The Stroud based Latin & Blues band wowed the packed standing room only crowds at the Prince Albert pub in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Their sound is slinky mellow Latin influenced blues grooves (think Santana mixed with Bueno Vista Social club), with some more up-tempo stompers, all of which is about the rhythm. In the crowds were other musicians including great blues guitar picker Greg Brice as well as UK Blues Federation board member Tony Hyndman.
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The band line-up was Aron Attwood (acoustic guitar & vocals), Robert Holmes (guitar & backing vocals), Kotska Garcia (drums) and Dug Mackie (double bass).
The band got off to a false start as the sound desk died during the first song, so after the technology had been re-booted the band started again with tracks from their new album ‘Albino Tarantino’ (with the songs written by Aron Attwood), a few covers and a few brand-new tracks that will be on the second album.
With both Aron Attwood & Robert Holmes also being members of the five-piece blues band The Achievers, great harmonies and melodies were guaranteed and they didn’t disappoint. They were matched with a rhythm section of Mackie on double bass and Kotska on drums.
The mix of the latin sound, great vocals from Aron, with the latin/bluesy guitar playing of Robert was evident on tracks such as ‘Bring Your Horse to the Water’, ‘Dumb’ with more soulful vocals from Aron on ‘Remedy’. ‘Good Intensions’ had its heavy latin bluesy beat with strong vocals from Aron and great guitar breaks from Robert.
A very topical number was ‘Government’ which was about the corruption and those with money abusing their position. It is a very catchy latin/bluesy tune which I heard earlier this year at a Charity gig in Stroud, and I had challenged Aron to get all these great tunes onto an album.
The set included different varieties of Latin influenced sounds with songs such as ‘From a Frown to a Smile’ having some country music influence too. The song ‘Voodoo Man’ had Aron replace his acoustic guitar with maracas and included his menacing cackles, much to the crowd’s enjoyment.
The two brand new songs ‘Me & You’ and Stone Blood’ (early additions to album #2) were brilliant and well received, with their great dance beat and harmonies from Aron & Robert.
The evening wrapped up with the classic Santana song ‘Oye Como Ya’ which the crowd’s sang along to, and the band finished with ‘Spanish Grease’ with former bandmember Tom Johnson joining on cowbell and drum stick
