Ginger Wildheart - G.A.S.S. Month 5 EP (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Punk / Pop / Experimental

Label - Self Released

Track listing:

01 - The Pendine Incident

02 - Carriageway Roses

03 - Brand New Original Sin

Bonus Demos

04 - Shine

05 - Superpowered Superfly

So here we have the fifth instalment (of twelve) of Ginger Wildheart's G.A.S.S. project and once again we get a truly eclectic mix of tracks that showcase ginger's renowned songwriting ability.
First up comes The Pendine Incident, a great little up tempo acoustic based track that has already been described as sounding like  The Wonder Stuff but with a Geordie accent and  Modern Romance and   feature's the talents of Kelii Compulsive on vocals and  Laura Wilcockson on fiddle (courtesy of Steel Thread) and mixed by Jason Sanderson.. This a great song which I am sure is destined to become a fan favourite.
Carriageway Roses follows, this time featuring the talents of  Yolanda Quartey on vocals, Steve Conte on  guitars and  Tim G on keys and is mixed by Kevin Vanbergen. this song really does showcase the quirky side of Ginger's songwriting at its best, opening off with a great bass riff and some almost spoken lead vocal from Ginger, before building into a real monster. this is a really great song a worth the price of the G.A.S.S. subscription alone!
Closing out this month's new songs is Brand New Original Sin. This song features the talents of  Micko Larkin on guitars and backing vocals together with Neil McMinn on drums. Once again this track is mixed by  Kevin Vanbergen. The song is a real rocker, with an almost Wildhearts / Mutation feel in places. Another great song.
Next up we have this month's bonus / demo tracks,

which come to us in the form of Shine and an original demo of a song written for Michael Monroe's album a couple of years back, Superpowered Superfly. I'll allow Ginger to explain,

SHINE – Here’s my ‘big rock voice’ tryout (shudder) for a band of name US musicians looking for a singer to complete a project that never got off the ground. They had designs on Corey Taylor, and let’s be honest everyone else falls short of that guys voice. Still, he couldn’t commit to the gig so the project fell apart.
Featuring Duff McKagan and Steve Stevens, my friend Billy Morrison offered me a crack at the front person job, and let me write the melody and lyrics, but my talents lie in other areas than bellowing out huge arena rock, as this demo will testify.
Still, they shoulda just got Seb Bach or someone, right?

SUPERPOWERED SUPERFLY – When I joined Michael’s band my secret mission was to get rid of the generic songs they were playing. Harsh but true, I love Michael and honestly thought that peddling Stooges/MC5 facsimiles wouldn’t relaunch his solo career with the glory befitting a rock n roll icon.
I’d written a few songs in band rehearsal, guaranteeing a bad ass backbone (those guys can fucking play), but this was the first time I’d presented a ‘pop’ song to Michael. Knowing his love for Cheap Trick and Sparks, I was still surprised by how much he loved this track, and even wanted to call the album by its title, which I talked him out of. A killer song to play live, this demo was knocked up in 15 minutes with an acoustic guitar and a Garageband drum loop.

To be honest I think that Ginger hits the nail on the head with his comments regarding Shine. Its a great song even if it has been compared to WWE Video Package! The song itself is great only Gingers vocal lets it down, purely because his voice just isn't suited to the "Big Rock Voice" kind of song. Would love to see it recorded by someone with such a voice though as it really does deserve to be heard by the wider public.

The demo of Suiperpowered Superfly once again allows us a little insight into the development of a song, and has a great curiosity value.

So there we go, almost half way through the awesome and ambitious project, fifteen brand new songs, ten unreleased / demo tracks and there's been no signs of any dips in quality yet.

G.A.S.S. is not only proving to be a great success, but has given us some of the best songs Ginger has ever written, and we are not even half way through!

Rating - 10/10

 

Ginger Wildheart - G.A.S.S. Month 4 EP (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Pop / Punk

Label - Self Released

Track listing:

01 - Honour

02 - Down The Dip

03 - If You Find Yourself In London Town

Bonus Demo's

04 - Melanchoholic (Unreleased Demo)

05 - Begin from Within (Original Demo)

My God we are four months into Gingers twelve month G.A.S.S. project and the quality is showing no signs of dipping yet! That's a full albums worth (Twelve) of brand spanking new songs plus a further eight  previously unreleased / demo tracks, awesome, simply awesome.
So what does this forth instalment bring to the mix.
Well this months offering opens up with "Honour", a great pop-rock track with slight punk leanings that features the talents of, Courtney Love on co-lead vocals, Micko Larkin on lead guitar, rhythm guitar and vocals and  Neil McMinn on drums. the track was mixed by Kevin Vanbergen and really bodes well for any future collaborations between the delightful Miss Love and Ginger (especially as he has recently been providing his services by playing guitar in her touring band). "Honour" is a really good song with Courtney Love's vocal prominent in the mix with Gingers rather lower in the mix. A real belter of a song that I like more and more with each listen.
Next up we have "Down The Dip", which proves to be another great rocking track, this time featuring the talents of Yolanda Quartey, Ben Janet, Kelii Compulsive on vocals and  Tim G  on keys.  Again this song was mixed by Kevin Vanbergen. I can really imagine this song being a lot of fun live!
The last of the three new songs on offer this month is "If You Find Yourself In London Town", which features the talents of Micko Larkin on guitars and  backing vocals and Neil McMinn on drums, this time mixed by Ian Gore.  This song is a great acoustic driven song which I guess sees t Ginger return to the subject matter he first visited with Wildheart classics "Down On London" and "Greetings from Shitsville". I really love this song, even more so as it once again showcases another side of Gingers song writing, just how many strings does he have to his bow heh?

Next up we have this months two bonus demos / unreleased tracks,

The two tracks on off this month are "Melanchoholic" a song that was previously unreleased and the original demo of "Begin From Within" from the now famous 555% album sessions.
First, as I have previously done with the previous G.A.S.S. releases I'll let Ginger explain the songs:

"MELANCHOHOLIC – Strange one this. Everyone I’ve played it to hates it. Can I count you in the throng?
From a manic sober spell, where I wrote a song a day as therapy, many songs made the 555% album. I wanted to do this with an orchestra, and a proper vocal track, but Willie couldn’t see any merit in the song. I have since doubted that I’ll ever return to this song, and so I’d like to present it here, to you, in all its raw and candid sincerity. If one person out there likes it then that’ll make two of us.

BEGIN FROM WITHIN – From the same fevered writing spree as Melanchoholic, this bedroom recording differs wildly in arrangement to the version that appeared on 555%. Inspired by a roaming stroll around New York one very sober day, the ideas for the song almost pestered themselves into being. Nothing inspires like New York City, usually to write melancholic, brown suited, hangdog, world weary stuff. Positive songs with a droopy cigarette hanging from an unshaven face. Like this one."

Now I have to say that I bloody well love "Melanchoholic", I honestly believe that this song could have been a real corker had Ginger recorded it properly and given it the finish it deserves. In many ways the song is a simple as it gets, with a heartfelt vocal over guitar and piano, with some synth strings added for flavour. If Ginger himself never returns to this song it would be a crime, the demo presented here is beautiful enough as it is, but should it ever be recorded properly in the manner that Ginger describes above then this song would be simply awesome!

The demo of "Begin From Within" allows us to witness a great songs work in progress, showing how its lyrics and arrangements altered before it became the track that we are all familiar with from 555%. Its really nice that it has been included here.

So there we have it, month four, another three stunning brand new tracks and two real gems of demos.

Rating - 10/10

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Ginger Wildheart - G.A.S.S. Month 3 EP (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Classic Rock / Pop / Punk

Label - Self Released

Track listing:

01 - Only Henry Rollins Can Save Us Now

02 - Do You

03 - Petite Mort

Bonus Demos

04 - Friction In My System

05 - Patience And Gratitude

So here we are with the third installment of Gingers mighty G.A.S.S. project, and once again Ginger mixes things up a little.
Opening track, Only Henry Rollins Can Save Us Now, which features Kelii Compulsive on vocals, (Recorded by Tim G and mixed by Jason Sanderson), is a great up tempo rocker, with a feel very reminiscent of How I Survived the Punk Wars from last years Hey! Hello! album, in fact the vocal melody throughout the verses are of an almost identical styling, but the chorus is huge and well, very Ginger. A great song and a great start to this months ep!
Next up is Do You? (again  featuring Kelii Compulsive on backing vocals and recorded by Tim G and mixed by Jason Sanderson). A more melodic rocker, a really beautiful song that apparently was written from beginning to end in one shot according to Ginger. This song has something really special about it, some great lyrics, and well it just hits the mark if you know what I mean.
Finally closing out the three new songs is the awesome Petite Mort. A real departure for ginger style wise. This track features Yolanda Quartey on lead vocals and  Nathan Connolly on lead guitar. Yolanda's vocal performance is simply huge, a really powerful delivery that just brings the song to life. The song is a down beat ballad at heart, but grows into a real monster. A truly inspired track and proof that Ginger is still trying to challenge himself in the song writing department.

Next up with have the two bonus demos / tracks, this time taking the form of Friction In My System and Patience And Gratitude. Here's what Ginger has to say about them,

"FRICTION IN MY SYSTEM – Around 1999 I was commissioned to write three songs for Alice Cooper. As a huge fan I was eager to take up the challenge, but ultimately I’m not sure if the songs never reached him or he hated them. Either way I never heard back.
Engineered by Kev Matthews (who engineered Earth Vs The Wildhearts) these long forgotten recordings have been recently unearthed, thanks to Kev’s brother Ray Zell.
PATIENCE AND GRATITUDE – Written as an exclusive track to accompany a video I was messing with, just having developed the editing bug, it’s only fitting that we offer this as a, now, exclusive download, seeing as YouTube are pulling independent music from their site, unless it sits & rolls over and plays by its corporate rules.
Recorded by Jase Edwards, and featuring the voices of Givvi Flynn, Vix Fuzzbox and Chris Catalyst, this was a free flowing ramble through my head that we committed to the digital noticeboard. We hope you enjoy it, even without the visual bonus of seeing that dog."

Friction In My System is a great track that would have made a fine edition to any Alice Cooper album (and I am a huge Alice Cooper fan!), that sees Ginger doing his finest Alice impressions (vocally any hows!). Its great to finally hear this song, I just hope and pray that we see the other two at some point in the G.A.S.S. project.
There's not too much that I can say about Patience And Gratitude. Its a great little instrumental song that has a special place in the hearts of Ginger fans, and again showcases a different side to Gingers songwriting.

Rating 10/10