INTRODUCING FIFE AND DROM
2014 – Self Released
The blues is a style that can be played around with and developed in many different ways simply because it originally came from a feeling rather than an attempt to define a new musical style. It certainly sprung from the old ‘field hollers’ which in turn came from the depth of feeling felt by the slaves who were torn from their native lands and forced to work in the cotton fields and worse. The above is a potted over simplification of how the blues developed but it can be certain that it was not a genre that grew out of joy and happiness. As such, other than that depth of raw feelings and sheer mind numbing hopelessness they must have felt nothing else really defined the genre, ensuring it was a form that was open to individual interpretation and perhaps more importantly development. It is a genre that has lasted since before recording began and as such it has changed over the decades and been adapted to suit the needs of the people who often have a deep feeling for the ‘blues’ but come from a variety of cultures, many of them not even remotely as bad as the originators, which brings us to this excellent debut recording by this talented foursome ‘Fife & Drom.’
The band consists of husband and wife team Mark Marshall on various guitars, some percussion and backing vocals and Abby Ahmad on lead vocals, percussion and guitar, with Adam Minkoff on bass and Sean Dixon on drums. The sound they get is beautifully full and rounded but never overbearing, always having an open and often sparse feel that allows Abby’s vocals to emphasize the atmosphere and allow her often extraordinary power and sensitivity full rein, something any band with a blues vocalist of her quality should do but the sad fact is that many don’t! All seven of the songs are band originals that always have a deeply authentic blues feeling but one that twists and bends and goes into different directions but without ever losing the bands distinctive and powerful blues roots.
In some ways Abby’s vocals are reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt but this bands music never goes quite as close to ‘Blues rock’ as Bonnie, preferring instead to stay closer to where the offshoots join to the traditional blues tap root, although on occasions there is a nod to classic ‘Chicago blues.’ None of this would work quite so well were it not for Abby’s vocals that she is able to manipulate to suit the needs of the song, from a raw delta blues sensibility to raunchy Chicago blues, also including a deep soulfulness. Reference should also be made to the tremendously solid foundation laid by Adam Minkoffs bass guitar and Sean Dixons at times heavily percussive drum sound. It is that foundation on which everything else is built and allows Abby’s vocals to prosper and for Mark Marshall’s guitar variations to express what this band is all about.
Album opener Wicked Tongue starts with Abby’s sultry vocal but gradually builds in power and ‘sassiness’ with an excellent melodic ‘clanging’ electric guitar, some tremendous blues harmonica from Jackson Kincheloe and a heavy driving repetitive drum beat. 90 Years has a heavy percussive drum intro, soon joined by chiming guitar and bass before Abby’s haunting vocal joins in on a deep swampy blues that contains a powerfully sinister atmosphere. There is a smoky misty backwoods feel that almost envelops the listener and gives a slightly unsettling feeling, particularly when the ghostly repetitious harmonies join in, aided and abetted by some eerie brass instrumentation. Little Orphan Frannie is highlighted by a powerful, raunchy vocal on a song that in many ways has a similar atmosphere to the recordings of the early 1920s blues women, with its rolling piano driven sound and mournful choruses, but with some terrific guitar playing and as usual the deep solid bass and drum foundation on a song that musically stays tight but containing a vocal that grows in intensity.
This album is an updating of several classic blues styles and whilst it is rooted in the early twentieth century this is very much relevant to the modern day, in many ways defining the progress from the raw early rural bluesmen to modern day electric blues. The fact that they have the confidence to play and in many ways master a musical form that they weren’t born into says everything about their ability to ‘feel the blues.’ My preferences have rarely extended far from the early greats, such as Patton, House and Johnson, along with latter day artists such as Hooker and Hopkins, but this is one of the few modern blues bands that I can genuinely get huge pleasure from listening to thanks to their feel for the music and the modernization that loses nothing in power. Can’t wait for their next album and hopefully there will be more than seven songs, in fact why not make it a double! What a treat that would be!
http://fifeanddrom.com/
The blues is a style that can be played around with and developed in many different ways simply because it originally came from a feeling rather than an attempt to define a new musical style. It certainly sprung from the old ‘field hollers’ which in turn came from the depth of feeling felt by the slaves who were torn from their native lands and forced to work in the cotton fields and worse. The above is a potted over simplification of how the blues developed but it can be certain that it was not a genre that grew out of joy and happiness. As such, other than that depth of raw feelings and sheer mind numbing hopelessness they must have felt nothing else really defined the genre, ensuring it was a form that was open to individual interpretation and perhaps more importantly development. It is a genre that has lasted since before recording began and as such it has changed over the decades and been adapted to suit the needs of the people who often have a deep feeling for the ‘blues’ but come from a variety of cultures, many of them not even remotely as bad as the originators, which brings us to this excellent debut recording by this talented foursome ‘Fife & Drom.’
The band consists of husband and wife team Mark Marshall on various guitars, some percussion and backing vocals and Abby Ahmad on lead vocals, percussion and guitar, with Adam Minkoff on bass and Sean Dixon on drums. The sound they get is beautifully full and rounded but never overbearing, always having an open and often sparse feel that allows Abby’s vocals to emphasize the atmosphere and allow her often extraordinary power and sensitivity full rein, something any band with a blues vocalist of her quality should do but the sad fact is that many don’t! All seven of the songs are band originals that always have a deeply authentic blues feeling but one that twists and bends and goes into different directions but without ever losing the bands distinctive and powerful blues roots.
In some ways Abby’s vocals are reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt but this bands music never goes quite as close to ‘Blues rock’ as Bonnie, preferring instead to stay closer to where the offshoots join to the traditional blues tap root, although on occasions there is a nod to classic ‘Chicago blues.’ None of this would work quite so well were it not for Abby’s vocals that she is able to manipulate to suit the needs of the song, from a raw delta blues sensibility to raunchy Chicago blues, also including a deep soulfulness. Reference should also be made to the tremendously solid foundation laid by Adam Minkoffs bass guitar and Sean Dixons at times heavily percussive drum sound. It is that foundation on which everything else is built and allows Abby’s vocals to prosper and for Mark Marshall’s guitar variations to express what this band is all about.
Album opener Wicked Tongue starts with Abby’s sultry vocal but gradually builds in power and ‘sassiness’ with an excellent melodic ‘clanging’ electric guitar, some tremendous blues harmonica from Jackson Kincheloe and a heavy driving repetitive drum beat. 90 Years has a heavy percussive drum intro, soon joined by chiming guitar and bass before Abby’s haunting vocal joins in on a deep swampy blues that contains a powerfully sinister atmosphere. There is a smoky misty backwoods feel that almost envelops the listener and gives a slightly unsettling feeling, particularly when the ghostly repetitious harmonies join in, aided and abetted by some eerie brass instrumentation. Little Orphan Frannie is highlighted by a powerful, raunchy vocal on a song that in many ways has a similar atmosphere to the recordings of the early 1920s blues women, with its rolling piano driven sound and mournful choruses, but with some terrific guitar playing and as usual the deep solid bass and drum foundation on a song that musically stays tight but containing a vocal that grows in intensity.
This album is an updating of several classic blues styles and whilst it is rooted in the early twentieth century this is very much relevant to the modern day, in many ways defining the progress from the raw early rural bluesmen to modern day electric blues. The fact that they have the confidence to play and in many ways master a musical form that they weren’t born into says everything about their ability to ‘feel the blues.’ My preferences have rarely extended far from the early greats, such as Patton, House and Johnson, along with latter day artists such as Hooker and Hopkins, but this is one of the few modern blues bands that I can genuinely get huge pleasure from listening to thanks to their feel for the music and the modernization that loses nothing in power. Can’t wait for their next album and hopefully there will be more than seven songs, in fact why not make it a double! What a treat that would be!
http://fifeanddrom.com/