Gun Club Cemetery love their good old-fashioned, down and dirty guitar music but like the bands who have inspired them – The Faces and The Stones among others – they can also turn their hands to a sensitive, heart-rending piano ballad. The band are fronted by Perth-based ex-Hurricane #1 singer Alex Lowe (vocals and guitar), alongside Mancunian Nick Repton (bass), who’d previously played with Bonehead in The Vortex, and Colin Ward from Nottingham (drums). The band formed just over a year ago. For Alex, it’s the chance to be back where he belongs, fronting a no-frills, no-nonsense rock and roll band. “It feels amazing. I really like playing solo, but to be on stage with a group of friends is the best feeling in the world,”
he says. “I want Gun Club Cemetery to be a great band and to stick together through thick and thin. I just want to make it work, make some cool records and get out on the road.”
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Gun Club Cemetery: Gun Club Cemetery (359 Music, cat #359CD5) – Released 11th November 2013
Gun Club Cemetery release their self titled debut album on the 11th November. Gun Club Cemetery are a 3-piece rock n roll band fronted by ex ‘Hurricane #1’ singer and guitarist Alex Lowe. ‘Hurricane 1#’ were a popular indie combo signed to Creation Records in 1997, and immediately scored a top 20 hit album and single. Alan McGee has teamed up yet again with Alex Lowe and his new outfit, and he argues that Lowe’s new songs are some of the best he has ever written. McGee is particularly drawn to Lowe’s ballads and it is this sensitivity, which is revealed on ‘Gun Club Cemetery’s’ debut that inspired McGee to sign the band to 359 Music.
This album in parts is made up of no nonsense back to basics ‘rock n roll’, however, that is not all that is in their repertoire and they are not adverse to slowing things down with a few piano and acoustic led ballads. Alex Lowe’s voice still sounds good and is well suited to the songs and the sound of the band. His rasping and husky vocals will remind listeners of Rod Stewart era ‘Faces’, and he is very honest about the music that inspires him and his fellow band mates, with the ‘Rolling Stones’ ‘The Faces’ and the ‘Black Crowes’ all an influence on ‘Gun Club Cemetery’s sound. Alex Lowe believes that ‘the music business just now needs a kick up the ass!’, and let’s just hope Gun Club Cemetery and Alan McGee can do just that.
The album really starts with a bang and the opening tracks ‘the hollow face of a shallow man’ and ‘sunset shadows’ could both be singles in their own right. Lowe admitted in a recent interview that he prefers ‘no frills’ music that is a little rough around the edges, however, it is at the mid point in this album that the band show their more tender moments, with piano led songs like ‘all I want from you’ ‘before sunrise’ and ‘it’s in your smile’, which shows that they have an ear for melody as well as being able to assault the senses with some bruising rock n roll. The album comes to an end in suitable fashion with new single ‘needle aside’. This song clocks in at a smidge over 2 minutes and this stomper opens with a twin acoustic and electric guitar assault with some Little Richard ‘boogie woogie’ style piano, thrown in for good measure. ‘Needle aside’ is a limited edition 7” and (wait for it) only 359 copies will be released, and it pre-dates the release of the album by a week, and should keep those eager for the release of the album happy for the time being. BUY HERE!
