GUITAR PETE
''RAW DEAL''
OCTOBER 28 2011
55:47
1. Raw Deal/8:22
2. Battle Cry/5:39
3. All Fired Up/5:30
4. Gimme Back My Bullets/6:15
5. Born to Lose/5:35
6. Too Far Gone/5:11
7. Dead and Gone/5:43
8. Mudslinger/4:12
9. Love Me or I'll Kill You/9:19
REVIEW
by Evan Cater
Burning Bridges is a pretty apt title for Guitar Pete's incendiary solo debut. The artist keeps his namesake instrument blazing throughout the record, which essentially amounts to 43 minutes of gloriously shameless showboating. Pete is not a particularly talented vocalist; his booming, throaty bass is well-suited to the blues, but it would hardly earn him a recording deal on its own. On some tracks, he seems to give up entirely on the idea of singing, resorting instead to shouting the words rhythmically. Two of the album's best tracks ("J.B. Shuffle" and "Chillin'") are instrumental tunes that allow the guitar to wail for itself in a smoldering tizzy of dexterous showmanship. The album's sound is remarkably three dimensional for a three-piece band (Guitar Pete is joined by Anthony Bernardo on drums and Marc B. Gilman on bass guitar) playing a series of more or less run-of-the-mill Chicago-style blues songs. That's because Pete's fretwork is so dense and multi-faceted, letting more than a little '70s jam band influence to crash his ostensibly traditional blues party. This is particularly true in his explosive take on the familiar blues-rock tune "Mustang Sally" and in the smoky rhythm and blues number "Do You Hear the Rain." Burning Bridges is not a brilliant album; it has no pretensions to greatness. It is simply straightforward showmanship and as such it's a pleasure.
BIOGRAPHY
by Evan Cater
Pete Brasino has been playing his rock & roll-flavored brand of blues ever since he was in high school. He began to teach himself to play guitar as a 16-year-old and within six months he had become so proficient with the instrument that his classmates dubbed him Guitar Pete -- the nickname that would become his performing name. Another significant leftover from those early days is his playing style. Because he never had a guitar instructor, the left-handed musician never learned how to string the guitar the way a southpaw traditionally would. Instead, he plays upside down and backwards, holding the guitar lefty but using right-handed fingerings. Brasino's early heavy metal albums, released under the name Guitar Pete's Axe Attack, were not commercial successes, but they caught the attention of high-profile music industry professionals and eventually led to a 1994 recording deal for Brasino's band, Snakeyed Sue. The band's first record was produced by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiro, producers whose resumes included work with Blues Traveler, Guns N' Roses, and Aretha Franklin. Snakeyed Sue dissolved shortly after the album's release, but four years later, Guitar Pete returned with a solo effort Burning Bridges that provided a showcase for his powerhouse blues sound.
TO THE TOP
**********
''RAW DEAL''
OCTOBER 28 2011
55:47
1. Raw Deal/8:22
2. Battle Cry/5:39
3. All Fired Up/5:30
4. Gimme Back My Bullets/6:15
5. Born to Lose/5:35
6. Too Far Gone/5:11
7. Dead and Gone/5:43
8. Mudslinger/4:12
9. Love Me or I'll Kill You/9:19
REVIEW
by Evan Cater
Burning Bridges is a pretty apt title for Guitar Pete's incendiary solo debut. The artist keeps his namesake instrument blazing throughout the record, which essentially amounts to 43 minutes of gloriously shameless showboating. Pete is not a particularly talented vocalist; his booming, throaty bass is well-suited to the blues, but it would hardly earn him a recording deal on its own. On some tracks, he seems to give up entirely on the idea of singing, resorting instead to shouting the words rhythmically. Two of the album's best tracks ("J.B. Shuffle" and "Chillin'") are instrumental tunes that allow the guitar to wail for itself in a smoldering tizzy of dexterous showmanship. The album's sound is remarkably three dimensional for a three-piece band (Guitar Pete is joined by Anthony Bernardo on drums and Marc B. Gilman on bass guitar) playing a series of more or less run-of-the-mill Chicago-style blues songs. That's because Pete's fretwork is so dense and multi-faceted, letting more than a little '70s jam band influence to crash his ostensibly traditional blues party. This is particularly true in his explosive take on the familiar blues-rock tune "Mustang Sally" and in the smoky rhythm and blues number "Do You Hear the Rain." Burning Bridges is not a brilliant album; it has no pretensions to greatness. It is simply straightforward showmanship and as such it's a pleasure.
BIOGRAPHY
by Evan Cater
Pete Brasino has been playing his rock & roll-flavored brand of blues ever since he was in high school. He began to teach himself to play guitar as a 16-year-old and within six months he had become so proficient with the instrument that his classmates dubbed him Guitar Pete -- the nickname that would become his performing name. Another significant leftover from those early days is his playing style. Because he never had a guitar instructor, the left-handed musician never learned how to string the guitar the way a southpaw traditionally would. Instead, he plays upside down and backwards, holding the guitar lefty but using right-handed fingerings. Brasino's early heavy metal albums, released under the name Guitar Pete's Axe Attack, were not commercial successes, but they caught the attention of high-profile music industry professionals and eventually led to a 1994 recording deal for Brasino's band, Snakeyed Sue. The band's first record was produced by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiro, producers whose resumes included work with Blues Traveler, Guns N' Roses, and Aretha Franklin. Snakeyed Sue dissolved shortly after the album's release, but four years later, Guitar Pete returned with a solo effort Burning Bridges that provided a showcase for his powerhouse blues sound.
TO THE TOP
**********
