Wrinkly Rockers Club (website), 12/5/18

http://www.wrinklyrockersclub.com/cd-reviews

....Cue the aptly named 'Songs From The Medway Delta' which was released at the beginning of February 2018 and early reaction has been very positive - in fact it's a debut album that has been well worth waiting for.

 

The album contains 14 all-original compositions recounting some of the trials and tribulations of life in and around the Medway Delta. A diverse range of styles are covered including slow minor Blues, shuffles, heavy and raw and acoustic delta Blues - with Seager, vocalist Adam Stocker and experienced session bass guitarist Gavin Matthews contributing all the songs, some by collaboration and some sole-written.  Recorded and mixed in just three days at Ranscombe Studios in Rochester by Jim Riley (who remembers The Herbs?), the album perfectly captures the live essence of the band. Seager's classic Blues Rock riff on his self-penned opener 'Crash and Burn' - all about a relationship heading for the wall - where trust issues are destined for it to end horribly - kicks off the album with an immediate nod to Gary's Rory and Stevie Ray influences plus a mean old-fashioned ‘shouty’ Blues vocal and harp from Adam. 

 

The funkier 'Lady Luck' - an amusing, some you win, some you lose ditty, that makes you wonder why you got out of bed in the morning - co-written by Seager and Matthews - shows that these guys can not only groove but they can mix it up with Gary's foot firmly placed on his wah pedal, while Matthews 'One Shot (ballad of a no-good)' - despite its title - is a rocker all about a horrible 'so and so' who gets his comeuppance at the mercy of Seager's distorted slide plus an in yer face Stocker vocal and an opportunity for drummer Dave Two-Jackets to vent his influence of Ian Paice. 'SFTMD' twists and turns once again with Seager's 'Walk Away'. We've all been there - they act like your buddy but they’ll stab you in the back and throw you under the bus to take your place! Adam's message being "Don’t let them grind you down!" - as Gary's acoustic opening (Seager studied classical guitar and violin before getting side-tracked by Page and Blackmore), correspondingly twists and turns with some groovy fret work and one awesome electric guitar solo. Given their gig history - Bad Pennies must be good judges to the fact that live music fits hand in glove with a drink as Dave Two-Jackets snare intro heralds Matthews 'Medicine Man' - Bad Pennies very own drinking song - Maybe one more won't hurt? - with another great vocal and harp from Stocker.

 

Another classic stock Blues Rock riff launches Matthews & Seager's 'Mynah Bird' - its sentiment all very un PC - but boy is she a nightmare and she can take you down with one word, a track that gives Gary licence for some groovy guitar moves plus some great diction from Adam in the mould of his old mucker - the legend that is Nicky Moore. Stocker continues the pub crawl with the succinct Blues of 'When I Get Drunk' -  its premise - why spend your money on a cab or even the bus when you can use the money to have another drink? Well we'll drink to that, as Stocker and Seager's melancholic 'AM Blues' is all about the morning after - no time to feel sorry for yourself, although Seager's guitar work goes a long way to curing that hangover. The slide guitar of 'Please Baby' duly picks the pace of 'SFTMD' back up again, another Matthews/Seager Blues composition addressing relationship decisions, whilst Seager's rocking guitar on 'Hometown Blues' also sees Matthews revisit his NWOBHM era,  which departs from relationships and booze, and does exactly it was says on the tin - all about returning to your old neighborhood to discover how much things have changed.

 

Matthews' 'Queen of All The City' keeps things rocking, all about that women who is out of your league - or is she? with Matthew's bass and Dave Two-Jackets drums driving things along very nicely with more great work from Seager and Stocker. And you take the man out of the Medway but you can't take the Medway out of the man - Gary's 'Midnight Train' - all about being run out of town - sees Bad Pennies all aboard and rocking and a rolling all the way down those Medway tracks before the band jump off the wagon once more on Matthews' 'Temperance Boogie' - another crackerjack - albeit its sentiment being that it can make a good man go bad. Seager's 'Losing Streak', would you believe about drink and women, closes out the album, with it's cajun feel, its message being that you’re just looking for a peaceful life, but you find yourself up the creek without a paddle! Well, come on, this is the Blues! All in all, a delightful eclectic mix of Blues with not only great lyrics, but more importantly, an album that has the vibe of a live band with some killer tracks that will go down a storm at any gig - particularly their drinking songs! You know what they say - go on - in for a penny, in for a pound!

 

AJ

Bluesdoodles (website), 8/5/18

Bad Pennies turn up playing the blues

http://bluesdoodles.com/cd-reviews/bad-pennies-down-the-delta-playing-the-blues/

8th May 2018 Tom Dixon 0 Comments

Originally from South East London, Gary Seager pulled Bad Pennies together when he turned up in the Medway Towns (they’re in Kent, in case you’re wondering). After more than a few changes in personnel, the current band has been working together for a couple of years. The band released their first EP in 2016 called, Turn It Up Again but now bring us their first full-length recording, the aptly named Songs From The Medway Delta.

Featuring all original compositions, the album was recorded and mixed in just 3 days, with the aim of capturing the live essence of the band. The list of influences on the band is impressive: Blackmore, Gallagher and SRV for guitarist Seager; Nicky Moore for singer and harp player Adam Stocker; Palmer, Paice and Rich for drummer Dave Two-Jackets whilst bassist Gavin Matthews comes from the world of NWOBHM. A fine tapestry of talent to inform their writing and in turn to weave their own magic?

Well, the new album is a skilful take on a familiar rock-blues template with shuffles, funk, boogie and proper rhythm & blues, with plenty of variety to engage the listener. The opening Crash & Burn, gives us a straightforward SRV style Texas shuffle but with a nice bit of slide in the guitar solo. Lady Luck is underpinned by a funky riff reminiscent of Tommy Bolin on Getting’ Tighter, before we get a tasty wah-wah, bookending a well thought out solo.  Back to an SRV styled intro for One Shot (Ballad of a No-good), which isn’t a ballad by the normal definition. Another slide solo gives it a dynamic that belies the title. Walk Away is a slower paced blues with more than a hint of funk and surprising tempo changes and again has a thoughtful solo across a tempo change. Medicine Man has brushed snare over an essentially spoken word number before a country-flavoured harp adds colour as the story of medical advice to lay off the booze is told. Mynah Bird is pure Texas shuffle again as the story of this bird unfolds, I am fairly sure it is allegorical! A lovely and varied guitar solo pulls this song out of the ‘heard it all before’ category. When I Get Drunk aims for a New Orleans feel, and uses a stop-time attack and, unfortunately, falls into the trap they avoided on the previous track. AM Blues is a solid blues song and the AM of the title refers to the ever-popular blues chord, A Minor, as well as to the time of day. Once again, a well-placed guitar solo drags a standard into being a little bit special. Please Baby is weakened by the smothered sound of the guitar and, despite the slide solo, it doesn’t stand out enough. Hometown Blues has a great guitar solo and the bass line is genius and some of the background riffing brings Trower to mind. Queen of all the City is an out and out rocker, which could be from Canvey Island rather than the Medway. Midnight Train also has a slight (quality) punk feel and, like the last track, the inimitable Wilko springs to mind. Temperance Boogie does just what is suggested: a boogie at a cracking pace with yet another inspired bass performance as it tracks the guitar. Nostalgic vinyl crackles and hiss introduces Losing Streak.  A resonator led country blues song, which after the frenetic pace of the last track is a great way to close the album. I love the sound of the steel bodied guitar family and the way Seager combines picking and slide is just my cup of wine.

All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyable album. OK, sometimes there are too many SRV references when you are hoping for their own identity to shine through. There is nothing ground-breaking here either, but what you do have are 14 tracks of good quality blues played well. I would expect that their next album will benefit from this first experience of writing and recording their own songs, and will be more varied and cohesive. Well worth a listen.

SIX doodle paws out of TEN …

KM/Medway Messenger, Chris Hunter, 26/3/18

Once upon a time Britain churned out quality blues rock bands like the power station chimney on the front cover of the Bad Pennies new album churned out smoke.

But those days are long gone, and last week the Kingsnorth chimney came down - meaning the view on the cover of Songs from the Medway Delta, within weeks of the album’s release, exists no more.

Strange accident or ironic masterstroke? Either way this album is something of a powerful monument to a past world - bold and in-your face, but rusting away.

Don’t get too hung up on that though. Anyone suffering from a dose of melancholic nostalgia should just stick the album on and blast themselves with a dose of electric blues from some old hands enjoying a creative resurgence.

Oddly, this is the Bad Pennies’ first album after 18 years of gigging, and it sounds like it... in a good way - fresh and energetic but performed with a cultured touch gained from years of playing.

That said, the band can easily turn on the raw power, and the album kicks off with the barn-storming Crash & Burn - its riff crashing around like an oddly well-coordinated bull in a china shop.

The same power is evident throughout the album on tracks like Midnight Train, Queen of all the City, and Hometown Blues - on which guitarist Gary Seager acts as lion tamer to another wild and fractious riff.

But there are changes of pace too, with blues shuffles, acoustic delta blues, and slow minor numbers - one of the best is the mournful AM Blues, with a subtle rhythm, melody and touch that might make it the best track on the album to some ears.

Singer Adam Stocker goes up and down the gears - yelling like a sergeant major (albeit one with a tuneful ear) when pushing the songs further into the “rock” half of the blues rock; but able to deliver a soulful feel when reigning it in.

Meanwhile bassist Gavin Matthews and Dave “Two Jackets” on drums provide a quality rhythm section - stoking up the boiler house to full steam or steering a slow path when required.

Lyrically, the album is a catalogue of trials and tribulations of life in and around the Medway Delta, framed in classic blues terminology - from medicine men telling you to quit drinking, to women bringing you down in a mean old town.

Despite all that The Bad Pennies are still standing - and will be standing on a stage near you soon, unlike that chimney on the front of their album.

Plunger Music / Tumblr, 20/3/18

http://plungermusic.tumblr.com/page/4

Bad Pennies turn up a new Oil City Connection …

The Department for Transport can forget their planned ‘third Thames crossing’ as Bad Pennies have already made one linking the Medway with Canvey in their debut album.

Many of the fourteen all-original tracks on Songs From The Medway Delta evokes the Feelgood factor, as instantly evident in the raw opener Crash & Burn with its thud-whack basic beat, brassy guttural slide and Brill(eaux) snarled vocals. Plunger were just thinking all it’s missing is some harp, and bingo, there it was. (To be fair, the standard of Gary Seager’s guitar is actually higher than that comparison would suggest!)

That feel continues in the jerky aggressive Lady Luck, a striding One Shot (Ballad Of A No Good) and the rattling-paced Please Baby. Even the extended melodic guitar noodling intro to Walk Away soon gives way to more gruff vox and choppy schlangy rhythm playing, also a feature of the SRVish Mynah Bird.

Straying further from Oil City are the brooding AM Blues (a.m. blues? A minor blues? the choice is yours…); the breathless 50s R’n’R canter of Temperance Boogie; and a couple of rootsier acoustic numbers. Medicine Man’s Waitsy jokey Okie rag suits Adam Stocker’s gravel-and-molasses vocal, and it’s equally fitting for the finger-picked resonator Delta slide of Losing Streak (and to Plunger’s ears drummer Dave Two-Jackets sounds a lot more comfortable in these latter three numbers than in many of the other songs).

The thrashy Midnight Train shows a heavier (more Plunger-friendly) side, that also appears in the edgy, early-AC/DC thumbs-in-belt-loop boogie of Queen Of All The City complete with laddish shoutalong chorus, and in the raucous Hometown Blues.

Plunger regard the raw pub-rock sound as a regrettable mistake of the 70s (like Watneys Red Barrel or Double Diamond) but plenty folks love it, as shown by the IBBA air time given to the Bad Pennies’ EP in 2016.

If you do like that kind of thing, then you’ll like this kind of thing…

Songs From The Medway Delta is out now, on all the usual outlets or from their website, http://www.badpennies.co.uk/Bad_Pennies/Shop.html

March 4, 2018 - Frank ‘The Frank’ Harvey - MC at Wired and Broadstairs Blues Bash

Review of Songs from the Medway Delta...

If the river was the Blues, this album takes you on a musical journey from it's source, with songs such as Medicine Man (I think that was written for me!!) right along it's course to the Delta.

We have traditional early blues sound with Losing Streak, tones of Ledbetter and even Lonnie Donegan, through a boogie rock and roll number, Temperance Boogie.  The journey passes through your hometown with the extremely apt lyrics of Hometown Blues and on towards the Delta via the torrents of Crash and Burn, real great rock sound and Lady Luck, almost funky!!

The catchy lyrics of Queen of all the city make you want to sing along (like a Mynah Bird??) and with tracks such as AM Blues and When I get drunk you can just imagine being in a crowded bar with the audience rockin' along.

Influences such as SRV, Rory and dare I say Gary Moore with fresh licks and sweet guitar solos make this an overall very enjoyable listen.

Keep it up and let's have more original stuff in the set list.

March 1, 2018 - Pete Feenstra, Promoter and Broadcaster (Get Ready To Rock)

"Bad Pennies employ a new wine in old bottles approach, in which 14 tracks provide a solid framework for a rock-blues format that takes in related musical influences such as booming shuffles, tight funk, exuberant boogie and hi-octane rhythm & blues."

They contemporise core rock-blues elements in a wide ranging musical landscape. It’s all glued together by a self confident, road tested combo whose mission is clearly to nail a signature style with their own material..... (full review)

Feb 15, 2018 - Daryn Gilbert, Sound Engineer, Dazsound

This album is amazing... One of the best blues CDs I’ve ever heard. Tracks 4 and 8 are my favourites.

Feb 12, 2018 5star review on iTunes by Big Dave the Manc

Love this band... great Medway rockin blues, adore the sound of Gary’s guitar, particularly on ‘Walk Away’...the nicest bunch of guys you could hope to meet as well.

Feb 12, 2018 - Neil Tegg, former venue owner

Review of Bad Pennies – Songs from the Medway Delta

I have to say I am totally gobsmacked -  Having seen Bad Pennies on many occasions over the last eight years I had no doubt this album would be excellent but it is way beyond that – It is an absolutely stunning first album.

“Songs from the Medway Delta” is a brilliantly conceived all round debut. Everything from the packaging, to the songs, to the playing itself has been very carefully thought out. The packaging itself is just superb with the CD cover having two quality photographs of old rusty derelict boats which just fit the title perfectly.

If you have seen the band live you will know that guitarist Gary Seager has this amazing ability to almost play rhythm and lead simultaneously. I call it the “Seager Sound”, think Stevie Ray Vaughan meets Dr Feelgood.  A great example of this can be heard on the album’s opener “Crash and Burn” which has Gary’s trademark intro before we are introduced to Adam Stocker’s excellent vocal. “Lady Luck” and “One Shot” quickly follow with both tracks maintaining the pace of the opener and then we slow down for one of my personal favourite’s “Walk Away” with Gary’s stinging guitar solo shining through. The first real big surprise for me comes with the wonderful “Medicine Man penned by bassist Gavin Matthews which takes us back to the acoustic delta blues and has this lovely 1930’s music hall feel.  Back to the more familiar “Seager Sound” for “Mynah Bird” a track which the band has road tested for several months and sounds as good as ever. “When I Get Drunk” written by singer Adam is just great and is followed by three more tracks that showcase the whole bands talent “AM Blues”, “Please Baby” and “Hometown Blues”. Two live favourites “Queen Of All The City” and “Midnight Train” are great examples of Bad Pennies superb raw blues/rock style. “Temperance Boogie” is then a different tempo completely and has a lovely light jazzy feel and the closing track “Losing Streak” takes us back to the acoustic blues

One feature of this whole album is the excellent raw live feel that the band has captured in the studio which is very reminiscent to their live performances. The album is very much a whole band effort and whilst drummer Dave “Two” Jackets doesn’t contribute songwriting wise his totally solid stick work is a great feature of both this album and the band’s live shows.

The album is an absolute triumph from start to finish and there are countless premier bands that would struggle to release an album as good as this. The diversity across the fourteen tracks is just amazing and without doubt it will be one of the very best records released in 2018 – Believe me it is that good !!

The album is available on Spotify and iTunes but perhaps even better get yourself to a Bad Pennies gig as soon as possible and experience their tremendous live show and pick up a copy of the wonderfully packaged CD – See you there !!

Feb 7, 2018, Amazon Music Review

Worth every Penny !

ByAlfred Ross on 7 February 2018

Probably my favorite live blues band in the south east, worth seeing if you haven't. Lots of great original tunes, love the sound of this guys guitar, reminds me a bit of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Well worth a listen.

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February 2nd, 2018 - after receiving Songs of the Medway Delta

“This has to be one of the best new releases from a UK band I have heard for a long time, and I will be playing most of the tracks over the next months”

1. -John Harris, IBBA broadcaster
   

January 27, 2018 - Gig at Churchills, Ramsgate

Linda C Blackmore- So great to see a band that embodies all of the good sounds of yesteryear....loved the rory gallagher early stuff...great gig great sounds...loved the new stuff and will be buying cd

June 20, 2017 - Neil Tegg (former landlord of the Windmill Inn, Ashford)

BAD PENNIES "BLITZ" THE BEAVERWOOD !!

What a fantastic night as "Windmill Inn Favourites" Bad Pennies play a blinding support slot to Dan Baird & Homemade Sin.

The band were in their stride from the opening chord of "Bullfrog Blues" with Gary Seager's lead guitar cutting through brilliantly and Gavin Matthews treating us to an early bass solo. Adam Stocker on vocals clearly relished the bigger stage and Dave "Two Jackets" on drums was as solid as ever. Their 40 minute set was all over too quick with their own composition "Mynah Bird" being a particular favourite of mine. The standout track however was their tremendous version of Rory Gallagher's "Tattoo’d Lady" with Stunning guitar work from Gary. It was a real pleasure to see the boys on a much bigger stage - lets hope its the first of many - they alone were worth the price of admission !!

3 May 2017 at The Tuesday Night Music Club - Richard Dunning

When you put Bad Pennies on stage you know you'll be getting exactly what it says on the tin.  

Gary, Adam, Gavin and Dave (for they are Bad Pennies) threw themselves into two sets that ranged from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Rory Gallagher to ZZ Top and beyond. But this is not just a boogie covers band - they also featured a large number of tracks from their CD, 'Turned Up Again'. These slotted right in with the more well known songs, which should give you some indication of just how good they are. Such was the energy coming from the stage we thought for a while that The Tuesday Night Music Club might lift off! And they very nearly achieved that as their final song rang out and the crowd as one demanded more. Catch them where you can - if you want a great night out, Bad Pennies certainly deliver! 

Our thanks to @Simon from EQaudio for the great sound and to each and every person that came through our door on a wet and chilly Tuesday night and made it another 'standing room only' show.

20/2/17: at Broadstairs Blues Bash by Steve Morrison (Guitar Star)

Me ole mucker Adam Stocker of New Cross Inn jam fame circa 96(?)

Currently fronting the Bad Pennies, who ripped the Harpers Bar to shreds on Saturday evening. They didn't know what hit 'em. Such a good night!

21/2/17: Harpers Bar Lovely people agree great night

10/9/16: Bad Pennies at the Windmill, Ashford by Dave Good (Band)

Great band at the Windmill.. Gary Seager chopped it out fine, singer authentic and slightly unhinged, perfect. Drums and bass making a right old racket..in time and in tune..so all is good with the Bad Pennies