Loudboy is a nickname of John Andrews given to him by Helmet ’s Page Hamilton after a short stint in his band. Andrews, longtime guitarist of New York’s Independent-Rock-Institution Botanica, has quite a few things to tell on his self-titled album. And having guest vocalists like Nena and former Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy on the same album is not the only unusual fact about his debut recording.

So there’s the Loudboy album (release on 7th October 2011, room where all things are happening. Someone’s counting in and a fat distorted guitar is sliding into a bone-dry blues-scheme with a bright pop chorus and shimmering guitar-solo, as if Eric Clapton was still 19 and George Harrison still alive. Vocals perfectly match that tricky harmonic tapestry like an unravelled, electric Elliot Smith .
John Andrews´ stilistic spectrum as a guitarist coming along with increased sensitiveness and great chops is definitely not ordinary. The band is damn tight consisting of musicians being still eager after all those years.
Experiences, feelings, emotional options... spiritual notions and delusions... irritations, self-alienation, drugs, loss, consolation & hope. 13 songs written with traumatic metaphors for survival – an open visor instead of self-deception. Agreement instead of ego-trip.

„Welcome to my story / I have some things to tell / about waking up and
dreaming still / sometimes I just can't tell.“ (Rabbit & Turtle Take The City)
This being the programmatic opener to a dynamic, heterogene and determined
rock album which is about seeking and self-assessment in times of nuclear
meltdown. Hello, this is about present tense.
Wonderful draws a scenario of endtimes in physical images like W.S.Burroughs did: „antibodies piss and glowing makes my skin itch and crawl“, while a sparse Underhill carefully plays around with oriental ornaments before turning into the big rock-ballad.
Pretty Bleak is moving slowly with a dark twinkling enriched by Peter Murphy’s sinister second voice.
Nena, whose unmistakable timbre is softly blowing through that gentle closing track Hiding like in a lullaby, hired John Andrews in 2006 while Murphy called him up in 2009. Big names’offerings for Loudboy like real friends do.
written by Rolf Jäger
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