So we have the ball rolling now… I’d like to thank everyone who has shown an interest in this project. Kerry and myself have been overwhelmed by the messages and support shown so far. It only verifies what I already knew – there’s a multitude of talent out there waiting to be discovered.
One of the bands that caught my eye is a three piece band called SLUMBERDOG. Taken from an Old English award winning sheeepdog from 1914, the name is certainly enough to make you look twice. The band itself will make sure you keep looking, though, with members that don’t seem to take themselves too seriously and an interesting sound, self described as a ‘grunge-trance-punk-groove-rock type’.
Based in Birmingham, SLUMBERDOG consists of Ian Langford (Percussion) , Dan Willett (Bass/synth/vocals), and Dan Alexis (Lead vocals/guitar). Together, they decided to combine their musical talents, try something different and mold together quite an unusual mix of different genres to create their own sound. I was quite excited to give their debut album, Orca, a listen and see if what they had achieved was a unique musical milestone or an out of sync mess.
Orca’s cover art.
Orca eases you in with ‘Exit Space’, a short chilled out number that reminds me a little bit of the Stone Roses. This is suddenly completely contrasted by the next two songs, ‘The Well’ and the interestingly named debut single ‘Always Is (A horse to be Reckoned With)’, a pair of powerful, chunky, slightly grungy songs which are both well sung, well played and energetic, and ones which I would be curious to see live. You can listen to Always Is (A Horse to be Reckoned with) here.
The pace slows down once again for a little bit with ‘Yours Truly’ (although supported with great backing vocals, the song is far from boring) before hitting us with another wave of dirty guitar and screaming vocals on ‘Cobra vs Honey Badger’. Finally to see the album out we have ‘Never Was (A Wreck to be Hoarsened with)’, a powerful ender to a decent album. Though they show a good sense of humour with the titles to their songs and the general attitude of the members, don’t underestimate SLUMBERDOG. They know what they are doing. – Jo
MOSH 