Daniel James has been a good friend to us here at OKR over the years, and when he hit me up on Insta about this new EP, I was like, hell yeah… let’s go!! This four-song EP called ‘Ghosts of the Past‘ is a power-poppin’… trashy garage rockin’ ripper from start to finish… three originals and a kick-ass cover of the song “Drunk Like Me” by one of Daniel’s favorite bands, The Dogs D’Amour. The gang here is an all-star cast of some of Milwaukee’s best musicians with Mary Joy (Sex Scenes) on bass, Pauly Hollywood (Rocket Bureau) on drums/percussion, and some backing vocals Geoff Palmer(The Connection/The Guts) , Jackie Lemaire, and Justin Telephone (Chinese Telephones).
As with all my reviews, I usually talk about a few tracks that stand out… well… there are only four songs on this EP… so I’ll just keep it at two for ya this time. After my first few listens while driving around the city, picking up candy and some cool holiday decorations from Five Below, and slamming a shake and a chili dog from a Leon’s nearby… the first song that stuck in my head was the “Artificial Romance” a killer song about Ai sucking ass along with some amazing backing vocals that have ya boppin around pretty good, and then the next song that had me going was “Insanity” which is a nice track that made me thinking about how i couldn’t get that damn chili dog outta my head no matter how hard I tried but by that time I was already back home. Leon’s rules. Back to the music…. Daniel’s got them riffs galore on this EP…. you know… just shreddin’ ala Johnny Thunders kinda stuff where it’s needed… while still keeping with that power-poppin’… glammy… trashy rock we all love.
This is a great little EP right here… really interested in listening to more in the future though. Life always seems good when our buddies are producing some new rockin’ tunes that still kick ass. Check it out if you’re sick of all that far too much polished stuff that’s out there right now and want some of that gritty and grimy rock’n ‘ roll goodness that only The Daniel James Gang is putting out. Oh, and to all of you here in the Milwaukee area… check em out at Sabattic on Thurs. November 5th w/ Nico Bones, and Wet Denim.
Here’s the full list of upcoming shows:
11/5 MKE @sabbaticmke
11/6 Stevens Point, WI @pabscycling
11/7 Minneapolis, MN @dustysbiggreenbooth
Links of interest:
https://www.instagram.com/danieljamesgang/
https://danieljamesgang.bandcamp.com/album/ghosts-of-the-past
