Dearest Pinky

Slip Your Lie’, which I mentioned before, follows immediately after ‘Blood Over Time’ and the transition works nicely. This song is an accurate portrayal of what the band is about and begins with a haze of guitar feedback, later kicking in with a distorted, quadruplet-driven traditional Rock riff. As Lindsay’s vocals enter, I get instant vibes of ‘Evanescence’ (along with a much better idea of ‘DP’s’ possible target audience). The instrumentation and tonality are exactly what you would expect to hear from any band of this genre, and if traditional female-fronted Pop-Rock is your bag you won’t be disappointed with these guys’ effort. - Totally Biker FM UK

Odd name, but this young lady definitely has something. Inspired to learn guitar after being told it was not for girls she studied the instrument with Mark Cherone (of Hurtsmile) for some years before attending Berklee College of Music. The result of all this hard work was an EP in 2010 and now a debut album, released at the end of last year. The style is edgy melodic hard rock delivered in short snappy songs with a bit of attitude and some really excellent guitar playing. Vocally she carries the songs well enough but it is on the guitar that she really shines. Its a promising debut and I think we will hear more from Dearest Pinky - Classic Rock Society Magazine UK

DEAREST PINKY

“Blood And Scars”
Genre: Rock

EDP

Dearest Pinky is Lindsay Gardner. She was a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston and now has Mark Cherone (brother of
Extreme’s Gary Cherone) backing her here on her debut. He was also her guitar teacher. The music is a mash- up of symphonic Evanescence meets Within Temptation style rock, as on “Slip Your Lie ”,prog rock, as on “Behind The Lines Of Reason” and pleasant
90s influenced pop rock on “Last Stop”. There’s some fine soloing
from guitarist Scott Tarulli, supported by Dearest Pinky’s rhythm
playing. The tracks were worked on by Dearest Pinky and then
bulked up in production and I think some of the songs here would
have benefitted from pruning back. Sixteen songs is about six too many, but you sense with her striking image (a shock of bright pink hair) and the vibrant technical guitar playing that there’s life here for these songs in the live arena. She’s got potential and the prog element added to the modern rock puts her in a field of her own. - Power Play Magazine UK

Dearest Pinky sure lives up to her name with her brighter
than bright pink locks, but don’t be fooled into thinking that is where the intrigue ends with this artiste as Dearest Pinky attended the prestigious Berklee College Of Music, where she focused on arranging and composing music. So this lady has many strings to her talented bow, with a flair for both music and image in equal measures.

‘Blood And Scars’ opens with `Blood Over Time` an intro piece to the epic kinda Evanescence type of progressive rocker that is first track proper, `Slip Your Lie`. Although for some reason I personally think the instrumental side doesn’t exactly go hand in hand with the vocal arrangement, but it’s still a great number nonetheless. My same sentiments go into `Behind The Lines Of Reason` another decent prog-esque tune of sorts.

`Last Stop` meanwhile has a country slant to it and whilst this collection is well arranged and crafted I’m quickly starting to think it lacks the major musical ingredient, the essential killer choral hooks.

`Shed Your Skin` and title track `Blood And Scars` still have me unconvinced, I mean respect and all that to Dearest Pinky’s musical talent but on songs such as `Bleed Like Mine` and `Count Me Out` things are starting to now blend rather aimlessly from one track into the next and sadly there’s no real depth to the songwriting on show.

The album does offer up some interesting moments though such as `Swollen Heart` with its alternative prog like approach and especially on `Everything Short Of Nothing` where it should be shouted out that Dearest Pinkys`s vocal performance is of a very high standard.

Overall the album does possess a great production, and at times at certain points there’s maybe a small "Extreme" influence flying around, just take a listen to some of the guitar work on `Hear Me` for instance. There’s even a song penned about the stereotype that "Girls Don’t Play Guitars" in the rather quaintly named `What Did You Expect From
A Skirt`, whilst the softer `Smile Upon Me` bounces into the funk laden `Rise Above`.

But as I’ve already stated, “oh how I still await that big chorus or something half way memorable”. ‘Blood And Scars’ is concluded with `Blood And Scar Wars` leading into an acoustic rendition of `Bleed Like Mine` with a beautiful backing vocal courtesy of Chelsea Ventura. And I’m outta here. - UBER rock UK

DEAREST PINKY is the brainchild of guitarist/singer/songwriter LINDSAY GARDNER, who studied at Berklee and has now released the first album ‘Blood and scars’ under the DEAREST PINKY moniker. The album sounds very professional, with a little help from several other musicians, including MARK CHERONE, the brother of EXTREME singer GARY CHERONE, with whom he was part of the band HURTSMILE, whom had an album out on FRONTIERS RECORDS. Also EXTREME drummer KEVIN FIGUEIREDO played on a lot of tracks, along with a few more musicians. The music on ‘Blood and scars’ is sounding quite melodic and combining Progressive Metal riffs with Melodic Poprock/AOR vocal lines/choruses and some groovy Hardrock in the guitar department as well. A song like “Last stop” is a good example of intillegent AOR melodies being mixed with a funky/
groovy rock structure and rhythm, while opener “Slip your lie” is a massive sounding heavy Progressive Metal song, with melodies out of the female fronted Euro Gothic Metal book. The 16 included songs are more or less following the style of these 2 tunes, so I think you’ll get the picture what is going on here. A nice balance several rockstyles can be heard and all together it is an interesting affair, making up a great start for newcomer Lindsay, who certainly has got all it takes to become successful in the music business. Also recommended to fan of ORIANTHI by the way! More info at: www.dearestpinky.com

(Points: 8.1 out of 10)

http://www.angelfire.com/planet/strutter/HOTNEWREVIEWS193.htm
http://www.strutter.8m.com/

Strutter Magazine Holland - Strutter Magazine UK

Do not be misled by the name thinking Dave has gone all poppy, because this rather attractive American girl Dearest Pinky (Lindsay Gardner) together with her pink hair, fronts a band that delivers guitar driven melodic, progressive rock that actually pushes the borders of several genres (AOR and the like). And not only does this Boston lass
offer us lead vocals, she also takes care of the rhythm and acoustic guitar, plus all the words and music with the exception of the final track (that being the work of band member Mark Dailey). The album kicks of with an atmospheric intro 'Blood Over Time', that leads into the heavier 'Slip Your Lie' that has more of a Symphonic feel to it. 'Behind
The Lines Of Reason' also features vocals from her guitar teacher Mark Cherone and is a more laid back track (although it still rocks) that could filter into the mainstream if given the chance, as could next up 'Last Stop', which is a hideously catchy pop rock number. The previously mentioned Mark Cherone pops up on other numbers too,
including 'Shed Your Skin', which is another tune that should be deserving of radio airplay. This is amazingly good stuff from an artist that has totally slipped my radar screens. Other cool numbers from this LP include the mid tempo rockin' 'Bleed Like Mine' (great guitar solo), the guitar orientated and progressive 'Everything Short Of Nothing', and the slower 'Smile Upon Me'. I rather like this album, and you get your monies worth as Dearest Pinky throws at us 16 songs of music citing influences as diverse as Guano Apes, Paramore, Dream Theater, The Police, Evanescence and Within Temptation. Get your teeth around that little lot. Anyway, anybody who likes their music not too heavy but still with a little ooommmph, and is into any of the above
mentioned acts, this just may be for you. Dearest Pinky's Facebook is here .... 8.25/10
(Dave)
www.ravenheartmusic.com

promoting female fronted rock and metal - Ravenheart Music

Dearest Pinky is a female multi-instrumentalist who plays a brand of melodic progressive rock. She originally learned piano and saxophone before turning her attention to guitar in high school. She studied for several years with Mark Cherone, (Hurtsmile) before attending Berklee College of Music, focusing on composing. Her original EP "Bipolar Broad - Manic High & Manic Low" came out in 2010 and her debut "Blood & Scars" was released at the end of 2012.

This album consists of sixteen tracks that lasts fifty six minutes including two versions of one song and three short instrumentals. This is unusual in that it has a bit of heaviness but somehow manages to still sound quite breezy and accessible. One of the heavier tracks "Slip your Lie" kicks things off with a solid rock consistency and chugging riff. Some of the other more tempestuous and guitar fuelled tracks include "Bleed like Mine", "Swollen Heart" and "Everything Short of Nothing". To contrast these more intense riff driven tracks there's a selection of songs with more of a commercial pop rock structure such as "Last Stop", "Count me Out" and "Hear Me". My favorite two from DP are the two ballads near either end. First up is "Shed your Skin" which is a combative duet between DP and Cherone. It is played out as a lovers argument with each one of them having their moment at the front as the other retorts in the background. The other ballad is "Smile Upon Me' Where the opening guitar adds a bit of a rockier feel to it. DP soon appears with some silky vocals as the rest of the musician's play a mellow composition underneath.

This is a fun, lively and uplifting melodic rock record full of quality from a talented songstress with a fine future. DP has taken a collection of modern sounds and meshed them together creating a fairly unique version of commercial rock. whilst her influences are wide ranging, she hasn't cast her net too far which would have sounded disjointed and inconsistent. "Melodic Rock" is a accurate description of the style of music. In terms of comparison musically ans in vocal terms I can hear a little Alanis Morrisette and some Avril Lavigne. Irrespective, DP has a pretty vocal style and I enjoyed her singing and found it often relaxing, even in the upbeat songs. Given she does more than simply sing the songs a lot of credit should be given to her writing, As with the EP. DP produced the album with Mark Dailey who also contributed musically. The production itself is very well handled and gives the songs real life with a nice crispness.

This might be a little light for those who enjoy heavy guitar and intense female vocals along the symphonic lines, but if you have a love of well performed melodic rock, good song writing and well played music then Dearest Pinky is someone you should wander online to check out.



Dave Scott (Fireworks Magazine UK) - Fireworks Magazine