Craving Strange’s Angeline
By Seth M
Today I sit here working my “real” job from home and that means I can catch up on some new music listening as well as reviews for you Flashwounders.
After a couple of less-than-stellar listenings today I noticed I had a link to a 2 song EP by Craving Strange. First, let me say I discovered this band through some friends a couple of years ago. They were playing locally so I went to check them out and was pleasantly surprised. I can be really hard on bands (you know this if you read my stuff) but these guys had great energy and stage presence, obviously loved what they do, had fun doing it, and honestly fucking ROCKED!
That’s a combo that’s tough to beat and very hard to translate from a club and onto a download (or CD even). With their first album, Savior Self, they did it ~ they were able to take what they do live and get it into tunes like “Keepers are Killers,” “Out The Window,” “It’s Life,” and what I would consider their live anthem, “Tonight We Die For.”
The band in 2012 ~ photo by Lori Doll Photography (loridoll.com) and courtesy of facebook.com/cravingstrangefans
Craving Strange formed in Amityville, NY in 2008 continued to rock while being compared to bands like Jimmy Eats World, Incubus and one of my personal favorites, The Foo Fighters. The band consists of two Jimmys (one on vocals, one on drums), a Matt (guitar) and a Tommy (bass); these four guys make some rocking music that catches people’s attention.
They’ve shared the stage with a couple of bands you may have heard of ~ Brand New, Candlebox, Buckcherry, Adema, Queensryche, Andrew WK, Cinderella, 38 Special, Skid Row, Ace Frehley, Taproot, Eye Empire (whom I recently reviewed for Flashwounds), and others. They even opened up the stage at the Bamboozle Festival for Bon Jovi. Like I said, they caught some people’s attention.
One of those people was the 6 time Grammy Award winning producer Rob Jacobs. Jacobs may be best known for his work with The Eagles but his credits included everyone from Blues Travelers and Kiss to Sheryl Crow and U2.
This brings us to today and the 2 song EP produced by Jacobs. The two tracks, “Angeline” and “Breathe,” are both a little bit of a departure from that 1st album. You can check out the official video for “Angeline” HERE.
This time around, the guys took a more refined/mainstream approach which I jokingly call “Craving Country” as it definitely has some crossover appeal. “Breathe” is a more high energy rock tune with Matt providing some killer guitar work (as he does throughout most of their music).
If some well-written, solid rock-n-roll is what you’re craving, then check out the Craving Strange website where you can get a free download. I’d be surprised if you were disappointed ~ and assuming you’re not, then get drawn into the Strange world on Facebook and then head over to CD Baby or iTunes and keep on rocking.