Last night I went to the Reckless Sons and The Splendour show at Madam JoJo’s in Soho, London.

Before the show, we were having drinks across the street from Madam JoJo’s, upstairs at The O Bar, and the newest addition to the New York City based band Reckless Sons, drummer Austin Schumacher, sat down with me for a quick chat. Before making their way to the UK they played a couple shows in Washington DC area that went down well and he was looking forward to playing the London show and their UK tour. They’ve just finished shooting a video for upcoming single, “Blood”, which was filmed in New York, and from his description, sounds like one to watch out for when it’s released.

As 9:30 approached, we made our way to Madam JoJo’s for the show. I was looking forward to seeing these two up and coming bands, one from New York and the other, The Splendour, from Brighton.

The Splendour went on first and I was glad to have been there early enough to see their whole set. They’ve been receiving very good reviews, and now I know why. They have a great current, indie sound, but there’s something different about The Splendour. They’re not your ‘typical’ indie band…there’s something more “artsy” and clever about them – maybe it has something to do with them being from Brighton, that they produce a different feel to their songwriting. Singer Justin Gourlay has a subtle approach on stage, which is endearing, and the harmonies were good to hear. When they played “Audio” my ears perked up, as I was familiar with the song. An excellent number as well as their single, “Money”. Both songs are off of their upcoming debut album ‘The Best Way To Make Money’ set for release August 2008.

Rockers Reckless Sons are fairly new on the scene – especially here in the UK. One thing I really enjoy, is being able to see bands play before they become household names. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ll be saying that about Reckless Sons. It’s refreshing to hear rock music these days, and the contrast between the two bands’ styles worked well.

Singer/frontman Matt Butler has the passion that you want to see when you go out to hear rock – and I was quite surprised at how good guitarist Emiliano Ortiz sounded during his solos. I think his solos caught me off guard. Apparently I’ve been getting used to the current wave of new music being played on the radio – and a lot of it, unfortunately, doesn’t include great guitar solos. Again, very refreshing to hear live. Austin is probably one of the hardest hitting drummers I’ve seen in awhile – at one point a piece of his stick went flying into the crowd, and it was fun to watch bassist Jacob Sloan’s quirky style on stage.

When the band played their hard rocking version of Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock”, for a moment I was spooked. I felt that I could have been watching them from five decades before. Matt has a look that could easily have fit in then, and I had flashes of the movie Eddie and the Cruisers going through my mind, and that’s also when I realized that Matt reminds me of Bruce Springsteen – who has an old school look and sound about him, too.

This show is highly recommended.

The bands will be on tour together in the UK July and August 2008.

For tour dates, music and more, go to:

The Splendour Myspace
The Splendour Official Website

Reckless Sons Myspace
Reckless Sons Official Website

By: Jenny May – BandWeblogs.com

At a time where music is starting to sound like one big watered down indie pop fest, Reckless Sons come all the way from NY to rescue us all. With Led Zepplin’s thrashing guitars and the on stage antics of The Who, these four young guys make up a band that will be hard to forget.

The band was formed by Matt Butler (lead Vocals & guitar) and Emiliano Ortiz (Guitars) at the end of the 2007 and took a slightly different musical direction than they had done in their previous punk pop bands. The two then set off to Austin, Texas in August to record some of their new material with legendary Texas rock’n'roll producer and Guru Paul Soroski. Once deciding to get on the road to perform their newer material, Emiliano’s good friend and bassist Jacob Sloan came aboard and then the band line up was then completed by Jake Holbrook on the drums.

The Reckless Sons’ music is modern rock with a bluesy undercurrent and influenced by some of the greatest bands ever, such as The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Black Sabbath and more recently The White Stripes.

The guys are about to embark on their very first UK tour starting on the 17th July, 2008.

Gritty raw vocals, rock star madness and some great anthemic tunes will ensure this tour is just as mad on stage as off and will be one not to miss.

So strap down your TV’s and crack open the beers as I introduce to you Reckless Sons as they’re cranking up their speakers and ready to hit the road.

Reckless Sons’ UK 2008 tour dates:

Dates and information could change! Go to Reckless Sons’ Official Website for the latest tour dates and information.

July 2008

17th Joogleberry, Brighton VIP ONLY
19th Patchwork Parachute @ Kolebka, Southampton
20th The Vic, Swindon
23rd Madam JoJo’s, London – LAUNCH PARTY VIP ONLY
25th The Purple Turtle, Oxford
27th Portland Arms, Cambridge
28th The Swan, Ipswich
29th Queen Charlotte’s, Norwich

August 2008

2nd Gemini’s, Brighton
2nd The Albert, Brighton
3rd Northern Monkey,Leeds
5th Actress and Bishop, Birmingham
8th The Brickyard, Carlisle
10th Pivo Pivo, Glasgow
15th Tommy Flynn’s, London
24th Beachdown Festival, Brighton

Myspace
Reckless Sons