|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PRESS AND REVIEWS The Herald (Rock Hill, SC) Ready, set, let's go to a “straight up rock show” with Blanco Diablo on Saturday night at Amos' Southend in Charlotte. Watch out, there's gonna be a “golden god” groove rampant with the roar of incendiary guitar. Indelibly influenced by heyday rockers from Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath and T. Rex to The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and The Who, Blanco Diablo includes Jamie Ray, guitar/vocals; Patrick Jason, bass/backing vocals; and Brad Snipes, drums/backing vocals. Together they are gearing up for a summer UK tour. “Fans there are salivating for American rock bands with a sound that is guitar-oriented,” Ray said. “They're nostalgic for that original rock sound.” The group has made about a half dozen UK tours. We keep returning and keep building on the following there and the support.” “We want to make this our biggest show yet, headlining at the venue that's been our home base for the last three or four years,” Ray continued, regarding the Amos' Southend show. “It's a kick-off show before we leave for the UK and a good opportunity to promote the rock community, to build on the support.” Blanco Diablo brings along Steel Standing and 6 Second Silence Amos' Southend, 1423 S. Tryon St., Charlotte, on Saturday. Call the club at 704-377-6874 or go to amossouthend.com. For band details, visit blancodiablomusic.com or myspace.com/blancodiablo.
Rock-is-life.com (May 2009) BLANCO DIABLO Genre The Good The Bad The Verdict Rating: 4.5 out of 5 --George Dionne
From Classic Rock Magazine (March
2009 issue 129) It's pretty simple. really. Blanco Diablo are long haired, loose limbed dudes from Carolina. They play raunchy rock'n'roll, drink cheap raunchy beer, and...well, their choice of women is their business, but they're most probably raunchy.
** Paper Poison Revolution Press below ** From Creative Loafing (5/24/06) These Charlotte-area rockers open each track with a blistering riff.
But // ------------------------------ From Creative Loafing - Charlotte, NC The Charlotte trio – Jamie Ray (guitar, vox), Patrick Jason (bass,
vox) // ------------------------------ Wednesday, May 24, 2006 Within a week, Blanco Diablo has gone from dazzling a crowd, as guest opener for Firehouse last weekend, to hosting its CD release party tonight at Charlotte's Double Door Inn, 218 E. Independence Blvd. The group's debut CD, "Paper Poison Revolution," is a 12-song riffing revolution released Tuesday through Rock Ridge Music. The band, which is based in Charlotte, features Rock Hill's Jamie Ray on guitar and vocals; Patrick Jason on bass and vocals; and Jeff Nunnery on drums. Ray said the band and CD launch are part of an ambitious plan set in motion early in his life. "Playing guitar has always been important to me, especially all those years studying, practicing, even falling asleep with the guitar in my hands," Ray said. "Likewise, songwriting is important. There's strength in songs. They explore the path I've taken." That path is edgy, fierce melodic rock and roll, with a sassy Southern stance. The band's marketing targets an audience across the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee, hoping to ignite a fervent word-of-mouth following. "This is a band that stands up for rock and roll," Ray said. "We champion that sound and attitude in a current-day climate that doesn't necessarily advocate or support straight-forward rock." He describes the sound of Blanco Diablo as the "guitar-based, guitar-driven, in-your-face rock and roll" that he grew up listening to. He lists influences as Mark Bolin in T Rex, Thin Lizzy, John Sykes, Robert Johnson, Ted Nugent and "anybody with that rock 'n' roll blues edge." "Paper Poison Revolution" takes its name from the title track that "speaks to the evils of money. It's anti-greed," Ray said. "I enjoy being a good observer, as a writer and performer, sharing observations and insight," he said. "So, there's that ideal of rock and roll, and how the evils of money can corrupt." For details, call the club at (704) 376-1446. To get more on the band, go to www.blancodiablomusic.com and www.myspace.com/ blancodiablo. The band also performs at 5 p.m. Saturday at Charlotte's Manifest Discs & Tapes, 6239 South Blvd. For details, call (704) 552-8448. // ------------------------------ From Charleston City Paper (4/26/06) Wow. Devoid of any production tricks, unnecessary frill or fuss, T. Ballard Lesemann // ------------------------------ Album review from the June issue of Amps 11 magazine (Charlotte, NC) Blanco Diablo by Kelly Morse In keeping with the spirit of our best-of-summer issue, let me say that Blanco Diablo’s new record reminds me of the summer of 1988. That summer, between my junior and senior years of high school, my record and cassette (remember those?) collection was filled with punk, “college” music, and Pink Floyd. Hey, the Floyd went well with my bong. But the radio that accompanied my life away from home was another experience entirely. That summer had two basic things happening on the radio: good-time rap (Funky Cold Medina) and good-time rock (Pour Some Sugar on Me). Blanco Diablo is unapologetically, a hard rock band. Elements of FM radio stalwarts like Bad Co. and Deep Purple rub shoulders with full-on hair metal moments along the lines of Cinderella or Bon Jovi on “Paper Poison Revolution”. You just don’t hear anything like this anymore. This isn’t some obscure metal sub-genre from Finland. This is old-school hard rock that could only grow in America. It’s got your fist-pumping rhythms laid down by Jeff Nunnery on drums and Patrick Jason on bass. It’s got riffs that make you want to make the devil horns and maybe even bang your head for a second. Author’s note: No one old enough to remember the summer of ’88 should bang his or her head for more than a second. You’ll hurt your neck. These guys have serious chops and aren’t afraid to make the big gesture instrumentally. Singer/Guitarist, Jamie Ray, adorns each song with a blistering solo, employing the entire bag of tricks, including whammy-bar acrobatics, two hand tapping, and even that thing where you scrape the pick along the strings. The songs are straight forward, lyrically. In the hair metal tradition, it includes the requisite sexual come-on song with the Hagar-like subtlety of lines like, “I can’t get enough. You’ve got to give until it feels good.” They’ve got your highway ramblin’. They’ve got the baby back home. They mention hell-hounds. They mention rolling stones. While some of the songs sound informed by early ‘90s grunge a la Alice in Chains or Candlebox, Ray mercifully sings in his own voice and doesn’t do that post-Eddie Vedder impression of Fozzi Bear crossed with Scott Weiland that so many hard rock bands feel compelled to ape these days. It’s refreshing to hear a band play the stuff they like to hear and not worry about what’s gonna look cool or what cliques are going to say. Clearly, these guys made the record they always wanted to. Like the summer of 1988, Blanco Diablo doesn’t make you think too hard but shows you a real good time. They’ll be at The Visulite on June 3rd for Carmona’s “Rock Circus” party.
|
|
|
