John Blek & the Rats- Leave Your Love At The Doo

hassy

John Blek & The Rats

The fantastic new album 'Leave Your Love At The Door' available to pre – order on iTunes from April 26th and in stores May 3rd.

www.johnblekandtherats.com
http://breakingtunes.com/johnblekandtherats

John Blek & The Rats are a six-piece folk and country group from Cork City whose infectious brand of American influenced balladry has travelled up and down the roads of Ireland, the UK and Europe for the last 2 years.

The debut album 'Leave Your Love At The Door' was mostly recorded in Monique studios under the watchful eye of producer Christian Best. For some songs the band also steered clear of normal routes of play and opted for a more make-shift approach to recording in front man John O' Connors house.

Armed with only a handful of microphones, the group took over John’s living-room and kitchen, The Rats embraced the ramshackle approach to this style of recording, emulating the records of old and capturing the truth of a group in a live setting. These late night recordings can be heard in the likes of the boisterous "Lord Don't Leave Me", where a blatant assortment of hand claps and whiskey bottle percussion can be heard alongside unruly group vocals and dueling piano and violin.

With sessions lasting well into the early hours, the dawns break captured a more reflective John Blek. It was here, in the living-room with the curtains closed and the sun rising outside, that the band cut the title track "Leave Your Love at The Door", an atmospheric ballad of coming to terms with a forlorn hope of love, in an endeavor to avoid repeating the same mistakes, over and over.

Throughout the sessions for the album John Blek & the Rats also completed an Irish and UK tour and appeared at festivals throughout Ireland. The Cork band gathered many favorable reviews and a growing anticipation for their debut release along the way.

"Kilkenny Roots Festival isn't about the big moment. It's about stumbling around town between deep drafts of local brew Smithwicks, hearing a bluegrass or rockabilly or folk or jug band seeping through the doorways of minuscule bars. It's about discovery of bands like John Blek & The Rats” MOJO

"Not since BOB LOG III's Clonakilty Guitar Fest debut have a band created such a feverish buzz of anticipation!!. . . get ready for some insanely debaucherous footstompin' lunacy" De Barras.ie

“John Blek & The Rats brought a charming Americana folk sound to the Circus Tent on Friday for one the music highlights of the weekend.” 2 U I Bestow, Knockanstockan 2012

'Hand On My Heart' (Track 7) is out April 7th. 'Leave Your Love At The Door' out May 3rd.

For live dates see www.johnblekandtherats.com

For more information please contact: Andrea Keogh (press) andrea@keoghpublicity.com or Josephine Nestor (radio) jospehine.nestor@gmail.com

hassy

REVIEW FROM GOLDENPLEC:
“The night life ain’t a good life/ But it’s my life” – Willie Nelson’s ‘take it or leave it’ lyric is enough to summarise ‘Leave Your Love At The Door’, the debut album from Cork band John Blek & The Rats. Steeped in rootsy Americana, this fine mid-tempo collection treads those same heartworn highways as the influences that Blek wears on his sleeve. Themes of alcoholism, love, lust and regret are dispensed with weary, resigned ease by the band, as Blek walks us through tales of admission, repentance and back to good ‘ol fashioned guilt.

References to drinking and addiction abound, but that’s not to say this is a downbeat trip. That irresistible lap steel guitar that weaves around everything on the album makes itself known straight off the bat with Take Me Home, before the song lifts off halfway through and shuffles gleefully to its destination. A Hawaiian heat shimmer raises its head every now and again, lilting on Cities Keep Changing with its lyric of “I wish that I could watch you weep and/ Trap your tears for me to keep/ ‘Cos everything that you secrete/ Is better than I could hope to be”, intimate in the strangest way.

Please Remain The Same continues the theme as Blek repeats “It’s over now/ I got Shanghaied by you” with gospel-like backing vocals. And it’s a beauty. When the music soars like this it’s worth all the heartache, John. There are echoes of Gram Parsons through the hopeless, selfish admissions of Rosie – “Rosie I don’t love you/ I just use you for your skin/ It’s soft as water I’m drowning in you/ And I’m burning up in sin.” Again, on Leave Your Love At The Door , Parsons casts a sequined shadow over a duet of an illicit encounter – “Leave your ring on the bedside table / Leave love at the door/ Leave your child in its rocking cradle/ Leave love at the door” – Gram & Emmylou sweeping out the ashes in the morning, as the male and female vocals intertwine.

Blek instils things with a contemporary slant, though, from the Conor Oberst waver in his voice to the Blitzen Trapper folk of Hand On My Heart. Crucify Me manages to be a playful romp despite the self-flagellation, with a rumble-tumble drum line and a walkalong bassline to keep it company along the road to redemption. An equally rowdy Lord! Don’t Leave Me has the same foot-tapping effect. The confessional is never far away, though; Don’t Take The Road I’ve Taken nods to Neil Young, and the song rumbles as if there’s a thunderstorm brewing in the background, held at bay by the counterpoint of some fine backing vocals and steel guitar.

Despite the age-old country preoccupations of addiction, deliverance, and blessed sin, there is never a moment of pessimism – this is the chosen path. By the time we reach the swansong we’re right there with the band at the bar, thirsts whetted, and as an album closer The Barman, The Barfly, And Me is not so much a farewell as an invitation to stay on after hours – “You see what flows through my veins/ Is unholy and inhumane/ But Momma I’ll never change/ not even for you.” The night life ain’t a good life… but this one isn’t for changing.
http://www.goldenplec.com/john-blek-...e-door-review/

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http://www.hotpress.com/John-Blek--T...l?new_layout=1

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http://wearenoise.com/index.php/2013/04/john-blek-the-rats-debut-album-tour-dates/

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John Blek & The Rats

Debut Album

'Leave Your Love At The Door'

IS OUT TODAY

Available from:
iTunes
Tower Records, Dublin
Plugged Records, Cork
Crowleys Music Store, Cork
Rollercoater Records, Kilkenny
Wingnut Music, Galway
Dingle Record Store, Kerry
Head Music Centre, Belfast
www.johnblekandtherats.com

'LEAVE YOUR LOVE AT THE DOOR' ALBUM TOUR DATES:
5th May- Kilkenny Rhythm & Roots.
17th May- The White Horse, Balincollig.
7th June- The Grand Social, Dublin.
8th June- Donellys, Omagh.
9th June- The Empire, Belfast.
15th June- The Pavilion, Cork.
28th June- Kenny's, Lahinch.
29th June- McCarthy's, Dingle.
5th July- The Greyhound, Kilkee.
6th July- Upstairs @ The Townhouse, Galway

Follow the band on twitter: @jblekandtherats

hassy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNz-QxuSAK0