THE INSOMNIACS "LEFT COAST BLUES" Source: Blues & Rhythm Magazine Date: 09/2007 Writer: Tony Watson

When the reviews editor thrust this into my car player a couple of weeks ago and asked me what I thought, I replied that I thought it was “okay-ish”. “Right”, he said, “you can review it”. I groaned inwardly at the thought of yet another modern-day outfit who think they’re the latest answer to a blues listener’s prayers.

I must admit, it lay on my shelf for over a week, but when I could think of no more excuses for not playing it, I put it on and . . . the album has hardly been off for the last three days. I’m impressed!

The Insomniacs are a quartet from Portland, Oregon, led by 25 year-old guitarist/vocalist Vyasa Dodson, who also has penned all the titles on the album (At least that’s what the sleeve says, however read on). Some of the songs are good, very good indeed. Rooted in the ‘West-Coast Swing’ tradition as practised by bands such as Little Charlie, Rod Piazza and Hollywood Fats, the band take the music from there and add a few ingredients of their own. The rest of the band consists of Dean Mueller on bass, Alex Shakari, keys and Dave Melyan on drums. Together they cook up some great music, ranging from down-in-the-alley blues such as ‘Stuttering Blues’, through to jumping dance-inducing numbers such as ‘Crime Scene’, ‘Shake The Chandelier’ and the great opener, ‘Stick Around’. In between they draw influences from a variety of sources, Chicago blues, rock & roll and even a little jazz thrown in for good measure.

An excellent guitar player, Dodson pays homage to the greats, such as T-Bone and Pete Lewis without once sounding slavishly imitating, but still fresh and original, no mean feat, I can tell you!

The bonus cuts were recorded live before a wildly appreciative crowd in Hollywood, California in March this year, including the one non-original number, ‘No Wine, No Women’, the old Joe ‘Google Eyes’ August blues shout – although the Insomniacs souped-up version is far removed from August’s jump-blues version.
I like this band; hopefully someone will fetch them across at some point to play the UK festival scene. They will definitely get any crowd up on their feet!