By Jim Rowland
Take acclaimed songwriter Rich Ragany (Role Models, Rich Ragany & The Digressions, The Loyalties), add legendary musician Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls, Jesse Malin, Michael Monroe), and finally powerhouse ÜK drummer Simon Maxwell (Yo Yos, The Loyalties, Role Models) – on paper you have a pretty lethal combination there. That combination comprises brand new project The Sideshows, who are about to release their self-titled debut album. So is the end result equal to the sum of its parts?
Through his work with acts such as The Role Models, Rich Ragany & The Digressions and his relatively recent solo album, Rich Ragany has certainly gained high regard for his song writing skills. As well as playing with legendary acts like Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls, Joan Jett and Michael Monroe amongst others, Sami Yaffa is no slouch in the song writing department either, as proved by his last two highly recommended solo albums.
With this new project, recorded at Yaffa’s Studio in Mallorca, those skills come together very well indeed. The influence of Yaffa certainly shines on the catchy high octane heavy rock’n’roll of ‘Brand New’ and ‘This Could Be Everything’, as well as the Stooges-esque riffing on ‘I Feel It’ and The Hellacopters-flavoured ‘Our Love in The Shadows’.
Elsewhere, ‘Say Goodbye On A Night Like This’ and ‘This Could Be Everything’ combine quality power pop with an Americana twang, and the power pop vibe is strong on the anthemic Cars-esque ‘The Start’, ‘Not Sorry’ and ‘Smoke Show’, which have a hint of Big Star to them.
‘The Sideshows’ doesn’t overstay its welcome, clocking in at an economical 30 minutes with most tracks being short, sharp and to-the-point two or three minute bursts of quality. A great combination of high octane rock’n’roll with equally high energy power pop, The Sideshows’ debut album is 30 minutes well spent.
- ‘The Sideshows‘ will be released on Friday (10 April).
- The Sideshows debut live show at The Water Rats in London is SOLD OUT.