THE DRAGONS
Sin Salvation (Gearhead)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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Mario Escovedo is a born musician. Now, you've heard that said of many people, but consider this: two of his brothers played in Santana's classic-era band, one brother played in the seminal LA punk band, The Zeros, yet another brother played with The Nuns and The True Believers, and his niece is Sheila E., Prince's former drummer. No cliche here as I say again that Mario Escovedo is a born musician. As much as I loved The Zeros, I'll take the CDs of Mario's band, The Dragons, to the desert island, thank you. There's more gunpowder per quarter note. Even when the songs are simple three or four chord loopers that should be same ol' same ol', either the urgency of Escovedo's voice, the high voltage zap of Ken Mochikoshi Horne's lead guitar or the atomic fireball of the whole pushes them up and over such songs by simply good bands. If you're familiar with Gearhead Records, you probably know you can usually depend on them to only sign a band if the music will make your adrenal glands pump like Ron Jeremy on cocaine. This music isn't Ramones-fast, but it doesn't need to be. The energy's gonna gitcha.

© 2003 - DJ Johnson