Music
Press
Throughout the album’s 11 tracks, Hardwire demonstrates his solid guitar playing. His blues style captures the essence of that genre. But it’s not just blues - his fingerpicking and tasty lead guitar work suit the moods of the songs by providing interesting textures that don’t overpower the song.
“Bacon and Hotcakes” instantly reminded me of early Bruce Cockburn. It was only afterwards that I learned that Cockburn was one of Speer's influences. “Ain’t Half Empty” is an interesting perspective on a long distance relationship; “Waiting” is a fun song about something we can all relate to.
TomP - CalgarySongwriters.com
I suppose it’s safe to say that Hardwire Speers has a sense of humour. Why else would he come up with a title like “Breakfast at Epiphany’s”? Funny that the title includes “epiphany”…this music has the flavour of a kitchen concert: picture your favourite uncle, arriving in the night from a long trip and sitting down in the kitchen with his guitar, a glass of rye and ginger at his elbow, telling you stories by singing his songs.
The songs are more than just stories, though. True to his journalistic training, Speers spends time painting little word pictures of trees, birds, people and flavours. He provides a feast for the inner eye.
I was wracking my brain thinking up a good name for this kind of music and I came up with Kitchen Canadiana. The music feels so intimate and warm that you want to wrap it around yourself as you sit in front of a roaring fire. The intimacy is enhanced by Speer’s deep baritone voice and the mastery of his guitar. The musical style ranges from blues to folk. The subjects are travel, distance, women and longing for someone far away.
This release is self-produced/recorded/mastered so Speers can take the credit and the blame for the strengths and weaknesses of this release. Most of my complaints surround the voice reproduction. Because Speers is a baritone, he has a deep chest voice. There are lots of great overtones in his singing, but no projection. His voice tends to blend in too much with his guitar, which also has a deep, boomy sound to it. I’m disappointed that Speers’ voice wasn’t brought forward more, so it stands out from the background.
There is another singer on this release, Natasha Kendall and she sings a nice, light-voiced counterpoint to Speers’ deep booming sound. The only problem is that her voice doesn’t seem to blend in well with the rest of the sounds. At times, she seems to overshadow Speers’ voice as well.
There are lots of enjoyable tunes on this release, I enjoyed “Ain’t Half Empty” and played it several times. Speers is an accomplished guitar player and his work shines on every cut.
Summary: This is an enjoyable CD that just oozes Canadian flavours, like maple syrup on pancakes.
http://frogblogreviews.bullfrogmusic.com/p=48 - BullFrog Music Reviews
Discography
My full-length CD Breakfast at Epiphany's is available online at HardwireSpeers.com as well as on iTunes and at CD Baby.
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Bio
Award wining guitarist and performer Hardwire Speers combines strongly honed guitar playing with a dark, baritone voice and lyrics written with the skills gained as a journalist. His music has been described as "Blue Rodeo meets The Eagles crossed with Bruce Cockburn."
Having once shot the Queen Mother - along with other dignitaries and celebrities (but only with a camera), he worked for newspapers as a reporter and editor. Trained in the respected Journalism program at Mount Royal College, he learned to "show, not tell" a story. This is reflected in Speers' lyrics by the images he creates within the stories .
Having begun to learn guitar as a 16 year old, Speers has spent over 30 years honing the craft of guitar, having played in a wide range of bands using a multitude of styles - from playing "biker parties" to joining a jazz combo, he's learned from a variety of sources. Recently, he's studied both contemporary finger-style guitar by artists similar to Don Ross, and early finger-style blues such as Robert Johnson and Big Bill Broonzy.
His explorations of these types of guitar playing led to creating the soundtrack for the independent film "Culture Lost and Found," for which he won the Best Original Score at the Georgies awards in Calgary.
Performances by Hardwire Speers include his original songs and guitar instrumentals, and - if doing a longer performance - a variety of classic blues and jazz standards as well as fun and/or interesting contemporary songs.
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