One Man’s Ode To The Classics – The Forthcoming Debut From Alf Red.

Alf Red – Bristol, England, United Kingdom.

Alf Red is the brain child of Bristol native Natt Davis, it’s a project that other than taking the form of live band from time to time, is written, recorded, scrutinised and re-recorded and mixed by the young man himself, an approach that awards complete creative control.

The debut self-tiled album will be released on the 1st July and is now available to pre-order from various digital platforms, which we will post below but for now, more about the album is needed.

Influences: ‘The Zombies, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, David Bowie, Syd Barrett, Deep Purple, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Wolfmother’.

Natt grew up on the records of his father and strong influence from the Blues, Garage Rock & Pop, Heavy Rock and Psychedelia from the 60’s and 70’s which regardless of our personal tastes, shaped a great deal of the modern music we know and love.

The opening bassline on ‘Mirrors’ is misleading, leading you to expect something in the Punk or Heavy Rock vein, but it still holds fast despite the screeching guitar’s brief flirtation with volume in this modern take on Psychedelic Rock, with it’s penchant for The Beatles merged with dark and heavy Blues-Rock.

Despite it’s duration it leads perfectly into ‘Trees’, which again sports the deep bass rumble and Psychedelia but this time with a more Garage Rock format that’s entertaining but leaves you with a feeling of uncertain familiarity.

‘Sweet Refrain’ is the Classic Rock you were expecting with clear influence from The Rolling Stones, while ‘Sometimes’ although slightly off putting in the length of it’s air time, takes the Classic Rock of the former and blends it through a Folk stylistic.

‘The Sound’ is one of the tracks previewed by Alf Red and with it’s modern take on Led Zeppelin, with a dose of Wolfmother, a bluesy rumble and lengthy but oh-so satisfying old-school guitar solo, it’s an album highlight.

Whether I’m right in saying this or not, ‘Wishing Well’ shows arguable influence from Flea and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and could easily be a b-side to The Uplift Mofo Party Plan and the pepper’s (possibly) drug induced Psychedelic Funk-Punk of back in the day.

If there’s one consistent criticism of Alf Red, it’s the track length of tracks such as ‘The Divide’. Musically, it’s what you’ve come to expect, it doesn’t boast anything new but does carry some impressive vocal howls of again, obvious Led Zeppelin influence.

The ending of the track is somewhat of a redeemer but overall, despite being well constructed, the length and similarity to many of the other tracks, leaves it as mid-album filler.

‘When the Rain Comes’ is very much a “sat in the sun with something to smoke and some beer” number, with the a slight possibility of it being your traveling in the middle of nowhere soundtrack at the same time in it’s attractive Country Rock sleaze.

‘Walked Out’ holds the line with a “western” guitar, piano and fluttering Harmonica while you sit in the corner of the saloon wondering where that kid is with your money.

The penultimate, ‘Just Cause’, aims for a more Lo-Fi approach that sits somewhere between the slower-end of Grunge and the dirty Blues-Rock we’ve already seen but is let down by the drum mixing on this one, as it’s a little too prominent compared to the subdued vocals and other instrumentals.

Again however, Alf Red’s guitar work acts as a redeemer in the latter parts of the track before ‘Magic’ takes over to guide it all home. ‘Magic’ epitomises the ambitiousness of these twelve tracks by incorporating the stylistics of the album as whole into one last foray before a well deserved rest.

Find all things Alf Red below:

• For updates, head to Facebook, Twitter and the Official Website.
• For pre-orders of this debut, head to bandcamp, iTunes for digital copies and the Official Website for hard copy CDs.
• Alf Red is due to drop on the 1st July 2016 so make a note in your diary, with the release available on both Amazon and Spotify post-release.

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