Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages self-titled debut studio album was recently released via The Players Club/Mascot Label Group, and they’ve just issued their third single and video taken from the album, ‘Ricochet Rabbit’.
‘Ricochet Rabbit’ follows previous singles, ‘Samosas & Kingfishers’ and ‘A Day in L.A.’, that you can check out videos for both here at RAMzine.
As a founding member of The Doors, guitarist Robby Krieger knows that when you assemble the right bunch of musicians, and trust in the creative process, magic happens.
Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages was recorded old school style with a bunch of friends jamming and recording in a relaxed studio setting. Tracked at Krieger’s own Love Street Studios in Glendale, California, it finds him stretching out over cinematic groove music inspired by classic soul, 1960s jazz, blues, rock, psychedelic rock, and beyond.
“I’ve had this studio for the last six or seven years, and it’s really made me branch out as a musician,” Krieger said. “We wrote together, and soul music became a big part of this album. These guys are world-class players They’ve worked with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Kahn, Lenny Kravitz – They have that great groove pedigree.”
A Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Krieger is listed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. He wrote or co-wrote many of The Doors’ most enduring compositions, including ‘Light My Fire’, ‘Love Me Two Times’, ‘Touch Me’, and ‘Love Her Madly’. Since the 1970s, he has emerged as as successful jazz-fusion guitarist with a well-received catalogue of solo albums, including the Grammy-nominated record Singularity. He has also remained active jamming with artists such as Gov’t Mule and Alice In Chains. Recently, he released the revealing memoir Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors.
Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages is said to be briming with the guitarist’s celebrated fingerstyle fretwork, including adventurous jazzy and microtonal slide guitar playing; slinky, funk-inspired rhythm work; and silky Wes Montgomery-style octave playing. The 10 song album explores the soul-jazz, dirty blues, and noir-ish roots of The Doors while also furthering Krieger’s career as a jazz-fusion guitarist.
“This band inspired a style of playing I hadn’t done in a while, and it also inspired me to do new things. For example, in the past, I reserved my slide playing for more of the bluesy stuff, but I stretched out on the album playing slide over jazz, funk, and soul grooves. I want to keep evolving, and these guys really inspire me.”
Joining Krieger on this all-instrumental odyssey of psych-rock soul are top-shelf composers, instrumentalists, and bandmates. Bassist-songwriter Kevin ‘Brandino’ Brandon co-wrote and recorded with Krieger on the Singularity album, and has won over half a dozen Grammy awards as well as three Emmy awards. His extensive resume includes credits with James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, and Beyonce. Keyboardist-songwriter Ed Roth is a Grammy-nominee known for his work in jazz, rock, and pop, and a robust resume that includes working with Ringo Starr, Brothers Johnson, Coolio, Shuggie Otis, and Annie Lennox. And drummer-songwriter Franklin Vanderbilt brings savagery to the band’s soul with his fatback groove and jazzy nimbleness. Among others, his credits include drumming for legendary Chaka Khan, recording with fusion jazz pioneer Stanley Clarke, and touring worldwide with Lenny Kravitz.
Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages opens with ‘Shark Skin Suit’, a bracing dose of lysergic-laced funk that recalls P-Funk, Jimmy Smith, and The Doors. Here, Krieger’s slide guitar parts are said to be wildly melodic, touching upon blues, jazz, Indian sitar music, and 1960s acid rock with technical precision and imagination. The keys are said to recall Bernie Worrell’s colour-swirling p-funk work, as Roth keeps things infectiously funky and textured. The rhythm section lays down meaty and uncluttered grooves to support the fertile improvisations.
Krieger revealed that the quartet found their stride on the cinematically funky ‘Day In L.A.’, ‘Ricochet Rabbit’ sees him in fleet-fingered jazzer mode, playing octave jazz lines inspired by the late Wes Montgomery over some modern jazz-funk stylings. The groovy but odd-metered ‘Math Problem’ is aptly named with its playfully shifting time signatures. Krieger effortlessly playing bluesy licks and serpentine jazz-influenced lines over the challenging time changes.
The full track listing is: ‘Shark Skin Suit’, ‘Samosas & Kingfishers’, ‘A Day In L.A.’, ‘Killzoni’, ‘Contrary Motion’, ‘Never Say Never’, ‘Bouncy Betty’, ‘Ricochet Rabbit’, ‘Blue Brandino’ and ‘Math Problem’.
Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages can be ordered by clicking here.
