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MOTHER ROAD
Drive

Road Songs / AOR Heaven (2014)
Rating: 8/10

As ‘The Sun Will Shine Again’ flitters into the ears like a masterful Led Zeppelin acoustic ditty, I’m suddenly reminded of how great some modern music can be. More so when the track kicks into a Guns N’ Roses-type swagger, and what better way for Mother Road to introduce themselves?

Drive is the debut opus from this melodic rock band and features the songwriting partnership of Berlin-based guitarist Chris Lyne (ex-Soul Doctor) and American vocalist Keith Slack (ex-Steelhouse Lane, Michael Schenker Group, Mudpie). With such talents on show one can expect great things from Mother Road, a soulful rock act who effortlessly slip between blues-twanged reflection and straight up hip-shaking rock ’n’ roll.

The band formed in 2011 and also features drummer Zacky Tsoukas, bassist Frank Binke and Alessandro Del Vecchio on keyboards / organ, who has worked with numerous bands over the years as a producer and musician. It’s no surprise then that Mother Road’s debut offering is a driving, hard-edged, throbbing chunk of heavy rock reliant on those soaring vocals, precise thudding drums, and catchy hooks sporadically laced with a bubbling organ.

The aforementioned ‘The Sun Will Shine Again’ is an immense way to begin a record as it tiptoes in true Zeppelin-ish style along the threads of an acoustic guitar, and then the booming introduction of cascading drum and hip-shaking riff. “Tell me baby, what’s the world comin’ to now,” asks Slack in confident fashion as he leads us into this energetic, cock-sure record of beefy tunes and crafty musicianship that slips with ease between the funky grooves of ‘Feather In Your Hat’, with its robust organ, and the bluesy confines of ‘Drive Me Crazy’, which begins with a smokin’ solo one would come to associate with the late Gary Moore. Again, vocally this is sweltering as the drum throbs and the organ smirks in the distance.

Elsewhere, the combo takes us through some real rock ’n’ roll belters such as the riff-heavy ‘Out Of My Mind’ with its Black Crowes-style of boastfulness and honky-tonk piano clatter. While ‘These Shoes’ is more reflective and subtle, such lower tempo harmonies are just as rootsy as their rockier companions, but just like the magic Led Zeppelin offered, Mother Road are also able to take the rough with the smooth. The band lead us through lighter shades before striking us hard with a killer riff or crashing drum, all marrying to accompany an infectious chorus, and ‘These Shoes’ is typical of that – hinting at early Whitesnake – with ‘Dirty Little Secret’ hinting at similar pastures.

I’m also reminded of the now sadly forgotten Badlands who featured Jake E. Lee (guitar) and the late Ray Gillen (vocals) – the mix of soul and swagger working wondrously as Mother Road cruise through the twang of ‘Blue Eyes’ and the stripped back sway of ‘On My Way’, with its raw croon and breezy acoustic before unexpectedly exploding into life as another Zeppelin-inspired masterpiece of bluesy riffs and orgasmic organ.

This is a cracking debut album for those of you who require a soundtrack to those sun-drenched days where sitting on the porch and swigging beer is the only way. Drive is a cool cat of an opus from its shoes to its soul.

Neil Arnold

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