Bravo Johnson

OVERVIEW



ROCK, COUNTRY & JAM MEETS THE OLD TESTAMENT BY WAY OF THE BASEMENT TAPES, INSPIRED BY THE FILMS OF LUIS BUNUEL



In places such as Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas, Houston and New York, The 60's saw the explosion of Hispanic rock bands like Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, the Mysterians and Thee Midnighters challenging the Beatles and the Rolling Stones if only for more than a brief moment



After Los Cruzados (coming out of the LA punk scene); Union 13 (from East LA) and of course Los Lobos or more recently Los Lonely Boys.) Born in San Roman Bravo Johnson's distinctive style of claw hammering guitar work and signature falsetto tenor singing voice brings the Americana of Tom Petty or Neil Young to the magical theorems of aleister Crowley the eight neurological circuits of Timothy Leary combining it all together in an amalgam of uber hippie California Rock which has seen Hendrik and Los deltonos share stage with acts like STEVE EARLE, DBT, WILCO, GOV't MULE, QOTSA



THE CROOKED AND THE STRAIGHT (Stone Junction 2008)



In step with Indy Rock and Americana, with a take on vocal harmonies and jangly guitars that borrowed as much from the Byrds and Gene Clark as it did from Zeppelin. They remember the Sixties and playfully scramble sources without making a commitment to any rock fellowship. The songs had been primped and preened into sophisticated pieces in which Roever's guitar, in particular, was used with spectacular versatility, peeling off blues-rockabilly leads in the showboating manner of Jerry Reed.



COME TASTE THE SUN (Stone Junction 2010)



New songs that deftly expands his vocabulary away from Americana and into classic rock. There are plenty of solid tunes all peeking their heads through the band's established not so hard-rock sound and mellow intimate tunes and amp to 11 anthems alike and plenty of subversive elements that split the difference



Not unlike Sergio leone, Ennio Morricone and Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bravo Johnson's explicit employment of reflexive genre clichés in Rider, and again in Bird evokes themes, characters and settings of Americana, divorcing these elements from their ideological base and shifting the spotlight to illuminate some of the metaphysical and phenomenological furniture of modern life.



REVIEWS



the long-form jams of the Dead, the Allman Brothers, the Band, the Byrds, Santana, and Skynyrd are practically emblazoned on their guitars and Wurlitzer organs- ***** POPMATTERS



I had to do some checking to be sure this wasn't a lost "best hits" of some obscure group from middle America that I missed out on. Fresh with riffs we remember from the future EARTASTE



Bravo Johnson is making insanely fantastic songs like Wilco does - and I haven't quite seen a band of Wilco's caliber until now. *****BABBLE AND BEAT



a very impressive album that should most likely usher in Bravo Johnson as one of the breakthrough Americana artists of 2008 (.) ***** OBSCURE SOUND



This is a band that has great potential to show the way to some new directions and lead the pack if they can maintain this form ***** FAME REVIEW