Tom Waits. Leonard Cohen. The Replacements. These are references I'm going to try not to overuse when talking about Highland, NY four-piece Community Gun. Beyond the aforementioned rock icons, the group lists artists like Lou Reed and The Pogues among their influences.
Their recent Community Gun EP is a collection of six original tracks that range from booze-soaked bluesy piano laments to down and dirty gritty garage rockers.
The comparisons to early Waits are hard to ignore. Not only does Aaronoff's voice sound gravelly like Waits', but much of the imagery within their lyrics evoke a feeling of late nights at dingy diners (as I write this I feel myself thinking about the print of Nighthawks I have to get framed).
Where the band stands out though is their ability to synthesize a new sound from cobbling together the best of each of their influences. Merely mimicking Tom Waits' sound and feel wouldn't be enough. Why chose a copy when you can still get the original. Take the Waits' imagery and vocal style and back it up with a high octane rocker and you have something special. A great example is a song like "Ain't Quite Like Before", where Waitsian vocals are layered on top of what could be an uptempo White Stripes song (not one of those monotonous crappers like "Blue Orchid" or "Icky Thump").
What I like most about Community Gun, however, is that in listening to it one gets the feeling that these guys just love what they're doing. You can tell they love playing music and it comes through even on the recordings.
I for one can't wait to hear a full length from the band.
You can listen and download the songs at:
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