Sometimes the best kind of music to listen to is just plain pop rock. The songs may not be out to change the world, but the listener can just sit back and let the fun sounds ease their problems away. We were introduced to a Canadian band lately that brings the best of this all to their energetic music. Welcome to the Rock Garden.
The Ontario based band combines a retro classic rock style with jazz and blues turned up to be fun and bouncy. The band is made up of Terrance Dawson: Lead Vocals and Guitars, Zsuzsana Dawson: Keyboard and Vocals, Adam Clarke: Vocals and back up instruments and Ray Porrill: Percussion. The band members have quite a large age range which helps them draw from a huge amount of influences and makes them hard to pigeonhole. They have been compared to The Romantics and The Knack before. I also had a memory of The Gin Blossoms creeping in when I listened to their catalog.
The band is now preparing to release their self-titled debut album Rock Garden. The album is full of guitar driven power-pop that is perfect for blasting out of a convertible as you drive down the coast. There are fun jangly odes to Las Vegas with the tracks ‘Fremont Street’ and ‘Vegas’ Rock garden is also able to slow it down and show off some introspective lyrics on the song ‘Been Here Before’. The lead track and perhaps best of the album is ‘Wanna Be Bad’. The guitar riff grabs your attention right from the start forcing you to stand up and pay some attention. A bridge comes in to stop you in your tracks for a moment before a powerful guitar solo reminiscent of the late 1970’s. This is a pretty complete song.
Go get an advance listen to the album for yourself at: