Nick Curran And The Lowlifes – Reform School Girl

                



OFFICIAL NICK CURRAN COCKTAIL RECIPE:


        3 TBLS - LITTLE RICHARD

        1 TBLS - GLENN DANZIG

        1 TBLS - GERRY ROSLIE

        2 TBLS - JOHNNY WATSON

        1 TBLS - CLIFF GALLUP

        2 TBLS - ANGUS YOUNG

        1 TBLS - '50s BB KING

        1 1/2 TS - JIMMIE VAUGHAN

        1 1/2 TS - JOHNNY RAMONE

        1 TS - BILLY DUFFY

        1 1/2 TBLS - GRADY MARTAIN

        4 TS - SLASH

        2 TBLS - GATEMOUTH BROWN

        4 CUPS - EARL PALMER

        1 HALF GALLON OF EVAN WILLIAMS BOURBON

        1 BROKEN MISFITS "HYBRID MOMENTS" 45rpm RECORD

        1 BROKEN TINY GRIMES 78rpm RECORD

        AND

        1 CUP - BROKEN GLASS

        Put all ingredients into a high powered blender and turn it all the way up!
        Blend to a delicious cocktail and drink as fast as possible!!!


That is how Nick Curran explains his musical influences.  On his new album with the Lowlifes,  Reform School Girl, like a great bartender, Curran also adds some “secret ingredients” – a squeeze of Otis Rush, a touch of Elmore James and a pinch of Jerry Lee Lewis.  

Reform School Girl is a barn burner of unadulterated blues-based rock and roll. Curran wrote, or had a hand in writing, 12 of the 14 tracks.  Each one is extraordinary and  harks back to that era of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s when the guitar and saxophone were king and segregated African American bluesmen were losing their ASCAP to white, charismatic pianists and vocalists.  It is roots “rock ‘n roll” and that is just what Nick Curran and the Lowlifes deliver.  It will make you dance – you won’t be able to help yourself.

Listen to the voice and instrumentation. Curran has been playing guitar since he was nine. In 2004 he won the W.C. Handy Award (now the “Blues Music Award”) for “Best New Album Debut” for his release “Dr. Velvet,” and then played for four years with The Fabulous Thunderbirds and in his own punk band project  “Deguello.” In 2008 he showed up playing songs on the HBO series “True Blood” before forming the Lowlifes.  This is a man with a massive amount of musical talent and a great gravelly blues voice. 

A lot of analog equipment and vintage instruments were used on the album including a classic Gretsch, a Squier ‘51, and an ’80s Kramer guitar, with tube amplifiers including a Tweed Fender Champ; a Tweed Fender Deluxe from the ’50s; and a Blackheart 5 watt combo. Curran is quoted, “. . . on the title track we actually ran outta tracks on that and had to add a bunch more on. We were really trying to get a Phil Spector-ish sound on that, so we made sure we put too much of everything on that one!” That is a major understatement.

Finally, consider the lyrics. The compositions are highly infectious.  First, your toes start tapping. Then, your head gets to bopping. After a while you find yourself humming the melody.  In no time at all you are singing a line or two from a cut and the music is not even on!  

Don’t miss this album.  It is big fun.

        --  Old School



Buy here: Reform School Girl

http://www.myspace.com/curranrock