Who are Idlewar?
Idlewar are a 3 piece band from Orange County (California not the super tanned Essex).
If your only experience of Orange County is a gritty teenage drama with a broody lead who can't act then here's some musical history for you.
Orange County has brought us Tim Buckley, RX Bandits, Avenged Sevenfold, The Offspring and many others.... and No Doubt. O.k so it's not perfect, but the sin of allowing No Doubt to exist can be forgiven. The musical output from O.C has been good and Idlewar are no exception.
They are made up of vocalist and bassist James Blake, Guitarist Rick Graham and Drummer Pete Pagonis and play riff driven ass kickin' heavy rock. 2/3 of them have beards, so they're more Rock than you.... deal with it.
They're likened to AC/DC, Clutch, Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters on their website and these are fair comparisons to make. Thankfully, unlike Foo Fighters, their e.p has more than 1 rehashed song on it. (Oooh I'm so controversial)
Since releasing they're e.p Dig In they've visibly gained traction in the U.K having had air time on Planet Rock radio and are shortly to announce a U.K tour. We here on these isles know good music when we hear it.
So for any UK readers keep and eye on their website for tour info and buy a ticket, this may be a band you could tell your kids you saw before they became a household name.
The E.P - Dig In
I'm going to give a brief overview of the tracks with the videos where possible. Where they are not I hope i say just enough to entice you to listen.
The E.P opens with Chunk of me, a strong track with a driving chugging riff throughout, short, sweet and effective.
This then leads into the excellent Out of my Head. Musically, it follows the lyrical theme and has a great solo. Idlewar have just released a video of this track which you can watch here.
Eleventeen is an absolutely storming track. This was Planet Rock's playing choice and you can see why, it has the right song length and head nodding qualities required for radio.
Feel the pain is my personal favourite. It's a slow sludgy track with a vocal performance reminiscent of Robert Plant. The guitar parts for me, are really well thought out and overall it's class throughout.
The final track, Stronger, reminds me in parts of Tool, which can never be a bad thing, but the chugging riff and then lead guitar part is very effective.
Why are Idlewar so Good?
As an initial E.P it makes me excited to think how Idlewar will develop song writing wise, as these songs already display great strength.
As someone who has generally eclectic tastes I have still found myself navigating towards the more hardcore heavy side of music over the last few years. Idlewar have brought me back to my roots. It's no coincidence that having listened to this E.P, I've also dusted off my Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Skynyrd and Alice in Chains albums, all bands I've never lost an love for, but that have been missing from my C.D player recently.
Idlewar bring together so many great genres. There are classic rock quality vocal performances. The guitarist brings together sludge, groove, grunge, straight rock styles brilliantly to create driving attention grabbing riffs and interesting solos. The rhythm section throughout are not just their to play paint by numbers rock as so many bands do nowadays, it's tight, skilful and interesting.
I can't wait to see them in the U.K, in the mean time click here and buy the E.P in preparation.
Follow them on twitter @idlewar
Follow me on twitter @simjonny
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