Demolition String Band

"Wrap your ears around Gracious Days, a discerning mix of roots-based originals and covers. DSB and guests dish out delicate picking and singing alongside bolder, uptown selections that complement well to deliver an engaging latest recording."

- Stephanie P. Ledgin, author of "Homegrown Music: Discovering Bluegrass"

DIFFERENT KINDS OF LOVE
(Breaking Records)
BILLBOARD: “Demolition String Band’s fourth album "Different Kinds of
Love," released in late 2007 on versatile indie Breaking Records, delivers on the
group's beloved mix of bluegrass, honky-tonk, rock and Bayou ooze, highlighted
by whimsical "Letters," an ode to a modern-day techno-bunco. Skye and
company are primed to rope in triple A here, while the 13-track full-length has
further potential at country with vigorous "Wisteria," wedding wish "I Wanna
Wear White" and collaborative throwdown "Who Taught You." Demolition's
members are across-the-board connoisseurs: master instrumentalists, lyricists
and entertainers, while Skye is a vocal treasure."
TIME OUT NEW YORK: "Demolition String Band rolls its friendly honky-tonk
rock into the Rodeo Bar, proving that a NYC band can kick the sawdust with the
best of 'em. Though the group appears frequently, tonight ain't just another night:
Frontwoman Elena Skye & Co. are celebrating the release of a new CD,
Different Kinds of Love, which ably shows off their twang & roll"
 
ORLANDO WEEKLY: "Though not a string band in the true sense, the
Demolition String Band is a totally righteous country-rock out?t that's a well-
measured balance between melody and muscle. Together, Elena Skye’s big voice
and Boo Reiner ’s studly guitar-playing packed enough octane to juice an 18-
wheeler. Pretty damned McCoy for a buncha Yanks."
HARP MAGAZINE: “The Hoboken quartet has strong musical roots in
bluegrass traditions – leader Elena Skye studied mandolin with Jethro Burns –
but those roots are shot through with plenty of rock 'n' roll electricity.
Correlations could be drawn to towering roots/punk bands like Lone Justice and
X, but Skye's twang of a voice and the chugging, old-school instrumentation
lands these guys ?rmly on the "roots" side of the equation.”
BARRY MAZOR (NO DEPRESSION): "Their latest is proof that a band this
edgy and adventurous can just keep getting tighter and crisper performing
together over time. Different Kinds of Love features the strong points they've
shown for years, Elena Skye's sharp songwriting and Boo Reiner's immaculate
picking for instance, and powers them up with new rockabilly-tinged thrust."
 
THIRD COAST MUSIC: "Reiners has always been a stupendous guitarist,
showcased here on his original instrumental Boonanza and the multiple
overdubs of Wisteria but Skye, who wrote or co-wrote ten of the thirteen
tracks, sings eleven of them and plays mandolin, has really blossomed in
all three roles, positively radiating con?dence and maturity on an album
that pulses with energy.”
 
POP MATTERS: "Hailing from New Jersey, Demolition String Band infuse
their fourth record with enough spirit, swagger and country swing to make you
swear they've lived a thousand lifetimes in the heart of the Bible Belt. The band's
exuberance and style is personi?ed by vocalist Elena Skye, whose sound
resembles folk rock empresses of the late 60's." 
LUCID CULTURE: "X would be the closest comparison for this band.
Although Demolition String Band aren't punk by any stretch, they share
the legendary LA band's love for both American roots music and sheer guitar
volume. In an age where rock has actually taken over country radio, this album
is particularly well-timed. Tonight they mixed up a bunch of catchy, twangy
country tunes with a couple of blazing straight-up rock songs and some
dazzlingly played bluegrass." 
 
 
WHERE THE WILD WILD FLOWERS
GROW: THE SONGS OF OLA BELLE REED
(Okra-Tone) 
ROLLING STONE: "Thank you Elena Skye and Boo Reiners for honoring
the late Ola Belle Reed, a remarkable banjoist, songwriter and Appalachian
music legend."
 
SING OUT MAGAZINE: "With such enthusiastic, appreciative practitioners 
as the Demolition String Band carrying on the tradition in true form, Ola Belle’s
Reed’s songs thankfully will remain with us in perpetuity. An excellent tribute to
Reed’s staying power."
 
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: "This disc is a beautiful tribute to the North Carolina
native and recipient of the National Endowment For The Arts National heritage
Award. While Skye’s voice might be a bit smoother Ola Belle Reed’s, she and
her band manage to evoke their tributees power and guileless delivery while
bringing the music’s message into the present day." 
 
 NO DEPRESSION MAGAZINE: "The selections emphasize the most lyrical,
occasionally transcendental side to Reed’s vision, her interlacing of sacred and
secular themes, her personalization of blues motifs and structures, and her
complete originality. The best of these songs are as good as songwriting gets,
irrespective of genre, and the band’s interpretations aspire to communicate those
songs directly and soulfully as possible -- a modest but in no way small task."
 
BLUEGRASS UNLIMITED: "Elena Skye’s resonant vocals exude a de?nite
Ola Belle Reed in?uence, anyone familiar with the music of Ola Belle Reed
will surely want to add these interpretations to their musical library"
LENNY KAYE (author, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee):
"The resurrection of a deserving and incandescent artist has all the hallmarks
of a spiritual channeling: Ola Belle Reed is recreated for a new century.
May she ever ring!"
PULLING UP ATLANTIS
(Okra-Tone)
 
NO DEPRESSION: 'Pulling Up Atlantis' offers a blend of rock and bluesy
ballads with the pumping electric country numbers, almost all of which explore
very contemporary and complicated relationships, often from the view of a
tough, vulnerable and resilient woman who will hang in there, maybe even
thrive, despite everything..." 
 
SANTA MONICA MIRROR: "Skye's singing is powerful but mindful of the
quiet ache in the voice that can communicate as much as a howl. The twang from
Reiuners guitar is equally memorable...Skye & Reiners don't ?le down the rough
edges and their music has a whisky wallop to it."
 
BILLBOARD MAGAZINE: "Skye's originals, such as "Gone So Long," show a
Buck Owens Bakers?eld ?avor, aided immensely by Reiners stellar musicianship
and co-producer Eric "Roscoe" Ambel's recognizable roots production touch..."
 
DAILY JOURNAL/MANASSAS, VA: "Looking more like Ani DeFranco than
Dolly Parton and singing a version of Madonna's "Like A Prayer" like twang's
going out of style tomorrow, Elena Skye puts the "alt" in Alt-Country."
 
TIME OUT NEW YORK: "A damn ?ne honky tonk effort, and singer Elena
Skye is the perfect balance between spunk and pathos that's at the heart of
country. Even the hillbilly cover of Madonna's "Like A Prayer" is absolutely
brilliant. Fans of the Bloodshot Label's brand of 'insurgent country' will eat this
one up."
VILLAGE VOICE: "Live, Skye wears her heart on her sleeve and Reiners
plays the hell out of histelecaster, supported by a no nonsense rhythm section.”
 
THE HERALD (GLASGOW, SCOTLAND): “They are The Demolition String
Band and though they formed in Sinatra’s kind of town, Hoboken, New Jersey,
they have a direct line to the mountain music of West Virginia. Elena Skye,
alias “The Boss” and Boo Reiners, her foresworn “lean mean hillbilly machine”
arrived in the Victorian Bar with Force 10 intensity. Armed with guitars,
mandolin and banjo with a bass guitarist and drummer for company they had
the Tron’s backroom swinging like a honky tonk the minute they hit the stage…
another Big, Big, Country Festival ?nd.
 
MEREDITH OCHS: “New York City boasts a fairly thriving alternative country
scene -- even if a fair number of its leading lights actually reside on Springsteen's
side of the Hudson. Hoboken's Demolition String Band is one such group. DSB
frontwoman Elena Skye pens convincing honky-tonk originals, such as "Gone
So Long," that will please both trad-country lovers and metro-roots rockers.
Eric "Roscoe" Ambel's production underscores the spectacular contributions of
multi-instrumentalist Boo Reiners, whose deft picking is Nashville cat-worthy
and whose lap steel always cries just right. This set of urbane twang is perfect for
those whose hearts are in the country even though their digs are in the city."
 
PULSE MAGAZINE The core of Hoboken, N.J.'s Demolition String Band is the
musical partnership between ace stringbender Boo Reiners and the petite but
powerful songwriter/vocalist/mandolinist Elena Skye, who has a wig and/or
hairstyle for every occasion and is an avid promoter of New York City's
underground Americana scene. With a solid rhythm section made up of
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes' drummer Louis Appel and bassist
Winston Roye, the Demolition String Band also calls in favors from rising
Sacred Steel star Robert Randolph on "Garden of Love" and "Opportunity,"
pedal steel pro Jon Graboff on the straight honky tonk shuf?e "Gone So Long"
and acclaimed singer/songwriter Robert Burke Warren, who provides a Gram
Parsons-esque counterpoint vocal to Skye on "A Career of Loving You."
INSURGENT COUNTRY / UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS: "They sound like
Blondie meets Tammy and George, like late 70's New York meets early 70's
Nashville. These guys give me goose pimples!"
 
ONE DOG TOWN
(North Hollow Records)
VILLAGE VOICE: “The Hoboken based Ms. Skye and her boys have released a
fetching new album “One Dog Town” featuring her lovely vocals and mandolin
and the instrumental prowess of Boo Reiners.”
NEW YORK TIMES: “One Dog Town is a collection of eleven songs written by
Elena Skye whose skeletal sound and skeletal instrumental has drawn
comparisons to Cowboy Junkies and Son Volt”
 
DATELINE MEMPHIS: “The DSB’s raw energy and pared down
instrumentation on its new CD One Dog Town have more in common with Elvis’
Sun Sessions than with most country records coming out of Nashville today.”
 
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: “This quartet concocts a buffet of American roots
music styles, you get bluegrass, honky tonk and Patsy Cline-esque country
balladry. You even get a heaping serving of spicy Tex-Mex ?avor with “I’ll Try
Not To Cry Tonight.” The result is a sumptuous feat for the ears.” 
 
CREATIVE LOAFING: “ Skye and musical partner Boo Reiners play the
leading parts in this Patsy Cline meets Lester Flatt melodrama quite adeptly,
straddling bluegrass and honky tonk-ish rock. They do it lean and mean or
smooth and comforting but the results are almost always pretty doggone
glorious.”
 
DAVID GOODMAN, AUTHOR OF MODERN TWANG: “Let me be the ?rst
to rave about Elena Skye & The Demolition String Band’s new CD “One Dog
Town.” Those  of you who are  lucky enough to have Edges2 are already familiar
with her whimsical shuf?e “Biggest Piece of Nothing” which is the lead song on
this excellent collection of honky tonk, bluegrass, country rock , a little tex-mex
and more. It is highly appealing from beginning to end! “ - various