Page 50 - BiTS_10_OCTOBER_2022

Bad Luck Friday—Bad Luck Friday—Wilde Fire Records

Bad Luck Friday is a band featuring Will Wilde (vocals,
harmonica), Steve Brook (guitar), Jack Turnbull (bass) and
Brook Alan Taylor (drums). Will Wilde is the British
equivalent to the USA’s Jason Ricci - a harmonica player who
isn’t afraid to venture into heavy rock and to add effects to his
harmonica to give it the grit and attack of a heavily distorted
rock guitar. However, don’t let this fool you, he can certainly
play and knows the fundamentals of blues harmonica
backwards but chooses to expand the scope of the instrument.
This project arose out of the fact that Brook and he grew
bored because they couldn’t gig during Lockdown and they wanted to create something new.
The title track is definitely more rock than blues, ‘666 at the Crossroads’ is as you’d expect
from the title a bit more blues-based with some nice muscular harp playing from Will,
‘Banshee’ is back to rock with riffy guitar and anthemic vocals with harp that goes a bit John
Popper towards the end.

‘Dust and Bones’ is a restrained bluesy ballad, a nice change of pace before the powerful

‘Jealous Woman’ with its high register harp and a melodic guitar solo and also the funky ‘Take
the Best of Me’. ‘Low Down Dirty’ is a more blues-based song – a bit like early Black Sabbath –
and the final ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ ups the pace and is more rocky. In truth I found much of
the album pretty much run-of-the-mill heavy metal - with Will’s harp solos tacked on, I would
have liked to have heard the harmonica taking a much more central roll, for instance playing in
unison with the guitar but Will’s vocals are very strong throughout. However, I feel the album
will be too rock for the blues crowd and I don’t know if the rock fans will appreciate this rather
dated heavy metal.
Graham Harrison

Bywater Call—Remain Gypsy—Soul Records Graham
HarrisonASIN ‏: ‎B09YHHPK96

Bywater Call are a 7-piece Toronto-based band with the
powerful vocals of Meghan Parnell and the blistering slide
guitar work of Dave Barnes up front - suggesting parallels
with the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Bonnie Raitt - and yes
they are that good! The rest of the band is Alan Zemaitis on
keyboards, Mike Meusel on bass, Bruce McCarthy on drums,
Stephen Dyte on trumpet and Julian Nalli on tenor sax, with
the album being produced by Tom Juhas. 'Falls Away' is a
great start with Barnes' dirty electric slide followed by

Meghan's soaring vocals and 'Lover Down Slow' drops the
pace with Meghan singing over piano with nice brass fills, while the title track is an emotional
blues ballad that really highlights Meghan's voice. 'Let Me Be Wrong' adds strings to the mix
and 'Left Behind' is a strutting soul stomper with Meghan wailing out front and Dave Barnes
slotting his slide solos between the stabbing brass.

The album was written partly on the band's 2020 European tour (like many bands now they
didn't visit Britain on the tour!) and also during Lockdown and in 2023 the band will
represent Canada in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. 'Sea We Swim' and 'Ties
That Bind' are two more funky ensemble pieces and the tender ballad 'Fortune' starts with