BAR ROOM SEMANTICS (E)

The American trio Backyard  Tire Fire, consisting of Ed Anderson (vocals, piano, guitars, harmonica), his brother Matt Anderson (bass, vocals) and Tim Kramp (drums), has released their second album on the independent Originality Is Everything-label (O.I.E). Their music sounds nice but can not be categorized as symphonic prog or progressive rock. The slide guitars, harmonica and the pedal steel guitars provide the sound an overall country rock feel. I heard slight similarities with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Poco although less rocking, more melodic and laidback. The compositions are definitely quite good with lots of hooks, great melodies and a wide variety in instrumentation. As I all ready mentioned, the pedal steel and slide guitars but also the acoustic guitars, bass and percussion sometimes make you feel staring at the stars during a late night beach party. Being a fan of progressive and symphonic rock, electronic music and prog metal and in spite of the originality and craftsmanship of the musicians, although the vocals are not that impressive, this album doesn’t appeal to me at all!