THE INSOMNIACS "LEFT COAST BLUES" Source: Jazz & Blues Report Date: 0/12008 Writer: Mark Smith

Oh great. A chance to review the new disc by a bunch of young hot shots touted as the “next big thing” to save
the blues scene. That, or watch paint dry. Hmmm, tough choice but I watched paint dry last week so I guess this disc goes for a spin. Wow, hold the snarky judgment, it’s eat crow time. In a rare bit of truth in advertising, this disc lives up to its billing and more.

This four piece Portland, Oregon based band featuring Vyasa Dodson vocals and guitar, Dean Mueller on bass,
Alex Shakeri on keyboards and Dave Melyan on drums has crafted a disc that hits all the right notes from beginning to end. While the band has a decided retro sound, it performs with the enthusiasm of discovery rather than the caution of reverence. In other words, this baby smokes. Leading the charge is Dodson who channels Stevie Ray Vaughan one moment, I’m Not Sorry, and Hollywood Fats or Alex Schultz the next, Stick Around, all the while sounding uncannily like Tommy Castro on vocals. Dodson clearly knows his way around the guitar and makes his Telecaster sing its brittle song most prominently on the Tex-Mex cha cha groove of I Got Money.

The rest of the band deserves equal credit for the strength of this release with Alex Shakeri’s work on piano and keyboards adding greatly to the mix with everything from the chill out grooves of Serves Me Right to the rollicking barrel house piano found on I’ll Treat You Right and on one of the bonus live tracks, No Wine, No Women. While the band favors upbeat jump style blues, Be Quiet, it is equally adept at Chuck Berry rockers, as channeled by the Beatles, circa the Hamburg Club, Watch Your Mouth (which cribs a few licks from the Saber Dance) and even cheesy soundtrack instrumentals, Crime Scene. While I doubt there is any band out there that can single handedly change the popular perception of the blues as repetitious and stuck in the “baby done me wrong/lost my job/the bottle bit me” lyric trap, the widespread exposure that this disc deserves should at least start the discussion.