Band: Cowboy MessiahTitle: American Zen
Released:2006
Tracks: 14
Recorded at: The White Room, Detroit Mi
Recorded by: John Smerek
Band Members: Andrew Lindblom (guitars and vocals); Tommy Lee Torgerson (drums, harmonica, percussion); Jason "J" Peters (bass)
Click "read more" for the review.
Like many first time releases, Cowboy Messiah’s “American Zen” moves in a lot of different directions, the band not quite having settled on any particular sound. There are cow-punk, rockabilly, beer-hall anthems (Little Late For Me, Rhythm Of The Night, Ballad of Bobby Badass), a disco-tinged instrumental jam (Innerphonic), some standard pop-rock fare, (I Want Mine) a quasi-ska number sans the horns (Watch It Burn), and another that just tries to rock your face off (Fight Song).
It’s in that last category that Cowboy Messiah seem to shine, particularly on a hidden extra called “Rock & Roll Band”. The raw energy and thrust of that track leaves little time for pretense, pumping your ears like a bad boy on a good girl for a minute-fifty-four, leaving you breathless and grateful for the pounding.
"The thing about Rock n' Roll Band is it was never supposed to end up on the album at all," bassist Jason Peters wrote in a recent e-mail. "Andy wrote the music to a Shel Silverstien poem we all knew growing up and it's just a lot of fun to play. It's actually the cut that sounds closest to the way we do, but we only recorded it because we were in the studio and it seemed stupid not to. It didn't really cost us anything extra because it literally took about 4 minutes to lay down and mix."
Funny how those last-minute additions can steal the whole show.
Still, at fourteen tracks on a debut record from an unknown band, there’s a few that probably should have been left on the cutting room floor (Ripped Off, Summer Girls, Waking Up Alone, Little Girl, Hey You) or released on an entirely different disc under another name (as other locals bands hedge their bets). With their inclusion, “American Zen” feels a bit incongruous, like two different bands fighting for the same space. One’s unsure and self-conscious, singing sweetheart melodies and strumming a clean guitar, and the other is shooting speedballs and turning the amps up to eleven. In a good rock & roll band, evil almost always wins out.
Recorded in whirlwind five days by John Smerek at renowned White Room Studios, “American Zen” is probably a bit looser than it should be in spots, but you can probably chock that up to the lack of a budget more than any weakness in the production. A few more cuts of a vocal track might have quashed a wobble or two or tightened a lead. But according to bassist Jason Peters, it was the bands intent to capture the trio’s raw sound.
“Andy was very concerned with the purity of the album, and was reluctant to stray too far from what we can do live as a trio,” Peters wrote. “So in mixing the album, we didn't use as much reverb or other window dressings as you are likely to find on most studio albums.”
Cowboy Messiah is just beginning to witness to the masses, so it will be interesting to find out if their message will endure, or if they’ll be crucified by the Detroit music scene like so many false prophets before them.
- Mitch Phillips
Track Listing:
- Too Late For Me
- I Want Mine
- Ripped Off
- Waking Up Alone
- Mt. Everest
- Fight Song
- Summer Girls
- The Ballad Of Bobby Badass
- Innerphonic
- Broken Hearted
- Rhythm Of The NIght
- Little Girl
- Hey You
- Watch It Burn
Hear Cowboy Messiah on Myspace
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Just for fun, check out www.americanzen.com. I googled it.