100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 12: Gravel Road
Please check out Verity Credit Union, our great partner in the 100 Bands in 100 Days local music showcase.
Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, get ready for our fifth annual year-end daily local music showcase, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’re showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about, once again presented by Verity Credit Union.
Make sure you are checking the #100Bands100Days hashtag on Twitter on a daily basis to stay on top of all the bands featured and be sure to follow Verity and NW_Music_Scene there. Some days the featured act could be an established and locally-adored northwest-based musician and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the spotlight yet. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new favorites. Today’s featured artist is Gravel Road.
About the band:
Gravel Road is a Seattle band that blends the trance of North Mississippi Hill Country blues with the fuzz and power of heavy rock and roll. Stoner jams and tight rockers melt with their signature Hill-Country Blues style on Gravel Road’s seventh studio album Mississippi Time, released in June of 2018 via Knick Knack Records.
When we reviewed Mississippi Time back in June we said:
For the those of you who dig sludgy landscapes of reverb-soaked guitars and hypnotic rhythms that challenge your senses, prepare to be satiated by Mississippi Time, the seventh studio album from Seattle based heavy blues rockers Gravel Road. The new tracks were recorded and mixed during the fall of 2016 at Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi, hence the title. This is an important point because this is not a delta blues album in the traditional sense, but rather a reflection of the new Memphis underground and the very far left of center world of the movement deemed “Deep Blues.” The quartet delivers a full on symphonic garage rock sonic that explores all the sounds possible with two guitars, bass and drums.
The opening track “My Baby’s Tryin’” is a rumbling one-chord boogie that evokes images of Howling Wolf mashed up with The Velvet Underground. The greasy “Roll Me Like A Stone,” works over a Jimmy Page inspired guitar riff until its beaten into bloody submission. The first of two tracks that weigh in at over seven minutes “Demonstar,” is a thick paste of psychedelic wallpaper, that bookends two minute quickstep tracks, the fuzz rocker “Get It Right,” and the scorching Hill Country Blues “Left Me Twice,” before the Black Sabbath goes to Clarksdale stoner jam “149 Delta.” The almost conventional tome of lost love “Bleeding Well,” closes the set with some very tasty slide guitar and sorrowful vocals.
If you like your blues a little bit on the heavier side, Gravel Road is one you have to check out. You can listen to them HERE and we have little doubt you’ll be a fan instantly.
Catch them live:
They’ll be playing on October 13 at Tractor Tavern with Greyhounds and The Witness. Get more show information HERE.
Listen:
Find the band at:
Submissions for 100 Bands in 100 Days are still open to any Pacific Northwest band interested in submitting. If you would like to submit for a chance to be featured in this segment, consult this link for more information on how you can do so.
A huge shoutout to Verity Credit Union for doing so much for the music community and for being such a great partner.
