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"HEAVY DAYS"
"Heavy Days" is the title of the new double Mambo Sons cd, their fourth album, available Summer '09. Since the release of Mambo Sons' third cd, 2005's "Racket of Three", both Scott Lawson and Tom Guerra worked on music for their own side projects. It was after the sharing of some of these ideas with each other that the "Heavy Days" writing process started in the form of mp3s that the two sent back and forth to each other via email. Throughout the course of the brainstorming process, Scott and Tom came up with nearly two dozen song ideas. After drummer Joe Lemieux was brought in to work up the grooves, the trio transformed 15 of these concepts into full blown arrangements, and most of the tracks that were used for the cd were not only the first or second take, but in some instances, the first or second time they'd ever played the tunes. "I wanted this record to have a more immediate, raw feel over the last one," said Guerra, "and not over-rehearsing the tunes was critical." Guerra also contends that he enjoyed exploring several different types of slide guitar playing on this record. "Slide playing to me can go in many directions, you can get a vocal sound, you can use it on chords...I used several different tunings for different voicings, and really enjoy playing it!"
Another interesting thing that happened during the recording was that Scott Lawson was invited to perform as special guest in Eastend, Saskatchewan as part of the 22nd annual Wallace Stegner memorial house benefit. The invitation was based on the Eastend Arts Council's discovery of the Mambo Sons tune "Little Live Thing" from their sophomore release CD "Play Some Rock & Roll!" To perform a solo acoustic version of the song based on works by the Pulitzer Prize winning author, Scott traveled 2 days by train, and drove the remaining 100+ miles, to live alone for one week in the most desolate part of Southern Canada as a resident artist. The standout track "The Early Train" highlights Lawson's state of mind during that trip.
Regarding the double album concept, Tom Guerra explains the process. "Our original intention was to record the songs that eventually ended up as Record One, but then we started collaborating on some of each others' solo tracks and before you knew it we had Record Two..." The inclusion of a rugby chant, a heavy guitar instrumental called "A Fifth of Twelve", a cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic "Stone Free", and two tracks written for "Racket of Three" ("So Wonderful" and "Friday Night Wine") give Record Two an eclectic yet cohesive feel. "The only commonality in some instances is that it's us singing and playing on them" said Guerra.
As Mambo Sons release their most prolific work to date and enter their second decade together as a group, they appear to be enjoying their time together more than ever. - Halle Thor, Publicist
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