The People’s Blues Of Richmond have been lighting up stages around town for years now, making sure that the blues is still a vital sound in the local area in spite of its lengthy history. In spite of their live prowess, though, PBR has been keeping fans waiting for a new studio recording for a long time.
The People’s Blues Of Richmond have been lighting up stages around town for years now, making sure that the blues is still a vital sound in the local area in spite of its lengthy history. In spite of their live prowess, though, PBR has been keeping fans waiting for a new studio recording for a long time. Their debut album, Hard On Blues, was released over three years ago, and fans have had nothing but live performances to get them by in the interim. But the wait is almost over–Good Time Suicide, the long-awaited full-length followup to Hard On Blues, will be out on CD and mp3 at the end of the month, with a release party happening at The Camel on Thursday July 25.
As a preview of the release, we now present to you PBR’s recent performance for Hotbox Sessions, a series of live videos curated by Hotbox Studios in Philadelphia PA. In the video, the quartet gives us a rollicking performance of “Cocaine Powder,” the unofficial first single from Good Time Suicide. In the tried-and-true blues tradition, the song documents the divided mindset of an addict whose life is being pushed off the rails due to the drug that they crave. On the slow, queasy verses, singer/guitarist Tim Beavers describes his sick powder fix as being “cut with children’s Tylenol” and “tast[ing] like gasoline and flour,” but these realizations are not enough to stop the cravings. Beavers interjects some edgy wit at one point by singing, “I almost joined the Ku Klux Klan–I thought they said ‘white powder’.” The song’s choruses double the tempo and have the band pounding through the two-stepping main riff in a fashion that sounds like demented carnival music, accented by Tommy Booker’s demented keyboard licks. Then the final chorus goes the opposite direction, slowing down to become a plodding funeral dirge that falls apart completely as the song ends. It adds a spooky note to a blackly humorous song about an all-too-serious subject.
The Hotbox Sessions are recorded in one take, so bands have to bring their A game when they make one of these videos, but if there’s one thing we know for sure about People’s Blues Of Richmond, it’s that they are a well-practiced live act. They prove it 10 times over in this video, nailing this song without any visible miscues while at the same time putting across a fun vibe that separates it from just another studio track. I can imagine that this video will be rather paltry compensation for all the PBR fans out there dying to have a new CD they can blast in their car stereos, but playing this video a couple dozen times in a row should help to take the edge off the anticipation while we wait for Good Time Suicide to drop.
Good Time Suicide will officially be released on iTunes on Tuesday, July 23, and the release party for the CD version of the album will take place on Thursday, July 25 at The Camel. People’s Blues Of Richmond will be joined by The Northerners and Mission South, and your $7 admission charge gets you a free copy of the Good Time Suicide CD. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, right? We think so! For more info on the show, click here.
By Andrew Necci
