on bedrock of solid drumming, booming and sometimes fuzzed-out bass and crunching rhythm guitar, the music is the Hard Rock version of Power Pop, lodging simple hooks in your head that will be hard to dismiss. The almost five minutes of Women slam into the faster paced Songbird like a car backending a truck on the freeway (listen for the buried “Aiyee, aiyee, aiyee” after watching the video and you get an idea of the range of choices a band must make during the production process) and that sets up the manic song/talk of Jesus, the Devil & Me, a step off the deep end of the gene pool. They enter the realm of anthem with Forget-Me-Nots, a slightly slower and much more intricately pieced together composition, complete with outstanding full chorus buildup at the end. Then it's early Black Crowes all over again, rhythm and voice dominating hard rock hook and distorted guitar.
You remember those albums that had “Record Loud to be Played Loud” banners printed on the back? File this sucker with them because it is like a car gaining speed on the open road with the driver unaware. The longer it plays, the louder you want it.
Don't like EPs? Well, these five songs just may be your exception. Better five solid, well laid out tracks than five great songs spliced between six others and these are as solid as they get. My head tells me they are the springboard to a long and fruit fly career. Sorry. Couldn't help myself. Buy this album. Seriously. Huh. Couldn't help that, either.
Frank O. Gutch Jr. - Rock & Reprise
Discography
Bright Giant EP (Self-titled)
Devon's Door (single track on the album Crystalline with various artists)
Photos
Bio
LANDLOCKED & LOADED
Des Moines' Bright Giant Ready To Rock
(And Roll)
Want to know what's going on in Iowa? Beyond baseball, basketball and football? Bright Giant is going on! And, hopefully, on and on and on. These Des Moines rockers are the oak tree grown from the acorn of The Josh Davis Band, college rockers of no small repute. The difference between the two? Focus.
With The Josh Davis band, “We were kind of all over the place (musically),” Davis explains. “We'd have a song that was rock... and a song that was country. There was never any (real) consistency.” Not only that, the band had a revolving door through which members entered and exited as their lives demanded. No consistency, in this case, meant no focus.
What changed? First, Davis and Will Locker, the two mainstays of the JDB, stopped the revolving door by bringing in musicians who had music as a purpose. Noah Mass joined the two as lead guitarist in January of 2009 and Justin Goes took over bass a month later. “With those guys,” said Davis, “we immediately took on more of a rock and roll edge.” That edge brought Brandon Darner of The Envy Corps who heard the recent Davis-penned Songbird at a show and offered to help hone the band's sound and stage presence. Four more new songs and a stint in the studio with Darner produced an EP which dances rather indelicately around the edges of bands like The Black Crowes, Drivin' N Cryin' and early Rolling Stones. This is the way music website Rock & Reprise heard it:
“Built on a bedrock of solid drumming, booming and sometimes fuzzed-out bass and crunching rhythm guitar, the music is a hard rock version of power pop, lodging simple hooks in your head that will be hard to dismiss. The almost five minutes of Women slam in to the faster paced Songbird like a car backending a truck on the freeway and that sets up the manic song/talk of Jesus, The Devil and Me, a step off the deep end of the gene pool. They enter the realm of anthem with Forget-Me-Nots, a slightly slower and more intricately pieced together composition complete with outstanding full chorus buildup at the end. Then it's early Black Crowes all over again, rhythm guitar and voice dominating hard rock hook and distorted guitar on No Flies On Me.”
Of course, tossing The Josh Davis Band to the curb was not an easy decision. They had a solid following, but “we wanted to make a clean break from our past and start from scratch,” explained Davis. “It has been hard and we lost some fans, especially in our hometown, but it has proven the opposite on the road. Bright Giant is doing great in towns the old band struggled in.”
Bright*Giant is placing bets on the new direction. The music is harder, faster paced and a sound on which they think they can build.
Plans are being formalized for a full album which should be ready for release Spring of 2011, again with Darner producing. The relationship worked great once and the band is thinking, why mess with a good thing. For those who are wondering--- at present, the plans do not include placing or re-recording any of the five tracks on the EP. Bright Giant does not rest on laurels. For them, it is full steam ahead, landlocked or not.
http://www.bright-giant.com/
http://www.facebook.com/brightgiant
Booking: brightgiantmusic@gmail.com
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