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Here's what others say about NWS:
Port Huron Times Herald Spin Magazine January 11, 2008
Roots Rock
Area band's music taps into reality
By CRAIG DAVISON
Times Herald
Northern Whiskey's Syndicate's third album, "Splice the Main Brace," features a bit of new and old.
There are new tracks for fans. It also is the first album by the group featuring new bassist Matt Sayes of Warren
What's old are two finished versions of songs that vocalist and guitarist Kevin Anderson and drummer Mike "Sobie" Sobieski wrote while in their previous group, the Loaded 44s.
"I think this album is a natural progression of what we do," Anderson , of East China Township
The first track on the album, "Steering," was pretty new when Sayes joined the group, Anderson
"We rehearsed it once, and it was pretty much in the bag," Anderson
Sobieski, of Clawson said Anderson
"Steering" and the second track, "Family Tree II," are pretty good examples of that. In the melody of the songs lies an acoustic core that gives the band a broad appeal.
The lyrics sometimes convey harsh economic times such as people transplanted from home or looking for a job. "I wouldn't call our songs cheery, but I try to inject some hope," Anderson
While the songs may not be cheery, the lyrics are human.
In "Bootlegger," a man during Prohibition risks crossing an iced-over river to get liquor from Canada
"Black Tags," was a song Anderson and Sobieski wrote while in the Loaded 44s, but wasn't recorded. It's about a man in a past Michigan economic depression moving to Houston Anderson
Originally published January 11, 2008
Courtesy photos
ANOTHER ONE: Northern Whiskey Syndicate band members Kevin Anderson, Matt Sayes and Mike "Sobie" Sobieski have finished their third album. The band will perform a benefit concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Roche Bar in Port Huron
The essentials
Northern Whiskey Syndicate
· THE BAND: Kevin Anderson, vocals, guitar and harmonica; Matt Sayes, bass; and Mike "Sobie" Sobieski, drums.
· STYLE: Americana
· INFLUENCES: Uncle Tupelo, early R.E.M. and some Neil Young.
· RECORDINGS: "Northern Whiskey Syndicate" (2004), "Volstead 33" (2005) and "Splice the Main Brace" (2007).
· UPCOMING GIG: 8 p.m. Saturday, Roche Bar, 405 Quay St. , Port Huron
· ONLINE: www.northernwhiskeysyndicate.com or www.myspace.com/northernwhiskeysyndicate.
· CONTACT: Send a message via MySpace or an e-mail to firekevin44@yahoo.com.
· BUY IT: "Splice the Main Brace" is available for $5 at the band's shows and for $9 at http://cdbaby.com/cd/nws2.
City Beat Magazine, Cincinnati Ohio, (Midpoint Music Festival) September 27, 2007
NWS have gone on to win the allegiance of most every audience lucky enough to experience them and anyone whose heard their self-titled debut EP and 2005's excellent Voltead 33.
Toronto Now Magazine, NXNE Program, June 6 -14, 2007
Their alt-country sound conjures up a ghost town's worth of lost memories like all good story tellers should.
University of Waterloo, Imprint Newspaper, June 15, 2007 (NXNE review)
A Michigan alt-country rock band called the Northern Whiskey Syndicate completely took over local pub The Black Bull...awesome rock caliber....the dinner-eating, beer-drinking patrons who only came to the bar to eat and drink that night had no choice but to pay due attention to the three loud guys in the corner. Fortunately, those three guys were worth paying attention to.
Cincinnati City Beat, September 20, 2006
They named one of their albums after the repeal of the act that ended Prohibition (Volstead '33) and, together with their other album (self-titled), The Northern Whiskey Syndicate strives to tell stories that will have you reminiscing about the bar fights that occurred as weeds tumbled through an old ghost town. Slowly sip your whiskey, sirs and madams. (sounds like): Darker Jason and Scorchers telling timeless stories.
Times Herald - Spin Magazine, June 2005
By Jamie Carracher
Roots-rocking Northern Whiskey Syndicate's new CD, Volstead 33, might be described with the following words: proletariat, candid, whimsical, raw and roaming.
It's not that the songs are all of these things at the same time. In fact, there are times the songs might only be whimsical, for example, for a few moments, such as during the jangling Battlefield Dreams.
Some of the most powerful lyrics come when the album's first song Reckoning turns to grandfathers in World War II, "My grandpa was a peaceful man. He always did what was right. But still he had some terrible dreams in the middle of the night."
The album's title does put you in the mood for a beer and a cigarette in a classic old bar (such as the Roche Bar in Port Huron, where the band will be performing).
Volstead 33 references the Volstead Act of 1933, which made illegal the sale of alcohol. And as the liner notes inside the CD proclaims "Drink lots! The repealing of the Volstead Act of 1933 says you can!"
Blue Root Magazine, April 2005 (Volume 2, Issue 3)
by Dale Merrill
The Northern Whiskey Syndicate makes music that sounds like a soundtrack to our fine state. Sprawling vistas of blue, a cool breeze on a sweltering summer day, the bitter snap on a cold winter morning and autumn's restless rusts. Neil Young in roots mode, R.E.M.'s Reckoning melancholy, and Bob Mould in his quiet yet still terse period can all be used as reference points for this St. Clair/Macomb County based band's self-titled CD/EP.
Understated and natural, the band recorded on analog equipment (as well as analog tape) leaving any mistakes in the final mix proving that they aren't worrying about trends; they are simply doing something they want to do.
Port Huron Times Herald - Spin Magazine, November 2004
By Bill Chapin
Northern Whiskey Syndicate started as a side project for three members of the now-defunct Loaded 44s to express their darker, roots-rock tendencies. The trio's eponymous debut CD achieves that goal with a melancholy beauty. Within the first 30 seconds of the opening track, a gentle electric guitar arpeggio has given way to a pounding backbeat and distortion. Then Kevin Anderson's dark voice pierces the sound, singing, "The north wind builds under a leaden sky."
With an honesty reminiscent of the heartland rock and Son Volt's Jay Farrar and certain John Mellencamp albums, the CD's seven tracks keep driving like the character in Golden State Promises who is returning home after a failed attempt to make a life in California.
"I'm rolling through the heartland, starting to feel like home again," sings Anderson of East China Township. "There's hope in the sunrise."
The songs are scattered with Anderson's folksy harmonica and such bleak lyrics as "it'll take a month's hard rain to wash the blood off this land." Bassist Steve Presti and drummer Mike Sobieski provide a driving rhythm section.
From Ryan Hoffer, Shuteye Records, Atlanta GA:
The Northern Whiskey Syndicate know a thing or two about channeling the elementary colors and textures of American life into their music. This stuff is unmistakably American; steeped in tradition while yearning to arrive somewhere outside the canon of conventionality. Songs like Trouble and Parchman Farm Blues rollick with gritty country-western ambition; evoking that trashy saloon-rock aesthetic. Good enough to dazzle Roots airwaves and eccentric enough to leave an impression on college radio, the NWS rock!
From CD Baby:
"An amalgam of explosive lyrics, searing harmonics, and a clear communication of truth"
Reviewer: kristy short, for cdbaby.com
I haven't been blown away by new music in a long time, but listening to the tunes of Northern Whiskey Syndicate did just that. Lyricism beyond belief, soothing vocals, powerfully addictive drumming, and flawless baselines offer a linear progression from empty silence to rhythmic nirvana. I don't think that collaborating with the devil himself would render more hauntingly kick ass music!
Port Huron Times Herald Spin Magazine January 11, 2008
Roots Rock
Area band's music taps into reality
By CRAIG DAVISON
Times Herald
|
Northern Whiskey's Syndicate's third album, "Splice the Main Brace," features a bit of new and old.
"We rehearsed it once, and it was pretty much in the bag,"
|
|
|
City Beat Magazine, Cincinnati Ohio, (Midpoint Music Festival) September 27, 2007
NWS have gone on to win the allegiance of most every audience lucky enough to experience them and anyone whose heard their self-titled debut EP and 2005's excellent Voltead 33.
Toronto Now Magazine, NXNE Program, June 6 -14, 2007
Their alt-country sound conjures up a ghost town's worth of lost memories like all good story tellers should.
University of Waterloo, Imprint Newspaper, June 15, 2007 (NXNE review)
A Michigan alt-country rock band called the Northern Whiskey Syndicate completely took over local pub The Black Bull...awesome rock caliber....the dinner-eating, beer-drinking patrons who only came to the bar to eat and drink that night had no choice but to pay due attention to the three loud guys in the corner. Fortunately, those three guys were worth paying attention to.
Cincinnati City Beat, September 20, 2006
They named one of their albums after the repeal of the act that ended Prohibition (Volstead '33) and, together with their other album (self-titled), The Northern Whiskey Syndicate strives to tell stories that will have you reminiscing about the bar fights that occurred as weeds tumbled through an old ghost town. Slowly sip your whiskey, sirs and madams. (sounds like): Darker Jason and Scorchers telling timeless stories.
Times Herald - Spin Magazine, June 2005
By Jamie Carracher
Roots-rocking Northern Whiskey Syndicate's new CD, Volstead 33, might be described with the following words: proletariat, candid, whimsical, raw and roaming.
It's not that the songs are all of these things at the same time. In fact, there are times the songs might only be whimsical, for example, for a few moments, such as during the jangling Battlefield Dreams.
Some of the most powerful lyrics come when the album's first song Reckoning turns to grandfathers in World War II, "My grandpa was a peaceful man. He always did what was right. But still he had some terrible dreams in the middle of the night."
The album's title does put you in the mood for a beer and a cigarette in a classic old bar (such as the Roche Bar in Port Huron, where the band will be performing).
Volstead 33 references the Volstead Act of 1933, which made illegal the sale of alcohol. And as the liner notes inside the CD proclaims "Drink lots! The repealing of the Volstead Act of 1933 says you can!"
Blue Root Magazine, April 2005 (Volume 2, Issue 3)
by Dale Merrill
The Northern Whiskey Syndicate makes music that sounds like a soundtrack to our fine state. Sprawling vistas of blue, a cool breeze on a sweltering summer day, the bitter snap on a cold winter morning and autumn's restless rusts. Neil Young in roots mode, R.E.M.'s Reckoning melancholy, and Bob Mould in his quiet yet still terse period can all be used as reference points for this St. Clair/Macomb County based band's self-titled CD/EP.
Port Huron Times Herald - Spin Magazine, November 2004
By Bill Chapin
Northern Whiskey Syndicate started as a side project for three members of the now-defunct Loaded 44s to express their darker, roots-rock tendencies. The trio's eponymous debut CD achieves that goal with a melancholy beauty. Within the first 30 seconds of the opening track, a gentle electric guitar arpeggio has given way to a pounding backbeat and distortion. Then Kevin Anderson's dark voice pierces the sound, singing, "The north wind builds under a leaden sky."
With an honesty reminiscent of the heartland rock and Son Volt's Jay Farrar and certain John Mellencamp albums, the CD's seven tracks keep driving like the character in Golden State Promises who is returning home after a failed attempt to make a life in California.
"I'm rolling through the heartland, starting to feel like home again," sings Anderson of East China Township. "There's hope in the sunrise."
The songs are scattered with Anderson's folksy harmonica and such bleak lyrics as "it'll take a month's hard rain to wash the blood off this land." Bassist Steve Presti and drummer Mike Sobieski provide a driving rhythm section.
From Ryan Hoffer, Shuteye Records, Atlanta GA:
The Northern Whiskey Syndicate know a thing or two about channeling the elementary colors and textures of American life into their music. This stuff is unmistakably American; steeped in tradition while yearning to arrive somewhere outside the canon of conventionality. Songs like Trouble and Parchman Farm Blues rollick with gritty country-western ambition; evoking that trashy saloon-rock aesthetic. Good enough to dazzle Roots airwaves and eccentric enough to leave an impression on college radio, the NWS rock!
Reviewer: kristy short, for cdbaby.com
I haven't been blown away by new music in a long time, but listening to the tunes of Northern Whiskey Syndicate did just that. Lyricism beyond belief, soothing vocals, powerfully addictive drumming, and flawless baselines offer a linear progression from empty silence to rhythmic nirvana. I don't think that collaborating with the devil himself would render more hauntingly kick ass music!