Jeremiah McKinley – Sing for My Supper
Genre: Folk, Americana, Garage Rock
Similar artists: The Black Keys, The Bones Of JR Jones, The White Stripes, The Lumineers, Tyler Childers
Following trends in popular music is rarely the way to build a long-lasting career or to avoid later embarrassment. Have you ever seen the likes of Mick Jagger or Def Leppard investing in animation for music videos that now look like they were drawn by an 8-year-old on their tablet? Or, what about Korn trying to jump on the dubstep bandwagon, only for the wheels to come off sound afterwards.
No, following trends, much like downing a shot of whiskey only offer a temporary solution. What you do want to do is adjust your career towards the things that have proven to be invulnerable to the passing of time.
The blues is one such thing. Sure, there are many varieties of blues. And, yes, the great Muddy Waters might not get a pop career if starting off right now. But, the values of blues electric guitar, deep grooves, and soulful vocals seem to resonate with audiences in any era.
Jeremiah McKinley knows this and demonstrates it on Sing for My Supper. It’s a mix of pop and folk that should be easy to stomach by radio and large crowds. However, at the heart of it, it proudly boasts a love for the blues.
The Town Heroes – The Walk
Genre: Pop Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Tame Impala, Arctic Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age
There’s a lot of reverse engineering being done in music. And, I’d like to boast of the fact that alternative rock bands are, usually, the very best at doing this. Yes, pop hitmakers try to write backwards in hopes of finding a tune that will be heard by millions. But, would any disco tent be complete without Smells like teen Spirit, Do I wanna know or Rock the Casbah.
It’s an interesting thing too, and one that serious musicians will always cry foul against. There will always be kids spending all their waking hours looking to learn every possible scale on their guitar. And, there’ll always be a few clever ones writing a boogie on a guitar and riding that tune all the way to the bank.
The Town Heroes reverse engineer a guitar-driven indie-rock tune on The Walk with help from their influences, the Arctic Monkeys or Queens of the Stone Age. Yes, it grooves. Yes, it has a swagger. And, we think the charts should be hearing about this soon enough.
