Ooh, I love a bit of old-fashioned, honest-as-dirt rock, so it’s with refreshing delight that Bath band Sergeant Thunderhoof find their way into my car stereo. What immediately grabs you is the way this band hold themselves, the whole album feels and sounds totally in control, this is a band that knows exactly where they are going, and it sounds accomplished and polished throughout.
If you like your music a little harder than average this will be right up your street, with enough rasp in the vocals and more fuzz than a teenage disco, there are lots to enjoy here.
I’ve been told that this music is psych-rock, I’ll admit I’m not one for pigeon-holing bands with genres – and I’m not entirely sure what psych-rock is – I’m tempted to think of Jimi Hendrix, Cream and Pink Floyd, but those acts don’t really describe what is going on within the eight songs on offer here. Sure, there are powerful, well played guitar solos, some chugging bass and changes in rhythm styles within songs, a little like what Cream and Pink Floyd were so good at but to limit them to one genre is a little restrictive.
What I’ll say is this, it’s good.
The vocals sit somewhere in a sing-smoothie of James Hetfield, Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy and Bruce Dickinson and shows a range that some professional singers would envy, often rock music is won and lost on the singer’s ability to deliver and in this case, it’s a hands-down victory for the boys from Bath. The vocals sit proud as a peacock above a very good group of musicians. Underpinning the grunt, sweat and bluster is the drummer, some fantastic work is done in the engine room of the band and, like I touched on before, often the drummer is doing some interesting work, changing the rhythm and style of the song, it’s no mean feat and it sounds easy. The bass sits well too, making use of effects and choosing a different path to the typical rounded sound that is often used in today’s music, another example of a well thought out decision.
Then we find ourselves at the feet of the guitarist… at times I can hear John Petrucci from Dream Theater in the tones and feel of the guitar playing, needless to say, it works, the whole package sits together so well that you feel in good hands, the solos are faultless, and the rhythm work is steady, leaving the right amount of space for the music to gel.
The album opens with a smack to the head, there’s no shy introduction, no brief explanation of what to expect next, just four fellas doing what they do best and the challenge to climb on board or stay at the station and throw stones into an empty cup. Easy choice really, get your ass on board and buckle up because it’s a nice, long journey and hey, you might even enjoy yourself along the way!
Give them a Google or go to their BandCamp page and help yourself to a slice of Sergeant Thunderhoof.
It’s very easy to judge books by covers, or in this case bands by titles and upon seeing both the name of the band and the album, I have to confess that thoughts of some sort of dreadlocked, hippie-esque, stoner alt-dance did immediately set off warning bells in my brain. And whilst they do occasionally work some wonderfully heavy and pulsating, psi-trance style electronica through the middle of their songs, there is so much more going on here.
I didn’t realise that bands were still making music like this but I’m rather glad that they are. In an age where punk seems largely about rose-tinted nostalgia trips, alt-rock is all about getting just the right brand of skinny jeans and the this week’s complicated hair style and metal has long become a parody of itself, it seems as if the heavier end of music has been subsumed by imposters and chancers, retro-gazers and pastiche plunderers. Thankfully bands like Bitter Grounds pop up with just enough frequency to give us heart and stay true to the ragged, rock and roll cause.
Revelling in the past is all very well and good but the best music, or at least the most original, seems to be made as people move things forward. It’s evolution, it’s forward-thinking, it is the way the world turns. 
Music is made for many different reasons. It can be fun, celebratory and throw-away, it can be deep, meaningful and poignant, it can be everything in between. More and more often I am find an increasing amount of music coming my way that feels driven to comment on the nature of the world around us and I ask myself why that is. Is it that the world is indeed a darker and more unequal world these days, is it that injustices are better reported and so is informing the man in the street in a way that wasn’t possible in the past. Is it because many artists are again seeking the power of a platform to make themselves heard rather than merely chasing the hollow and transient music industry rewards. I suspect that the answer is all of the above.
It is one thing to use the age old line that music saved you, acted as a form of redemption and was the catalyst to turn your life around. It is a concept that has become so linked to the back story of a middle-class, comforted and closeted pop wannabe on TV talent shows that it has lost a lot of its meaning. But when 
Imagine if jazz had evolved from the New Romantic synth experimentation of the late 70’s or that punk had been instigated after the invention of the affordable synthesiser or even that computers had been programmed to write acoustic pop songs. All unlikely scenarios for sure but each of those does say something about the three tracks that make up 
As 
With her previous album being well received amongst critics and buyers alike and the double single of Hurtin’ /Dreamer already hinting at the delicate folk goodness that her second full album was going to deliver, Arrow’s promotional work had largely already been done for it. Definitely a case of a product being able to sell itself. 
Coming very much from the acoustic folk tradition, Are You Okay? blends the hallmarks of two of the genres biggest successes. There is something in the song’s minimalist beat and of course the gentle harmonica washes, that reminds us of a smoother and more delicate take on His Bobness…The Zimmerman… that’s Mr Dylan to you. Also the deft touches and the space in the song tips its hat to Simon and Garfunkel’s balladic brilliance. It skirts through the vicinity of a number of other reference points, such as Ryan Adams iconic debut, Heartbreaker, but remains more of an urban, underground coffee shop sound rather than that of a rural, country approach, or perhaps the bridge between the two worlds.
